five days in france: le mode

It's true, Parisians are chic. It's that je ne sais quoi about them. It's the no tennis shoes, fleece jackets or baseball caps or sweat pants. It was the way that my mom and I could instantly pick out an American tourist in the crowd of people swarming the worn cobblestones.

Here is my style guide to faking that French oh la la look.

Few of them wear any noticeable makeup so start with simple makeup, nude eyeshadow, if you must do liner--simple black on the top lids only, and just enough mascara and blush.

For an extra boost, a swipe of perfect red lipstick.

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Add simple, loose hair and perhaps a striped shirt

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or a simple top and silk scarf. Scarves make any outfit glamorous. And Parisians wear a lot of them.

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or a blazer and skinny dark jeans. You can't go wrong with this combo.

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 Here's a few more French-inspired outfits that I love.

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Where do you get your fashion inspiration?

five days in france: to market, to market

I've always loved antiques, thrifted objects, found treasures but my real love for thrifting and vintage didn't surface until France.

My mom and I went to several markets au puces, literally markets of fleas. They're everywhere in France, even in chic Paris.

Our favorite market however was in a tiny village we stopped at on a whim. A tiny little collection of stone homes built right next to limestone cliffs overlooking a river.

they built the homes right into the side of limestone cliffs overlooking a river

There was plenty of vintage eye candy. I wanted it all (and a Titantic-size suitcase to bring it back in)

beautiful mirrors and makeup tins

love the old phones!

swooning over the buttons!

how about some vintage white blouses?

love that table and those chairs

old books and a fur stole. perfect combination.

What I love about France is their appreciation for the old. All of their buildings, their art, everything has been preserved. And while they've also embraced new, modern designs, they've done it in a way that enhances the old. It's something I think America has just started doing-- treasuring things from the past.

five days in france: what i love

C'est vrai-- J'aime les choses Francais. **

It's true. I love French things.

This week I'm highlighting things that I love that remind me of France, starting with a few finds on Etsy.

1. Vintage French book bundle

2. A locket with a framed piece of a vintage French book

3. Printed floral scarf. I began my love affair with scarves while visiting France. 

Silk scarves create instant style I tell you :)

4. Metal basket for going to all the markets en plein air

 What do you love this week?

And do you love French things? I have quite a bit of it in my house but never realized it until someone toured my home for the first time and commented.


**I took some French in college... but I've forgotten most of it.

five days in france: 1978

In 1978 my mom had just graduated high school (sorry Mom, now the Internets know your age) and was living in Santa Rosa, California with her parents, and planning for what she called "the trip of a lifetime."

One of her good friends Wynn was living with her family in Germany while her dad was stationed at the U.S. army base in Stuttgart and invited my mom to join her and her two sisters, Maca and Dawn, on a road trip through Europe.

The girls piled into a VW bug and left, driving down through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and crossing over into Monaco. They then drove along the Mediterranean through the south of France, Spain and up to Paris. The two month trip was captured by my mom on her Kodak 110 camera accompanied by her daily entries in a brown journal.

"I've always wanted to Europe and now my dream has come true; and I'm only 18," she wrote in the first entry in her journal.

 

Reading back through my mom's entries and looking at her pictures, securely tucked into a leather-bound album, is one of my favorite things to do. 

my mom is the one on the far right

posing with their VW bug in front of a chateau

 

In Germany

my (adorable) mother eating gelato in Italy

Isn't her plaid shirt cute? 

I wish she had kept it. I know I would wear it.

Do you ever look through photos of your parents or grandparents when they were young?

five days in france

I bet you thought that I was going to France for five days. Oh, let me tell you, how I wish.

TWO YEARS ago this week my mom and I left for a two week trip to France. We rented a car and after flying into Paris drove south, soaking up every bit of the rolling countryside that we could. 

Two years later I'm still dreaming of the country and what little cottage I would buy in central France if I had millions.

So this week I declare France Week on the ol' blog and I'm going to pretend, at least in this little corner of the internets, that I am in France for five days. 

You, mes amis, are welcome to pretend along with me.

So see you tomorrow in a corner cafe? I'll be wearing a striped shirt and drinking cafe au lait.