How to Dress like a Parisian

Paris, fashion capitol of the world? Not to my jaded and thrifty eye. The stores seemed to hold no holy grail of chicness. It had all, I am sad to say, been seen before. Though the stores lacked in inspiration, the locals did not disappoint. Their casual effortless look made me wish I were not morally opposed to leggings. Those not as morally righteous can achieve the Parisian uniform with relative ease.
Step 1: black leggings or tights. These are worn everywhere and frequently with a loose blouse or short dress that appears to have selected at random, bright colors need not apply.
Step 2: short slouchy boots. Any color, any style and frequently with no heel. Throw on a worn jacket of neutral color and your outfit is complete.
Step 3: hair and makeup. Very little of either, your hair needs to be artfully mussed. Carefully coiffed bouffants and shellacked poodle hair will not work. And the makeup should take you about three seconds.
Voila, you now have the Parisian uniform. And for the men the steps are even easier. Get a t-shirt and a pair of dark pants. Now buy them two sizes smaller than you normally would, the effect will be……eye catching. Leave the hair gel at home, and throw on Italian looking shoes and a worn jacket to complete to outfit.
Parisians have perfected a casual chic look that appears effortlessly put together. But as a woman who has tried many times to look artfully thrown together, I know this can take hours of careful planning. But the ability to say, “This old thing? I just threw this on.” to an admiring fan is worth the effort.