Ask Anything Part two with Hadley
French style, mountain shoes, and how to shop and should you ski in jeans?
How do you blend American and European style? Favorite french fashion brands?
I’ve been in France for three winters now, and Austria for 3 prior and while Chamonix and Innsbruck are both mountain towns and certainly not the streets of Paris, I’ve picked up on a few differences between European and American style.
My boyfriend’s girlfriends (all french), for the most part walk that perfect line between style and function in Chamonix. They employ techniques like scarves-silk in summer, cashmere in winter, perfect little sweaters, and big costume style earrings paired with casual outfits. One always wears perfume. Another always has the most perfectly layered gold necklaces and bracelets and rings. One’s hair is always so perfectly messy and pulled up in a way that seems to defy science and humidity.
The biggest thing I notice between Pierre’s friends (plus the french girls I follow on instagram) versus the US is that everyone looks natural. There’s not a lot of make-up. Not a lot of modified faces. While I’m sure all take part in some sort of grooming that gives them this natural beauty they aren’t overly preened. Hair is clean but air-dried. They are well waxed but not injected. Their skin glows and wrinkles.
Natural BUT they are also always put together. People leave their houses dressed. People take out the trash, dressed. There are no jogger sweats in the bakery line. Pierre often comments how when we got to the states that everyone’s always in sweatpants. David was mortified by people wearing sweatshirts on planes. I have to admit, while I am adamant about getting dressed to fly (out of respect to gravity and the magic of flying metal tubes), I have a hard time kicking the sweats at home. So when it comes to blending, this is where I probably keep my “american-ness”. I’ll blame the fact that our house is an icebox in the winter so waltzing around in a slip has no appeal until it’s summer.
So how has living here changed how I dress:
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