Help me dress like a French Ali MacGraw in her mid-thirties!
December 12, 2011 6:58 AM   Subscribe

What would Ali MacGraw wear if she was in her thirties today and lived in Paris?

Hi! I'm trying to rejig my style -- on a budget. Right now I am very much a jeans and sweater kind of girl. I'm in my thirties. I recently realized that I have two fashion inspirations, but I have no idea how to pull them off.

The first is Ali MacGraw in Love Story. 'Nuf said.

The second is these French women I meet who are in their thirties, and always look kind of impeccable, like they never have receipts sticking out their pockets or are wearing mismatched socks (like me). More specifically, they look simple and elegant (without looking old) and are very put together.

Any suggestions on clothes or makeup tips for either or both of these inspirations without spending too much money? Or even suggestions for investment pieces? I have access to both US and UK clothing stores, and will also be in France soon!

Thanks!
posted by caoimhe to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total) 70 users marked this as a favorite
 
Some photos here for you to peruse. From the book Parisian Chic by Ines de La Fressange:
http://rdujour.com/2010/12/26/peak-at-the-ines-de-la-fressange-style-guide/


They say the Parisian uniform is jeans, blazer and ballet flats.

They say that the Parisian woman always balances something hard with soft. Example: denim and pearls.

They say that the Parisian woman takes super good care of her hair and skin. The hair is so important. It should be soft and healthy.

A quote from Frédéric Fekkai:
According to Fekkai, whose A-list clients include Sandra Bullock and Liv Tyler, the essence of beauty comes down to three things: it should be natural, effortless and chic. "French women have more personality when it comes to their style - they own their look," he explains. "In North America, so many women buy labels simply because they've seen them in a store window or they've read about them in some magazine, but they don't carry it off. They dress head to toe in one designer and end up looking like dolls. When I think of the elegant women of my childhood in Provence, they always looked so together and so natural. Simplicity was the key to their style. It was an effortless elegance that seems to be second nature to French women."

Fragrance is important to the Frenchwoman. She chooses it carefully from a young age and does not share the name of her signature scent.

The Top 20 Things I Learned While Living in Paris- #4 The Art of Femininity (from The Daily Connoisseur Blog)

Bottom line: natural, simple, and elegant. This is why you are drawn to Ali McGraw in Love Story instead of say, Jennifer Lopez. Both are beautiful women but one uses plenty of artifice -- hair extensions, full-on highlights, glitter, fake lashes, etc. and the other doesn't.
posted by Fairchild at 7:31 AM on December 12, 2011 [6 favorites]


There are some simple, generic answers to these questions. The key to Parisian-style "simple and elegant (without looking old) and very put together" is well-tailored clothing that fits beautifully and (preferably) is made from high-quality materials. (That doesn't mean expensive. It just means good.) Love Story-era Ali MacGraw also wore well-tailored (or at least well-fitting) clothes, though her silhouette was more about the balance between a little and a lot (think tight sweaters with generous ribbing, tight pants with high waists) and her palette was an even balance of earth tones; while the Parisian silhouette is more about slim, slim, slim (though not fitted/body-con) and the palette is more neutral (cream, khaki, navy) with an anchoring element of black and the occasional flash of bright red or Yves Klein blue.

The under-appreciated key to Parisian-style dressing, in my opinion, is one thing: the narrow shoulder. High arm holes, a tight fit across the top of the back. This goes for blouses, sweaters, jackets, tshirts, everything. For wardrobe, you want to take your cue from the perennial "10 [or whatever] key pieces that will never go out of style!" stories that pop up in Vogue/etc. every couple of months: White blouse, slim dark blue jeans, slim black dress pants, slim black casual pants (twill, stretch denim). If you're not a habitual wearer of slim pants, this will be an exercise in trust: go slimmer than you think you need to go. Your legs look better than you think they do. Think a tightly tapered ankle, no bagginess around the knee or rear. Not straight cut: slim cut. Also pick up a pencil skirt or two, some breton-stripe shirts/sweaters, some high quality ballet flats, some nicely weighted fitted t-shirts in muted colors. Get a khaki trench coat with narrow shoulders, and a couple of flowy, featherweight, shawl-sized scarves.

I'm less of an Ali MacGraw-style dresser but I think to pull off that look without it looking like you're wearing a costume, keep an eye on the colors and the proportions.
posted by firstbest at 7:38 AM on December 12, 2011 [20 favorites]


Check out a recent JCrew catalog - this is exactly their current look: tailored clothes, skinny pants, straight hair, simple makeup. Most of their clothes are staples that you can find anywhere, so you can take your inspiration from them and then buy your pieces somewhere less expensive.
posted by jrichards at 7:46 AM on December 12, 2011


firstbest, well done! I would add, scarves that enhance, and do not age you (here for help). Slim fit clothes, but with a slouchy (or fluid or chunky) knit piece thrown in for the louche effect (scarf, beret, shawl). Quiet jewelry, with a few large, bold quality pieces on occasion. An excellent watch. Short nails. Free hair. Strong eyebrows.
posted by thinkpiece at 7:52 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


The classic investment piece in French chic is the Hermes scarf...

The sartorialist has a lot of good portraits of chic Parisian women you could use for inspiration.

Also, Ali MacGraw wore classic turtlenecks and peacoats in neutral colors for that movie. Personally, I like J. Crew or Marc Jacobs peacoats.
posted by devymetal at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2011


Agreed with devymetal that Sartorialist is a good place to find Parisian women, but they're often buried under hundreds of posts of Milanese gentlemen wearing double-breasted suits and NYC grunge-gamine model types improbably riding bikes in miniskirts.

For the sort of timeless Parisian-ness that I think you're going for, the best source is probably Sart's romantic partner, Garance Dore. Her posts from 2009-10 in particular are incredible, incredible street-style portraits of chic young Parisians with exactly the effortless/perfect/hauteur thing going. (Lately her posts have been more about her own life, lots of confessional Hey-I-went-to-a-party-with-Carine-Roitfeld kind of stuff.)

If you want younger Parisian chic, check out Le Blog de Betty and The Cherry Blossom Girl, both of whom are more fashion-y and trend driven, but still pull it off in that timeless/insouciant Parisian way.

Good on jrichards for picking up something I totally forgot: loucheness. Something slouchy, oversized, or off-kilter really makes the severe Parisian look into a slam dunk, especially if it has an implied element of covert sexuality. Betty in particular is awesome at that.
posted by firstbest at 8:38 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


The Sartorialist spends quite a bit of time in Paris and seems to have an eye for chic and iconoclastic women. In his world, apparently everyone is thin and smokes - YMMV there.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 8:38 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Also, if you're a bigger lady like me, or even if you're not, Le Blog de Big Beauty is a good resource for Parisian style. The author is a plus-size model (if I'm translating correctly), and she embodies that effortless style.
posted by timetoevolve at 9:08 AM on December 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Sounds like you want "French" as much as "Parisian", so as an American woman having lived in France for 12 years now, and a constant observer of French women's fashion:
- They don't wear much makeup. Mostly eye shadow, but never very heavy (though a few women do rock the smokey eyes look).
- They wear good shoes. Always leather. Never sneakers, unless they're going out for sports (or if they're younger; I've noticed that women in their early 20s tend to wear expensive sneakers).
- Trousers (including jeans) that fit well. Here, skinny jeans have been in style for as long as I can remember.
- Which goes along with "thin". A lot has been written about the supposed mystical French ability to eat loads and stay whisper thin, but I'll break that myth for you: they only eat a lot when they're treating a foreign friend. Especially if that friend is writing about them. The rest of the time? I work in an all-French company, okay: they are always dieting. I swear. They eat half of what I do. And they're half my size. (I can't fit into French-made trousers here at all, the thighs get stuck on my calves. I'm 5'11" and only weigh 70kg/155lbs, take a size 40/42 which is about a US size 8 or 10, should be a 12 if women's clothing lines wouldn't pretend otherwise.)
- Fitted coats and jackets. Not tailored, but fitted: princess seams, usually, and if a trench coat, it's either worn open or belted.
- Along those lines, showing off the waist has been a Big Thing here for several years now. A lot of women wear tunic-length fitted shirts with wide belts defining their waists.
- Colors. They don't wear any except for black, beige, grey, navy blue, white, and red. I'm exaggerating only a tiny bit. The upside, of course, is that everything can be put together easily. Even patterns are uncommon (and usually done in shades of grey). For instance: I am viewed as "expressive" due solely to the fact that I wear colors such as teal, burgundy, purple, and pink. (Really. People have stopped me to say this. "You must be so outgoing to dare those colors!" Um. No.)
- Scarves aren't really done that much any more, which I kind of miss. Most people will wear a winter scarf, yes, but the smaller silk ones are mainly worn by older women.
- Simple fitted dresses and pencil skirts. The most popular skirt length here seems to be mid-thigh. Even higher-end managers wear that length.
- You'll see ballet flats a lot in the streets but those aren't necessarily what they're wearing in the offices or restaurants. People walk a lot here and many women carry their good shoes while walking around in more comfortable flats.
posted by fraula at 10:16 AM on December 12, 2011 [14 favorites]


Two stores, A.P.C.
And agnés b.

Between the two of them you almost can't go wrong. Get on the mailing list so you find out about the sales because otherwise the clothing is expensive. It is actually worth it though. I've had sweaters, shirts, pants from both (though I'm a guy) that have lasted ten years. Frankly this makes me almost fine with paying 200+ for a cardigan.

Also, vis-a-vis fit. I eat differently here than in the US, often there's no big dinner. What we have in the evening is literally called 'evening bread' and often that's exactly what it is. Some bread with cold cuts or cheese and maybe some soup and salad. The clothes both stores sell in the US are cut a little more generously, mind you, but this cultural fact of life and it's effect on the shapes of a lot (not all by any means) of people means clothes look different. They're cut for different looking people.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:07 AM on December 12, 2011


Response by poster: Wow everyone -- this is amazing! I have some serious shopping to do -- and weeding out my closet. I love the fitted idea -- my clothes are mostly way too baggy. Thanks everyone for all the inspiration!
posted by caoimhe at 1:59 PM on December 12, 2011


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