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  • Hi, everyone. It's Justine. There are style rules we all French women agree on,

  • and there are also things they would never do in terms of outfits.

  • Since I work in fashion, and I'm French, I get asked about French style *a lot*.

  • So I discussed this topic with some well-dressed French friends, and we put a list together of things they would never do, and what they would do instead.

  • Here comes the list of 10 tips for French chic.

  • If you are a French woman, you will usually not mix black and brown in the same outfit. It's either/or.

  • That's why you own black boots and brown boots,

  • black heels and brown heels, black sandals and brown sandals.

  • You will probably not wear more than two colors at the same time in an outfit.

  • Exception: blue jeans. That would be a third color, but that's it.

  • Same goes for prints. If you wear one piece in your outfit that has print on it, then the rest of the outfit should better consist of solid colors.

  • Otherwise it's a bit too loud...a bit too...too colorful.

  • No old jogging outfits. Ever, actually.

  • Without being that dramatic and extreme, that's the idea.

  • No over-accessorizing. Let me explain.

  • If you're wearing large earrings, you probably won't wear a necklace on top. Less is more.

  • Less is effortless, and effortless is great.

  • Also you don't want to mix materials in your jewelry. It's either all gold or all silver.

  • In my case, I'm more the silver girl, which you can tell.

  • If you're a French woman, you will not change styles every season or every year.

  • You know what fits you, in terms of cut, length, colors. etc., and you actually just stick to it.

  • You will invest a high share of your disposable income into high quality key pieces, instead of buying things that are trendy or fashionable.

  • Which kind of key pieces are timeless, you may ask? That's a separate video, and that's coming up soon on this channel.

  • Your purse should match your shoes, which means huge closet!

  • Exception though: cocktail outfits and evening gowns, in which case the shoes will have to match the dress and not the purse.

  • So French women will go shopping, wondering, "Hmm, I don't have a dress in this color yet. I like it, but should I buy it? Because I don't have the shoes to wear it with...

  • What about the backup plan--black shoes? Uh-uh.

  • Because black is a color!

  • That brings us to point 7, about accent colors.

  • French women tend to rely heavily on neutral colors, taken in a quite broad sense.

  • For instance, khaki green, beige, camel, cognac, champagne...yes, in France we tend to name our colors after alcohol types. True story!

  • I would also add navy blues, grays and whites to that group of colors that are easy to build an outfit around.

  • And then, there will be one accent color coming in to break the monotony, so to say.

  • That could be a scarf around your neck, a nice hat, huge earrings, statement necklace, a big arm cuff on one side (colorful if possible).

  • A nice purse, something like that.

  • You could also go all black, which I love to do

  • and then play the makeup card by wearing a bright red lipstick.

  • International beauty brands have been trying for years to launch, in France, fancy colors of lipstick and nail polishes.

  • It just doesn't work. French women have always, and will always, wear red lips and red nails.

  • So they can be different shades clearer (lighter) or darker, based on the season or the mood

  • but you will not sell green, yellow, black, white, orange, or anything like that.

  • To close the chapter about color, let's talk about socks for a minute.

  • If you wear dark or black shoes, you'll wear black socks.

  • If you're wear white or clear (light) shoes, you'll wear white socks. That's it.

  • If you have any other color in your drawer, it's probably because once you had to buy a pack of ten different colors in order to get one pair of black ones. Yeah.

  • French women are truly good at knowing how (what) proper fit should look like.

  • They will wear clothes that have their size, the proper cut,

  • not too tight on the belly, not too loose on the bum,

  • not too short if it's a top, because you don't want people to see your belly if you raise your arms.

  • And that's a problem for me personally because I have a long torso, so in France I'm in trouble, believe me!

  • Disclaimer: Are there exceptions to those principles? Of course! Like in all things French,

  • you have the rules and then you have the exceptions. It's like the language.

  • Now what would be fun would be to reverse the game.

  • You tell me which style rules apply in your countries.

  • I'd love to read that, because the way people dress in a country says so much about the culture of that country.

  • Don't forget to give this video a thumbs-up before you watch the next one. Thank you!

  • I'll see you soon again. Now it's Wednesday and Sunday every week. Bye bye!

Hi, everyone. It's Justine. There are style rules we all French women agree on,

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