Inside the wardrobe : how to dress like a french woman | french style tips

If we look at articles and videos that talk about French style, one thing we hear a lot is you should stick to the basics. The white button-down, jeans, black heels. And I'm not saying it's not true but I think that French style is so much more than that and that's what I want to show you today. If you're new to this channel, welcome! My name is Ouiam. I share with you very simple tricks you can start using today to elevate your style. When I look at French style, one thing I notice a lot is the type of pants. And the most common type are straight pants and jeans. And even when the jeans are slim, the cut is still straight. In the winter, they're usually worn with ankle boots and we see a lot of suede and a lot of rich colors like browns and reds. And another highly popular type of pants is the high-waisted flared or wide leg jeans. And we see them a lot in a fabric in this brick color that is so rich and perfect for the winter. And again, they're worn with ankle boots and simple sweaters. I rarely see any mom jeans or ripped or distressed denim. Before we move on, I wanted to touch on an important element of French style which is attitude. And don't take it from me, I'm not French after all. Take it from Ines de la Fressange. She's a French model who signed an exclusive contract with Chanel back in the 80s and she was the face of the brand for six years. So she knows a thing or two about French style and this is what she says about attitude. Women dress up to feel good rather than to seduce someone because they know the best way to seduce someone is first to feel good. And then it's not show up, like not showing, have a brand and things like this. There's not the wish to look wealthy. A lot of women think, oh, French women, they're chic and all. Not that much. The problem, I think, with the way that they dress in New York is they're going for their blow dries and they're getting their manicures and they have these colors on and they're, it just, it shows that they tried, no? Actually, in France, they don't want to show they made any effort. Right. The big difference, I think, it's when they can afford brands, very luxurious and expensive brands. They keep on going to the monoprix or real cheap places to buy things and they mix things. It's not that they dress up only in Uniqlo, H&M and Zara or only in Hermes, Prada, L'Or. Then maybe this is the French style. Right. I was looking at some street style photos and I noticed something that surprised me is that French women wear flowery dresses all year long, even in the winter. They absolutely make it work. The trick is to wear knee-high boots to cover the legs. Once you have that base, you can play around with the top. You can actually leave the dress as it is. You can add a sweater or a coat. Here's a photo of Anna Wintour that I found. She's rocking this look with this leather coat. Notice how she kept the same color palette in the coat and the boots so that the pattern in the dress shines through. If the coat and the boots were in different colors, it would have been too busy. But here, it's just elegant. When it comes to outerwear, structured blazers are an essential layering piece in the winter. They're worn under simple sweaters or under a simple white t-shirt and they really do dress up very simple outfits. So if you're used to wearing that usual black blazer, try going for a print instead. A great option is a checkered print. The reason why it works so well is because in a checkered print, you have at least three colors. So this one here, for example, you have a brown, a beige, and a black. So you can wear it with different pieces and create different outfits. Now that we're on the topic of blazers and suits, I'm going to tell you a story that you may or may not know. Gabrielle Chanel, the French designer who created Chanel, was one of the first designers who dressed women in suits. What happened is that she started wearing her boyfriend's clothes at the time and she realized that they were way more comfortable than the corsets and the long skirts that women used to wear at the time. So she started creating these designs and it caught the attention of very famous people like Jackie Kennedy, who was actually wearing a pink Chanel suit the day her husband got assassinated. And since it was a highly mediatized event, a lot of people started talking about this pink suit and the U.S. market discovered this French brand and it became recognized nationwide. It was a huge turning point for the brand. Now going back to outerwear, I don't see any special rules for coats, but maybe a little thing is that French women usually tie the belt of their coats and with coats it's really just about finding the right fabric and the right fit. Another piece that we find in the French wardrobe is cozy cardigans, you know the grandma kind of cardigans, but with a little twist. The stylish ones are cropped so it's not that bulky oversized cardigan that you would literally steal from your grandmother. Instead it's very fitted on the body, the sleeves sit perfectly on the arms and sometimes you even have a little dramatic shoulder going on and they're so versatile. You can wear them with a simple white t-shirt and those straight jeans that we talked about. You can close the buttons, you can add a belt if it's not too cropped and my favorite way is to wear them over dresses. It's the epitome of French style in my opinion. If we look at very famous contemporary French brands like Cezanne or Rouge Paris, we realize that French women don't always go for basics like we usually think they do. They're actually really good at color blocking and combining beautiful colors together. We can see an outfit with different shades of pink or pink combined with a muted yellow, purple and yellow, pastels like mint green and pink again and even if we go back in time and we look at one of the most iconic French actresses, Brigitte Bardot, again we see yellow and green and blue and mustard and this really shows the feminine and romantic side of French style. In the summer we see a lot of beautiful prints in blouses, dresses and midi skirts and skirts are actually paired with simple t-shirts or graphic t-shirts. We also see shorts, jean shorts and oversized blazers with flats. It looks very effortless. When it comes to accessories, I can't not mention the basket bag which is a trend that was created by the style icon Jane Birkin who used to wear them with pretty much all her outfits. We also see wedges and strappy sandals and always rounded shoes, not a lot of pointed shoes and never, never, never high heels. The heels are always small or medium and this is the end of this video. Thank you for watching. If you find any value in this, subscribe so you can come back when the next video is up and I'll see you soon. Bye bye!