Fortunately, it is possible to achieve Paris perfection even if you can't pay Paris prices. One way to keep up with trends is by doing what America's Seventh Avenue has done for years--copy, copy, and copy. Although flying to Paris to see the showings of new fashions may not be affordable or feasible, anyone can read about them and study the photographs and sketches in the trade press. If a great seamstress can be located, these fashions can be closely recreated. Many wait months until local stores feature manufacturers' knockoffs, less expensive reproductions. The tailoring won't be the same, and neither will the fabrics. But the style remains in the lines, the colors, and the effect.
Many fashionable women, especially among the French, do not have large wardrobes, and they expect their clothes to last many years. Those who understand fashion know that the little black dress or its equivalent, perfectly or imaginatively accessorized, can spell pure chic. It isn't so much what is worn, but the way it is worn that can bridge the gap between merely presentable and absolutely smashing.
The style of the Paris woman is what the rest of us want to capture. It is elusive, but it is also achievable.
The stylish Parisian woman who lacks a large fashion budget purchases a few high-quality items--perhaps three good skirts, a fine jacket, and a few sweaters and blouses; she insists on good fabric, good cut and good fit--and then concentrates both her money and her creativity on accessories. It looks effortless, but it rarely is.
Shoes, scarves, handbags, bold jewelry (the "good fakes," i.e., copies of known designers' styles), hosiery, and a belt (which is ubiquitous)--all are purchased with much thought, and then worn with total assurance.
Today in Paris, the chic women are sporting dark--often textured or lacy--hose, and almost all are wearing either scarves, knit capes with ruffled borders, or shawls, and perhaps a silk flower that can change a classic suit or a plain skirt and simple sweater or blouse into a striking outfit.
The word may be out that hemlines are dropping, but there is no evidence of that in Paris today. Short skirts call for slim bodies, and the slimmest waistlines in all the capitals of Europe may be found in Paris. It is not so much that the women there resist the great French food, but they all seem to walk for miles each day--and they never snack.
Their imagination does not stop with the body, but encompasses the "total look" that includes hair and makeup. Cosmetics are never absent and always skillfully applied, and hair (often streaked), however carefree or tousled it may look, always is carefully coiffed. The young in Paris also accessorize their hair, using hair bands, interesting barrettes, and velvet or grosgrain ribbons.
No detail is ever left to chance, and great discipline is essential. The look, no matter how casual, is actually carefully studied--meticulously conceived and skillfully executed. Though it may appear uncontrived, it is never effortless. The chic woman is impeccably groomed, impeccably dressed, and impeccably
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