Sneakers and Jeans still a No No? :/
 

Hello all, going to Paris next week and trying to figure out what to wear. I really have mostly jeans! Will I scream "TOURIST" if I wear them with a nice sweater, accessories etc?

And sneakers....I made the mistake of bright and white new Nikes in Italy a decade ago...lol I learned. I plan to do a lot of walking in Paris and know I need something for endurance. Would black low key sneakers be ok or?

Any suggiestions for comforable footwear/fashion appreciated.

You will look perfectly fine dressed as you describe.

parisvoice.com good link for latest goins on

brown/black sweaters low key designer jeans sneakers

everywhere when i was there last Converse sneakers

seemed to be most popular with the kids

so odds are great u will be just fine.

travelsmith.com good site I use a lot...

Of course you won't scream tourist. Even if you do what does it matter? If those are the clothes you have and you are comfortable in them then wear them.

Ditto shoes only more so - comfortable shoes are essential! Don't buy new shoes for the trip - they could prove to be very uncomfortable and make you trip a misery.

Over in the Lounge there is a post about Nikes being the fashion item this year in Paris - not white ones but coloured ones.

Parisians will be too busy living their lives to notice you in your jeans and sneakers, and other tourists will undoubtedly be wearing similar clothing to you.

Anything you want to wear in Paris is fine.

Wear whatever makes you the most comfortable. You do not need to impress people you meet on the street and that you will never see again.

Are you talking about touring around during the day - fine. Are you talking about going out to dinner at a nice restaurants - you will probably want to look a little more chic.

dark coloured sneakers for walking on the cobble stones streets are the best, if your days are planned for walks ( dont worry about he chic French women they get bunions when the get oldertrying to walk straight on their stilts..).
and just a little higher heel 4 the evening..dont pack 2 many shoes... u wont where them..

<i>Are you talking about going out to dinner at a nice restaurants - you will probably want to look a little more chic.</i>

I wear jeans to nice restaurants all the time, including in Paris.

It is probably safe to say that you will be hanging out most of your time around some of Paris's touristic sights. Consequently, WHO CARES if the other TOURISTS around you take you for a TOURIST? :-?

I actually think that jeans are a HORRENDOUS piece of travel clothing unless you are visiting National Parks. Specially in November type weather, they are bulky, do not dry well if wet (likely in Nov), and are nowhere near as chic on the average traveler as many will like to think... As well said before, wear what is comfortable to YOU not to others you don't even know.

Don't take chances - follow the latest trends ......


http://listverse.files.wordpress.com...urist.jpg.jpeg

So there you are looking nice and chic in smart clothing just like any Parisian snapping away with your camera and then stopping to ask directon in your best high school French.....do you really think you won't cry out TOURIST to everybody? It's just another big city. Dress the way you do at home when visiting a big city. Personally I have my official tourist uniform. A clean T shirt, blue jeans (clean and holeless), sneakers and a baseball cap (wqorn right side forward not backwards). Do I scream out TOURIST....of coursde but you know something....who gives a damn.

You ARE a tourist. If anybody notices, they will know you are a tourist so dress comfortably. We wear jeans during the day and the most comfortable shoes we have. At night, it is fun to dress up a little but if you don't plan to eat out in nice restaurants, jeans are fine.

Plenty of people who are not tourists are wearing jeans in Paris.

The issue isn't whether you wear jeans; it's how you wear them.

And what about the camera and street map?

On my first trip to Paris 9 years ago, I listened to the folks on the board and did not take jeans only to discover that everyone, tourists, locals, were wearing jeans. Since then I always include jeans because they are the one pair of pants that can be worn for a few days and still look fresh.

I do try to take lighter weight jeans and 2 pair of jeans in the suitcase replace 4 pair of cotton pants (just can't stand those practical,flimsy,wash/wear fabrics ie Chico's, now that screams "tourist").

whatever you do don't overpack.... and leave some space in that suitcase for something you may want to bring home for yourself. C&A is an inexpensive department store in Paris (all of Europe actualy) - look in there and find yourself a great top for about 20 EU .... It' will be your favorite thing to put on for many years!

If your concern is whether jeans are worn only by tourists, everyone else has answered that question. Whether one wears it to a nice restaurant depends on the definition of "nice."

I rarely take them due to performance issues.

They block UV poorly and are hot under strong sunlight. They have poor moisture performances. They do not moisture wick from the skin and when they get wet, they lose warmth. They are bulky in my suitcase and dry poorly when washed.

There are shoes other than sneakers for comfortable walking. My wife takes Merrell dress shoes on days she has to walk a lot yet needs something that do not look like training shoes.

There are many jeans that are chic - and even more that aren't - in fact are totally dowdy.

Jeans with a cashmere sweter or silk blouse, nice scarf and high heeled boots or shoes can be chic - and fine for dinner many places. Poorly fiting levis, a pilling acrylic cardigan and black sneakers that have been hiked through miles of cobblestones and muddy puddles won't really do. (Not that I'm suggsting the OP would dress this way - but the things I have seen!)

<i>They block UV poorly</i>

This is categorically wrong. Dark denim has a UPF of roughly 1700. Jeans are pretty much the perfect sunblock, if that concerns you.

I confess to having the most up to date fashion information available on Fodors. I was in Milan yesterday.

There were an awful lot of people wearing black trainers with jeans.

...but then there were also a person wearing orange boots, green tights, orange skirt and a green coat....but it was Milan.

Top of the tree this year seemed to be blue padded, country (Barbour) style jackets.

Take a look, here is what is being worn in Paris:

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...&page=1#104199

People of the 18. arrondissement do not necessarily
represent all of Paris.

Geez, looks like Florida, nothing special at all about that. I think this subject is funny because I work at an international airport and we can pick out who is from where by their clothes, France does not rank real high on the style radar. Italian women and men are a different story. STYLE!!!
I try to wear black leather shoes when in the city, keen hiking boots if we are going to the country, jeans are my number one choice because I can wear them for two days before washing. I bought nice yoga pants for travel days and to slip on in the hotel or apartment. I stick with black for tops and dress up with scarves. I love the Barbour style jackets!

Jeans and sneakers have NEVER been taboo for several years except for fine dinning.

Gina, you wrote:
<i>And sneakers....I made the mistake of bright and white new Nikes in Italy a decade ago...lol I learned. </i>

What's the story? What did you learn about Nikes in Italy??

Would it be wrong to note that we have covered this topic ad nauseam? :-)

I know, I know, new Fodorites...a topic that will never die or be settled.

I wore jeans the first time I went to Europe in 1960.
I wore jeans the last time I went to Europe in 2010.
I will wear jeans the next time I go to Europe in 2012.

The only change will be a darker wash and a slightly
larger size.

You will "scream tourist" only if you wear loose-fitting jeans. With tight jeans, you will fit right in.

Are you insinuating that we don't have young people with their jeans falling off and their underwear showing?

The only thing you can't wear in Paris is a niqab!

I just returned from Paris. Saw lots of jeans. In fact, I wear jeans on my flight there & flight home as they are heavier than my other pants. Depending on weather, wear what is comfortable for you. With a nice looking jacket and a scarf, you will fit right in.(but no white tennis shoes).

Enjoy!

I just returned from Paris. Saw lots of jeans. In fact, I wear jeans on my flight there & flight home as they are heavier than my other pants. Depending on weather, wear what is comfortable for you. With a nice looking jacket and a scarf, you will fit right in.(but no white tennis shoes).

Enjoy!

Years ago, a Calvin Klein ad showed a model with
his wearing jeans low enough to show his label on the top
of his underwear-that took off!

I agree with immimi...I wore jeans my first trip to Europe in 1983 and every year thereafter. I wore jeans on each of my four trips to Europe this year, and I will wear jeans next year. I don't have the problem of drying them. The lycra helps with this and they don't seem to be as heavy as the jeans from years ago.

A final word from me. Be sure your sneakers are clean. The French wear alot of a very light sneaker called Bensimon.
Theres's a few shop in Paris. I buy most of mine in St Remy.
They come in alot of colors

We probably don't want to think about this but I worked with a woman whose husband worked for the FAA investigating plane crashes. He always wears cotton, jeans and leather boots when flying as they don't melt to the skin like polyester in the event of a fire.

I was just in Paris a few weeks ago. Jeans everywhere. I saw many nicely dressed hip women and men in nice dark-wash jeans, plus a number of men in medium washes. (But I also saw plenty of [mainly] older men and women in lighter washes.) Just like hip urbanites in any major American city, though, if they wore sneakers, they were more like the sleek, retro kind. Definitely not the white, athletic shoe kind.

BTW, most jeans "experts" advise washing your jeans very rarely - perhaps every 6 months to a year, so the drying issue may be moot. The usually advice is to hang them up to air out after wearing and leave it at that.

And the concerns over drying also assumes you wash your clothing in the sink rather than sending it down to the hotel laundry to be dry cleaned. I could count on one hand the number of times I've had to do laundry while on the road. Given the infrequency, I'm more than happy to pay someone else to do it.