5 Things Parisians Are Wearing This Winter
live from the sidewalk runway
Reporting live from the capital of fashion. The people have spoken, the results are in and a resounding amount of y’all (okay, maybe just a few of you) said you wanted some Paris street fashion. It’s my highest honor to present you with five things I’ve seen on the daily sidewalk runway.
I am trying to get better at taking sneaky pictures of what Parisians are wearing, but as a photographer I sometimes struggle with street photography and the potential lack of privacy it comes with. I won’t get into the weeds, but when I can take a picture of people and their faces are shielded, I feel better sharing. Some of these are pictures I’ve managed to sneak and some of these are recreations.
Chunky Scarfs
One thing Parisians don’t do is hide their accessories. They are out — front and center. I noticed this with their big scarves. While they’re not quite as long as this one — I can only imagine some inspo was taken from Lenny Kravitz. Did you know he owns a home in Paris? You can see images of his home here and here. Back to chunky scarves before I go on a tangent! They will wrap them on the outside of their coats (versus inside) and finish by tying them in the front. The bigger and bulkier the better, often shielding half of their face if it is really cold outside.
Black Tights + Mini Skirts
I saw at least three women wearing a variation of this outfit on the same day. They were all separate encounters throughout the day or I would have guessed they texted each other to coordinate to make sure they got mentioned on this fashion news update (hehe kidding!). The base of their outfit was black tights and a structured pea coat that was mid length. What did vary was their footwear, one wore chunky white shoes, another wore low black boots and one wore ankle heeled boots.
I am also assuming they were wearing mini skirts because I couldn’t see their bottom of choice past their coat. A few days later I spotted a gal wearing a black mini skirt with tights and tall black boots.
Heeled Boots
I knew Paris was going to be rainier than Austin, TX but it’s definitely been an adjustment for me. If it was raining in Austin, I would just avoid leaving the house but you simply cannot do that here. On rainy days, I’ve been vigilantly looking to see what footwear I see stomping around the rain and while it varies a lot — a lot of heeled boots have made an appearance. Truth be told, they are often mostly black but every so often I see a fun twist. I was a bit surprised because I expected rain boots. However, I’ve noticed that anything with a slippery sole doesn’t really work, especially while running to catch the metro.
All Black Outfits
Are you surprised? No? Me either. While I don’t see these head to toe outfits as much as I expected, I’ve seen the all black outfits make their rounds. It’s classic and probably what our American point of view comes to expect of Parisians. The most common occurrences are trousers paired with a sweater, a pea coat and either a sneaker our dad might wear (looking at you New Balance) or a chunky boot.
Leather Coats
Parisians aren’t playing when it comes to leather. Leather coats are out to play every single day here. I often see them paired with a chunky sweater, but sometimes they are fur lined. I have no notes except that I now want one or two in my wardrobe.
These are thoughts for another time, but Paris is a melting pot of styles. When we think of Parisian it girl style — it truly encompasses a variety of people, with different lives, jobs, socioeconomic statuses, etc. I want to proceed with caution every time I am reporting on what I’m seeing here because this is just a small sample of what people are wearing and it varies heavily on time of day, weather, arrondissement, etc.
If you have other Paris requests, drop them below and I’ll report for duty.
xx Ofelia
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Not all hero’s wear capes! Thank you for getting this info over to us - makes me feel less guilty for wearing so many head-to-toe black outfits.
I love Paris and now getting a regular vicarious dose of the style there through your newsletter! One request for when you get more settled: vintage and thrift store reviews! I’ve visited a few there and they are so varied, would love to learn how to actually score some good finds (I came away empty handed)!