French Dressing Up - Part 1.

I saw an article a little while back in Grazia which had Vanessa Bruno advising on how to achieve that French Je Ne Sais Quoi when dressing. There were a few basic rules from the article which I thought I it would be fun to road test to see if I could achieve this bit of ooh la la la. You can mark me at the end and it's okay to give me extra credits for effort. I'm not proud.

French Chic - The Rules Part 1.

• Avoid Clashing Prints
• Experimenting with keeping it tonal
• Wear a silk blouse like a T shirt
• Go easy on the heels
• Draw attention to the decolletage
• Show some flesh
• Never be too perfect. 

I've taken 4 of the rules above (the purple ones) and provided one outfit which I think covers them all off. I was lazy and then I got busy. On a good day, I would have taken all the rules apart and given you an outfit offering for each rule but I've just found out I have a Christmas fair to do in a day or so (Hello Sue - I was just calling to remind you about the Christmas fair - are you all set and ready? Yep - lying with my all limbs crossed) and there's not enough daylight to take any half decent pictures these days, that is, if you take your own pics, without a tripod, in a mirror. So you just get one outfit.

Let's discuss the rules.

* Avoid Clashing Prints. 

Piece of cake - this one's not too hard - nearly every jumper and quite a number of my tops are plain. In the article, they have a picture of Emanuelle Alt in a white blazer and black skinnies, black tee and black pointy shoes. I get the jist.

Photo Credit : 

Miami Vice but in a good way.

All easy on the eye and nothing screaming at you. No print, no clash.

* Being Tonal.

VB (Vanessa Bruno not Victoria Beckham) says colours are good but you need to be tonal. They quote khaki, grey, brown, camel.  Cool - I have a lot of those colours in my wardrobe.  I also have grey, black, white and navy. I think I can safely classify that as tonal. We can work with this.

Photo Credit : learni.st

Yup - that's tonal. Zzzzz (whoops did I really nod off there).

Slaps oneself awake.

Again - easy on the eye, pretty and not in your face. Fair do's but a bit snooze (the above pic that is).

* Never be Too Perfect.

Photo Credit : Fashionising.com

I think I prefer the dark side.

Quite self explanatory - don't look too put together, hair a little messy, slightly scuffed boots, not too mitchy matchy, leave something a little out of the mix. I normally do this everyday just by having bed head.

* Wear a Silk Blouse like a T Shirt

So they have Clemency Poesy modelling her little shirt and making it look so cool and effortless. 

Photo Credit : StyleBistro.com

I swear she's wearing a cotton shirt and not silk but that's the pic in Grazia! 

This is where I go digging in the depths of the spare clothes boxes - I have silk shirts. I used to wear them a lot when I was working but obviously as a SAHM, it's not what I immediately think of wearing on a daily basis and certainly not treating it as a tee. Cooking splashback, chocolatey fingers, snotty noses equals hell for silk garments. But for the purpose of this exercise, I have unearthed a silk shirt.

So armed with said shirt and a few accessories, here we go with my interpretation of the rules ....

We start off with a basic navy silk shirt which is yonkers years old - actually about 15 years old from Jigsaw but still looks okay current day - due primarily to the cut of the shirt which hasn't dated (what a lucky girl am I!). I put this with some blue jeans and added a black studded belt for a bit of interest. The belt used to sit more on the hips when I wore my jeans slightly more low waisted but the kind Timpson shoe man popped me in some extra holes so I could carry on using the belt with my more recent slightly higher waisted jeans (essential for minimising muffin tops and bagel bellys).

Jigsaw belt (yonkers old)

Jigsaw silk shirt (even more yonkers old)

New Look jeans (a bit little yonkers old)

I stuck on the H&M pointy heels which I picked up recently to inject a bit of new life in to the wardrobe. I think after so many years in the wilderness, pointy shoes are having their moment again and it feels quite refreshing to see them on my feet. I'm probably very behind with this trend but hey, I got there didn't I? Eventually. This is the basic outfit so far.

H&M Suedette Heels (not yonkers old at all)

The finish and styling on the shoes is pretty good actually.

I added a jacket (making like Ms Alt) ......

Mango Jacket (yonkers months old)

Tonal

... and added a bag.

The watch doesn't quite go but that's good (remember the rule of never look too perfect).
Okay - I totally forgot I was wearing my watch.

Denim, tweed, leather, suede(ette) - lots of textures.

My sister's Chanel bought in the 1980's.

She doesn't really use it but there's no reason why I shouldn't.

And all together we get :

Ta dah! I feel like a right proper mademoiselle!

So what do you think of my interpretation of the rules? Am I wearing the silk shirt like a t shirt? Am I being tonal? Am I adhering to the rule of no pattern clashing? And the not looking too perfect. Did I pass? Did I get extra credits for anything? Or do I need to try harder next time? Do I sound like a rather enthusiastic puppy begging for biscuits? 

I have to say, I didn't try that hard as it was a relatively easy ensemble to put together but the hardest thing to apply would be wearing the silk shirt as a tee - I'm just too scared of it getting spoilt or getting grease marks on it. Hence it was perfect as a work shirt but not for every day rough and tumble. Anyway, this was just a bit of dressing up fun after all I'd look a bit daft dressed like this doing the ironing. And nice as it is to wear pointy shoes, my feet are freezing ... it is November after all.

Part 2 coming soon ... daylight permitting.