I thought this space would be the perfect place for me to go into more depth on the subjects I'm passionate about (fashion, sustainable styling, design, beauty & skincare) and that hopefully you might find, inspiring and most importantly, useful…
I’d love to touch more on how we can shift our over-consuming mindsets and slow the pace down without compromising on elevated style! It may well evolve into something else, which I’m excited about and to have you on this journey with me : )
As my Substack name would suggest, I intend to take it slow, so won’t be posting weekly, unless I really do have something I think might be exciting and useful to share… So some months you might see more and some less, but I aim to catch up at least once a month to start and then lets see how it goes!
So what better way to kick start my Substack beginnings than chatting French style. I am half French and back during LFW fashion week I held a talk with the official sponsors of LFW at Selfridges cinema on the subject. I really wanted to share this to a wider audience and this is a great place to do just that! I’ll start with a short overview about myself and my career path in the fashion industry, just so you know what I’m about and where I came from : )
My Franglais Style Story so far…
Born to an English father and French mother in Oxford. I grew up most of my childhood and teenage years in Sheffield and would spend all summer in France with my cousins, uncles and aunties. I always knew I wanted to have something to do with fashion design, from a very young age I would know all the designers of the time and would eagerly watch the clothes show live every Sunday! Yes I’m child of the 80’s and 90’s! After 6th form I took a short course in hair & make-up for media, but decided that I would rather work with clothes and ended up at Bournemouth Art & design college studying fashion marketing and design, majoring in the marketing and PR side.
I went onto work in retail as a visual merchandiser for a well known British womenswear brand, there I took a keen interest in content creation for look books and campaigns and was soon asked to assist on shoots and work at head office with the creative team. I was then promoted to Brand stylist where I would oversee product from conception right through to campaigns, look book, website and store windows every touch point that would need my stylist eye!
I left after 15 years and joined the team at Threads Styling as fashion editor on the creative team. I was integral in supporting creative and styling on their ‘shop social’ via instagram and WhatsApp. This was a great learning experience for me in terms of how we can make social media work when it comes to consuming and styling fashion, but it was extremely fast paced and didn’t sit right with the direction I wanted to go in… I left threads to go freelance and worked on numerous creative direction projects with small independent brands, specialising in how to make social media work for them. It was also at this point I began to really think about sustainability and over consumption of fashion, it became very apparent we had to start changing our mindsets on how we consume and view clothing.
The pandemic came and hit the industry hard, I hadn’t really had chance to set up a strong freelance circle so decided to flex my styling muscles on instagram and that was the beginning of my journey as a fully fledged content creator/influencer… I applied my interest in sustainability + my innate sense of French style and messaged how you could shop your wardrobe and rewear instead of buying new, yet still feel modern and relevant, that was back in 2020 and still to this day, I stick to this ethos. Don’t get me wrong I love something shiny and new and my whole raison d’être as a stylist is to sell an idea an aspiration, but I hope that the way I do this isn’t pushing into the constant need for something new, anyway perhaps these are thoughts that, I could touch on soon in another post…
So moving on, to my little talk on French style, amusez-vous!
French style;
A brief history and socio-economical overview…
When looking at French style and if you’re interested in understanding how it came to be, it’s important to understand key contributing factors …
For centuries French society and its economic prosperity has been focused in the Arts and its culture, from Gastronomy, art & design to fashion/Haute Couture and beauty/skincare/fragrance.
The worlds biggest and most lucrative fashion houses have been conceived in France; Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermès, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Céline to name a just a few!
So its no wonder we look to the French for lessons in Style and refinement! It just feels so natural and ingrained in our minds.
My personal view on French style, tips & tricks!
For me French style is more than just a formula or based on generic style rules, in fact I really don’t think there’s a specific formula or rule… French women (I base it on women as that’s my influence here) make it their lifestyle, true French style is nuanced, effortless and is cultivated over time. It’s practical and comfortable without being boring, minimal/fuss free but all about refinement and the finer details. It is for me one of the most sustainable ways to style your wardrobe, as it is completely timeless, season-less and incorporates vintage in the chicest way. It’s about investment pieces that you will have in your wardrobe for years and years, handing down into the family.
If you’re looking to add a little French flare to your wardrobe, I would start by looking at these key aspects;
Go back in time, look to women like Françoise Hardy or Jane Birkin (actually British but the best inspiration for pure francophile style!) I love the mix of the timeless French way of dressing mixed with the forward thinking British way.
Look at beautiful French design, not just fashion, immerse yourself in that creativity. Instagram is also great to get inspired, but I would stick to archive accounts such as Stylemefresh and simplicitycity.
French style is rarely influenced by what’s trending right now, its trending all the time, it is unaffected by the viral, right now, must have, buy now mindset, which is still so dominant in our fashion and style making choices… It is nonchalant, natural and confident! that very reason is why we seek the ultimate French way of presenting ourselves, chic for me is authentic and being comfortable with who you are and what you represent.
The main and most important factor is to really feel at ease in your own style choices, it has to work for you, regardless of what’s going on around you, you need to be wearing the clothes not the other way around. If in doubt take the last thing/accessory off that you added to your outfit (That’s been my Motto for so long! I think it was Coco Chanel who first coined this!) and keep it super simple, without loosing any of your character or charm!
A bientôt mes amis, bisous! x