Why French Women Always Look Good

Photo: 247celbrity.info

It's basically attitude.

Here's an idea for a new reality show. Instead of What Not to Wear, we could have a situation in which a style-challenged American woman is matched in terms of size and age to a French women. The French woman comes over to the American woman's house, goes through her closet, and shows her how to look great in the clothes she has.

Maybe she'll take a simple cardigan and wear it buttoned up the back. Or she'll top a flower print dress with a no-nonsense black jacket and chunky boots. She'll use a silk scarf as a belt, or put a run-down and faded pair of jeans with a formal velvet blouse.

In other words, what you have is not as important as what you do with it in most cases. I am convinced that with a good pair of shoes, a good pair of boots, a good pair of jeans, a white blouse, a fabulous handbag, and a great pair of sunglasses, you can look good in 99% of the situations you will find yourself in in life.

That's French actress Marion Cotillard in the picture up there. Her most famous movie on this side of the Atlantic is La Vie en Rose in which she played French vocal legend Edith Piaf and won an Oscar for it. (Great movie, by the way.)

Now, "on paper," her outfit in the picture doesn't sound impressive: shades of gray, black, and brown, a chunky sweater, hat, sunglasses. But she has the attitude to make it look really good, and I'm not even sure if she's wearing makeup. It's totally unfair, but there it is: attitude changes what could be a "blah" look into something well put-together.

I can't tell what kind of sunglasses she's wearing, but they could well be Christian Dior, perhaps the "Flavour 2" model. You could certainly do worse than Dior sunglasses. They have some really beautiful styles. I'm partial to Dior's Cottage 3 myself.

When we're feeling frumpy - and let's face it, it happens to all of us sometimes - it may not be your closet that needs to be restocked so much as your self confidence. You'd be surprised how well the "fake it till you make it" concept works for imparting confidence. Well, that, and a great pair of shades.

Labels: Christian Dior sunglasses, Dior Cottage 3, Dior Flavour 2, Marion Cotillard