What is it about French women and their sense of style? Is it in their genes or is it on the Ecole curriculum?

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that other countries produce beautiful fashion.Italy produces beautiful clothes and fabrics, Britains and US have talented designers and certainly in Japan, Australia, South Africa et al all produce fantastic clothes – that isn’t what I am talking about. Fashion is external, style is internal and eternal.  [Apologies for all the italics, I write as I speak and I am think/speaking in italics on this.]

Thankfully it isn’t only Frenchwomen that have style, par example this icon of style herself[ -I know,  she was dressed by a Frenchman, Givenchy – but the style was her own]

but it does seem to me to be so natural to them that I believe it must be in the water. They even have a phrase for it ‘comfortable in your own skin’  which is what I hope to achieve in my sewing.

I truly believe that this Frenchwoman started it all when she liberated women from corsets and made jersey fashionable. That is not to say that she created the slob look. Her creations were original, beautiful  and comfortable, and the women wearing her clothes were so stylish. She never chased fashion, her taste was impeccable and she herself was stylish to the end. I particular like her advice that when dressed, before you leave the bedroom look to see what you could take off – you could be overdressed but never over elegant! I love the phrase ‘elegant simplicity’, what a goal! I try to remember that when I am tempted to add frills and furbelows. [what are furbelows? does anyone out there know?]

All images from Google