Picture yourself in Paris: the City of Lights and of every single unbelievably adorable scene of Midnight in Paris. You’re waltzing your way down the banks of the Seine, and there may or may not be accordion music playing in the background, depending on how deep you want to go with this daydream. You’re a Parisian! Une française! Voila!
But then the scene pretty much loses its magic when you look down and realize you’re wearing a tee shirt, shorts, a fanny pack, and (gasp!) shoes without high heels. Poof: there goes your polished Parisian alter ego.
Whether you’re daydreaming about your vie française during chem class or actually living it out right now on your study abroad program, you have to look the part. Translation: the American tourist look, while endearing on little old ladies and children under the age of seven, is so not cute and so not collegiette-worthy. Keep the clothing chic with these HC-approved Parisian wardrobe staples:
Infinity Scarves
If it weren’t for Pumpkin Spice Lattés and the new season of How I Met Your Mother, we would never want to admit to ourselves that fall had truly begun (and that summer is actually over). Parisians, on the other hand, busted out their fall fashions weeks in advance, which means that the metro, the Champs-Élysées, and even the highest platform of the Eiffel Tower are fit to burst with scarves, scarves, and more scarves (all worn by effortlessly chic, city-dwelling ladies, of course, along with a few beautiful and brooding hipster men).
The trick of the scarf trend is to go to go all out: go to infinity! Infinity scarves can be worn around the neck or as head wraps, both of which are ideal for the chilly weather. If you really want to nail the look (just one day away from “tourist chic” isn’t enough to really own the French style, after all), stock up on black, cream, gray, tan, beige, dark green, and maroon infinity scarves; this is one staple that you’ll want for every day of the week, and you want to keep your options open! The bulkier, the better; Parisian girls like their scarves to cover the bottom half of their chins and to lie over most of their hair, so tuck in those tresses, grab yourself a café au lait, and you’ll be good to go.
Try:
- Tube Scarf, $12.90 at H&M
- Ann Knit Tube Scarf, $22 at Only
- Somir Tube Scarf, $28 at Pieces
Leather Jacket
Even though Paris’s prettiest like to bundle up under their massive scarves, they’re willing to sacrifice a bit of warmth in favor of maintaining that edgy street chic we’ve come to know, love, and envy until we’re green in the face. Of course, nothing says edgy like a great leather jacket. Bonus points: they look picture perfect with infinity scarves!
You can’t go wrong with black leather; in Paris, as always, black is the new black, and it’s the most spotted hue on the street. If you already have a classic black jacket in your closet (lucky you!) or prefer to paint with other colors of the rainbow, you shouldn’t be afraid to play up a rich tone. Oxblood red, plum, and forest green are the “It” colors for leather products in Paris this season, and thanks to the usual uniform of black-on-black-on-black, these jackets pop (and also go with pretty much everything else in your closet… you’ve got to love those moments).
Try:
- Jacket, $38.80 at H&M
- Asymmetric Stand-up Collar PU Leather Moto Jacket, $76.10 at Choies
- Black High Neck Zipper PU Leather Jacket, $55.68 at She Inside
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The High Bun
Okay, so the high bun isn’t a piece of clothing, but for all its importance to the Parisian people and their style, it might as well be! There’s no exaggeration necessary when we say that the sexily tousled look that our Parisian counterparts have perfected would be nothing without the high bun, which is always the messiest part of the ensemble. You could have the prettiest hair on the planet (even if your name isn’t Zooey Deschanel or Taylor Swift), but it probably won’t look Parisian until you mousse it up, pull it into a knot on the very top of your head, and tie it in a loose, uneven, vaguely mushroom-cloud-shaped bun.
Why tie your luscious locks up in a knot, you ask? The high bun dresses down any outfit, allowing you (and your new Parisian style sisters) to rock a cutesy printed dress or body con beneath a vest without looking like you just left grade school or like you’re trying too hard. And, more importantly, sometimes we’re just too lazy to wash our hair, and we should be thanking the style gods for giving us the gift of this fashion “free pass” for those days when we’re feeling just a wee bit too oily.
Ankle Booties
The era of the ankle booties still hasn’t come to an end, and we (along with every other girl on the streets of Paris) are loving that the trend is here to stay! Ankle boots are the Parisians’ favorite alternative to Crocs, Uggs, Nikes, and any other number of American tourist-style footwear (affectionately known as “uglywear”). Unlike in the U.S., heeled booties (or heeled anything, really) are perfectly acceptable, and even encouraged during the daytime. Sure, you may spend half your week’s budget on blister Band-Aids for the first few days or so, but you can’t put a price on the joy that comes with accomplishing the daily heels-on-cobblestone challenge. Ankle booties don’t necessarily have to be heeled to fit French fashion, though: flat-bottomed ankle booties go best with skinny jeans and thick crew-neck sweaters layered over untucked collared shirts.
Not shockingly, the best bootie color is (drum roll please): black! Black suede, black leather, black covered in gold studded designs, black with ribbed panels along the sides… these are the more popular variations on the theme, but then again, nothing says “Fall 2012” like a solid pair of suede oxblood booties. Trending at its finest!
Try:
- Ankle Boot with Double Zip, $99.90 at Zara
- April Showers Studded Leather Biker Boots, $96.75 at ASOS
- Bertie Red Velvet Ankle Boots, $72.40 at T.K. Maxx
Blazers
Own one, own five, own ten… it doesn’t matter how many, so long as you own a blazer! Almost as necessary as a passport, the blazer completes any and all Parisian outfits. Much like the high bun (but with the exact opposite effect in that the blazer ups the chic factor of an ensemble while the bun grunges one up), the blazer can be paired with skinnies and a tank, a kitschy printed dress, or your teeniest, tiniest club dress and still look elegant across the board. You might not be wearing an “I <3 Paris” tee shirt, but if you’re not wearing a black, navy, beige, or tan blazer to top off your outfit, you’ll feel like you’re sticking out nearly as much as the typical tourist. We kid, we kid… but when you wake up every morning and watch the blazer-clad Parisians move en masse, you start to feel like you could use a little lapel in your life.
Try:
- Black Boyfriend Ponte Rolled Sleeves Blazer, $47.12 at She Inside
- Ponte Boyfriend Blazer, $70 at Topshop
- Green Blazer, $25.85 at River Island
American tourists get a bad rep. We deserve it, really: style doesn’t exactly abound in the practical (or fashion-challenged) traveler’s wardrobe. True, there is only a select percentage of our people ruining our image across the pond, but that just means it’s up to us collegiettes to salvage the American tourist’s tarnished rep with our own special, Parisian-inspired style-savvy! Bundle up, bun up, and poof!: anti-tourist, insta-Parisian.