How to dress like a French woman

Curious about how to dress like a French woman, I turned to Garance Dore, the ridiculously amazing Parisian street-style photographer. If anyone would know the answer, she would!

Me: Do French women wear lots of stripes? That’s how it is in the movies...
Garance: I stand witness straight from my armoire, and I've got my hands on: three short-sleeved striped shirts, two long-sleeved striped shirts, two round-necked striped pullovers, and one striped cardigan...

Do French women wear lots of layers? They seem to...
The French woman does “unconscious layering.” (I just made up that expression, because the French woman loves to use English phrases to sound cool.) It comes from the very popular concept called ‘$@&!-I-don’t-have-anything-to-wear-this-morning-i’ll-just-grab-whatever...' But when dressing up, she never forgets the sexy detail, even if she’s a bit disorganized. So there goes the (too) short skirt, the tee that falls off a shoulder, etc...

Here in New York, people wear lots of patterns and prints. But it seems like French women wear mostly solid colors, is that true?
Yeah. That’s right. The French wear mostly black, but we’re known to mix it up a bit. Like for special occasions, we’ll even wear grey. Ha! But overall, Joanna, the mystery behind the French woman is that she has confidence in herself, despite all the nonsense she says.

Read the rest of the conversation on Garance's blog. Thank you, Garance!

(Illustration by Garance Dore)