What are they wearing in Paris this summer?
 

I'm just wondering if black is the color of choice for Parisians during the summer or if they wear white and bright colors as we do in the US? What about capris? Shoes? Any colors that seem to be popular? Merci!

ttt - anyone?

Can't answer for Paris, but I was just in Italy. I did not see one Italian woman in capris; however, I saw lots of Italian, British, German and French MEN in capris!!!

Just returned from Paris. Lots and lots of flirty skirts. Lots of tight jeans. Didn't see any capris.

Chic layers are very "in" For instance great looking women (not kids--real grown ups), in tight jeans, a long ecru linen tunic with a shorter ecru jacket over it (jacket at top of hip, tunic 1/4 down thigh). Longer tunics with shorter jackets are de rigueur as are tunics alone with pants (always tight). Also 3/4 leggings under mini skirts with flat shoes(but you have to be sooo skinny and sooo young). And (yes I'm serious) cowboy boots.

White is very big--but not white pants--white accessories and tops. Tunics over jeans are huge--on everyone, everywhere. Big, wide belts are "the thing" wrapped around tunics over those damn 32" hips. And, again, I can't overemphasize the small jacket. Every single woman in Paris wears a small, prefectly tailored jacket--over everything. I saw some black during the day, but more light, neutral colors. Lots of black in the evening.

Shoes? Since you walk non stop, shoes are important. I bought a pair of Bally Loafers that were great looking and a pair of Arche heels for evening(http://ceourl.com/arche) --they are French and expensive, but the best!. For my major walking days, I also had a great looking and very comfortable pair of running/walking shoes in navy blue and buff. Most of the shoes that the Paris women wear walking around astound me--Spike heeled pumps and mules. I have no idea how they do it and still look chic at the end of the day. Must be some French foot gene thing--I like high heeled shoes as much as the next gal,and own a hundred pair, but trucking the entire Champs d'Elyses like these women do--I have no idea how they do it.

Having had just returned from India where "who cares" was the norm, I felt a tad frumpy in Paris except in the evening(it was very unseasonably cold and the day time clothes I brought weren't appropriate, so I "layered," but not in a chic way I described above :-(...but it was still great cafe fashion watching.

My sister and I sat outside, drank our Cote du Rhone, ate our Croque Monsieurs and wondered...How do they get babies out of those tiny hips??? We then moved on to far more esoteric and historical topics, of course :-)

Enjoy your trip and remember, the most important thing is to wear clothes that you feel great in. So much about how you appear to others is in your attitude, not in your clothes.

Boston, I can related to your comment about layering in a not-fashionable way. We were in Italy the last two weeks, where it was also very cool and I didn't have enough warm clothes. I actually wore my long sleeved pajama top under my clothes to dinner one night!

Question needs definition! Females need too announce their age...Males are unimportant.
One group of females wears skin tight jeans/trousers, usually hip huggers. Navel and other is on view!
So! I am 40 years old, BMI is 26! What should I wear?

Same basic styles. Things are not quite so tight - or so bare (no navel and tunics not so low cut). Still wear little jacket or cardigan over longer tunic.

have been back for a month now but the day i felt my best and felt like i looked parisian (or at least not american!) was when i had on my designer jeans, a camisole and a short, fitted black jacket.

Gsteed, a pair of perfectly tailored slacks with a linen knit sweater over a camisole/shell would look great on you.

I swear by a wheat colored linen knit cardigan sweater that I have had for years. I wear a dark taupe sleevless linen knit shell under it. It always looks great and I feel great in it. I wear it over jeans as well as over black silk pants with heels. I throw pearls on with it sometimes and other times buckle a wide belt around my hips. Most importantly, it is a quality piece and I feel great in it.

Crinkled silk is also very big in Paris--skirts and blouses. On my shopping day on Paris, I wore a designer plum-brown crinkled-silk skirt that I had bought at Melange in Mumbai with a chartreuse green colored cotton knit sweater and flat Arche sandals. You couldn't miss me ;-), I felt fabulous, and I received many compliments from store clerks.

As I mentioned before, the most important thing is that YOU look good in what you are wearing, not that you look like everyone else. Here in Boston, I see women visiting from India in Punjabis and Saris. I can immediately see if they are proud of what they are wearing. They don't look anything like me, but you can see it in the way they walk and how well the fabric drapes. I love the fact they look different.

Frankly, no one in Paris cares what you look like anyway--particularly if you are sight seeing. Look good in the evening when you go to the cafes.

Just don't wear anything you have to tug at. Leave that stuff at home or throw it away.

I just returned from Paris, too. Bought 4 skirts....they are everywhere! I also noticed the dress length tunic over jeans or tights...not an attractive look to me. Black was evident but usually with a neutral.
I did see some capris on women, more skirts though. Lots of ballet flats in the shops and lots of large white handbags with bronze color chains, studs or trim.
Boston Harbor is correct in her/his assessment of the size of French women. I'm a size 4-6 and felt like a cow there...lots of tiny people!

Oooops. Sorry Boston Harbor, the skirt description in your last post should have told me you are female!

Thanks everyone!

The tunics/jeans doesn't sound like my kind of outfit nor the leggings under a skirt! I'm 60, am a size 10, 5'8", and wear classic clothes. I guess skirts and tops might be my daytime outfit of choice. I'm sure I wouldn't want any kind of jacket (stylish or no) if the temperature reaches the 80's/90's when I'm there late June/early July.

White purses with some bling-bling, huh? Will wonders never cease?

I think I will just dress comforably in my capris/slacks & tops and dress more upscale in the evening. I'm not trying to look French -- I just love comfortable fashion and wondered how close I could be to pull it off! However, doesn't sound too promising!

luv

Hi luv,

May I suggest that you wear whatever you normally would, and buy some clothes when you get to Paris?

No matter what you bring with you, it won't be right.

((I))

Bon soir from Paris! I am seeing lots of capris, but only on tourists - both male and female, actually.
Though limited by testosterone induced fashion ignorance, here's what I have been seeing on the streets:
Bottoms: jeans, jeans, and jeans - tight but not torn, often with some sort of embellishment, lots of flare/bell bottoms.
Tops: tank tops, sleeveless tops, what I know as spaghetti straps but is probably called something else now (it is getting pretty warm in Paris)
Skirts and blouses - OK, I should be able to provide more detail but remember my testosterone handicap. Pretty simple solid color skirts, not really short nor long. Lught material blouses, low but not plunging necklines, short sleeve or sleeveless
Dresses - summery stuff
Shoes - comfortable, white tennies only if they are expensive leather ones.

And to answer your original question - no, not much black.

They are wearing clothes. What are you wearing in your hometown? Well, wear that in Paris. Believe it or not, no one cares what you will be wearing anywhere you go. They are all wondering what you are thinking about what they are wearing. I've been in Europe the last 5 summers and not one person over there cared or mentioned about what I had on. In fact, I don't think anyone actually cared anything about me or my group. PS. We didn't care, because we heard the fashion police are on vacation in the summer.

DinPa, what does it hurt to ask? No one ever would consider me a fashion plate but when I'm going to a party or out with a friend; I will ask what they are wearing.

It would seem to be true that, "not one person cared or mentioned", what you wore one cared what you wore in your 5 trips to Europe. You admittedly didn't care.
Can you see it that luvparee is a bit more fashionable? She simply might want to be as comfortable in her clothes as you are in yours. It's just different types of comfort.

LuvParee....really surprised at your posting. I know that you are a pro at visiting Paris on a couple of Web sites over a good period of time and know very well that here in the beginning of June you know that your own good taste and experience can answer all your questions. There is no such thing as to what is IT. Your own good taste will determine what is proper for the next couple of months. The days of laying down what is proper has long gone.

So, what was the temperature in Paris when these women are wearing tight jeans and long tunics? I plan to wear skirts and capris -- and shorts. Do Parisian women wear shorts?? If they don't care what I'm wearing, that's just the way it will be. BUT, I'd like to feel that I fit in (somewhat), or at least not look like I have a sign over my head that says "American Tourist."

Hey folks, basta with the "no one cares what you're wearing in Europe" remarks. I think I've spent a number of decades in and out of Europe studying, working, traveling etc. and I have NEVER found this to be the case! They don't care what I'm wearing in London? Really? Then why is it that several Londoners who passed me on the street about a year ago in July were looking at my footwear (flip-flops, naturally!) some disapprovingly? Did I care? Yes (I still wore them though).

And Italy, particularly Venice? The Venetians are known to be casual. Too many tourists, so no one cares what you've got on, right? Wrong. Every morning when I got on the vaporetto this past August with the locals the Venetians were checking out what I had on, trying to figure out where I was from-every morning, I got the once-over! My tops, my jeans, of course my footwear trade-mark flips-everything.

No, people in these European cities DO notice you, they notice you enough to check out what you're wearing, however fleetingly, and if your dress is well, overly Americanized, or doesn't fit in, believe me, you'll see that registered on their faces. The opposite is true, too of course. I've seen Europeans in various parts look approvingly at a chic top or bottom, or a particular "look" thrown together - I've had it both ways, but in virtually every place I've been in Europe I've encountered these looks, which is why I do endeavor to "fit in" with the locals. I feel just plain uncomfortable otherwise.

I've also observed through the years that when I am dressed appropriately for the locale in Europe, (as well as elsewhere) I get better service at the shops and particularly restaurants, all the way around-- a better reception, you might say.

And you who say otherwise might be the types who simply don't notice anyone or anything around you- how locals and others are in fact looking at you-particularly in a restaurant- because you're too self-absorbed in your own little world to recognize or notice one way or another?

To answer your question, Luvparee, I've found that you can never go wrong anywhere in Europe with black tops and black pants-in any season-be they cotton, some synthetic blend or whatever- and of course grey, beige, white shirts, solid non-bright color tops (rarely see printed tops except on youths-which I favor from time to time). I only see bright in the occasional accent piece. I was in Vienna some weeks ago and it was warm, but still, folks were dressed quite conservatively, some with the chic cotton skirts, yes, but again, cream and black and beige is primarily what I saw. So boring but so correct.