American Girl unpacks the "French Girl" Style

i just feel like if we're gonna steal trends from the french in 2020 it should be this and not this seriously though i totally understand anyone who has an unrealistic infatuation with paris um you are valid because i myself a long long time ago uh was plagued by the dub emoji and became slightly obsessed with the french girl aesthetic it coincided with me discovering french new wave films falling in love with anna krenna and using parisian architecture pinterest boards as a form of escapism to deal with my disgusting three-bedroom apartment in brooklyn it's also totally common and there's even a phenomenon known as paris syndrome paris syndrome is defined as being a sense of disappointment exhibited by tourists who visit paris and realize that paris does not live up to their expectations symptoms include acute delusional states hallucinations feelings of persecution derealization depersonalization anxiety and also psychosomatic manifestations such as dizziness tachycardia sweating and vomiting i was also transitioning out of my egirl streetwear aesthetic nothing wrong with that and i hold all these outfits near and dear to my heart but i was just getting bored and i didn't want to maintain my bleached hair anymore so it was time for new change as a sidebar and i think this is the fault of social media but it's um i don't think anyone should feel trapped by an aesthetic it's a way of expression not a form of social conformity i see a lot of videos on tick tock and onto youtube of people being like help me choose an aesthetic i just like so many aesthetics and you don't have to choose don't choose [ __ ] the man but anyway i landed on the french girl as my new direction and i'll admit that looking back i feel like half the reason i found this style so enticing was because of the enormous amount of fashion magazine french girl propaganda on sites like vogue vanity fair man repeller etc but before we discuss why the french girl is popular let's make sure everyone knows who she is so if we're going to define the modern french girl for anyone who is kind of unclear with that term we can pinpoint her down to 1960s and 70s and 90s reminiscent effortlessly chic seductive aloof with stylishly messy hair and a few statement designer pieces living a somewhat bohemian easygoing life and it's important to note that the french girl does not exist solely in paris though that is most likely her home base because she lives a lavish life off of generational wealth we can also see her lounging on a grecian beach topless reading a copy of sartre or in an italian village carrying a woven basket full of freshly picked oranges as a disclaimer because i will continue to use the term french girl pretty gratuitously um the french girl capital f capital g is a bourgeois archetype that basically only exists on social media like she doesn't really exist in real life and she's not all representative of french woman as a whole similar to how blair waldorf is not representative of american girls i hate when i'm in a foreign country especially in america they're the worst each time i wear black or like lose my temper or say anything about anything you know they always go oh it's so french it's so cute i hate that i can't spin it but if you're still confused let's break down this look even more i like to separate the um french girl influences into two camps the first camp is of course um the classic icons that a lot of french girls like to emulate today such as uh anna karenna brigitte bordeaux francoise hardy um catherine dino jane birkin and of course there's like a lot a lot of french women who have made an impact in the fashion industry but i feel like this subset of women are the women that a lot of modern day french girls like to emulate more so than anyone else and then our second troop i would say are modern day influencers on instagram who really embody this french girlness such as uh jean de ma sabrina sokol camille cherier and and laura may to name just a few of the vast pool of modern french girls but now let's take a look at some of the major uh wardrobe staples so i would say that every french girl has a loose flowy blouse in her closet often they are button-downs but not always and they are usually in white or ivory shades they can be paired with cigarette pants baggy pants midi skirts and denim shorts in transitional and winter seasons you can see them wearing oversized blazers and light-colored pastel sweaters and then for the spring summer period short dresses are the go-to day wear options usually have either spaghetti straps or puff sleeves and they're normally in solid bright colors or have small patterns i've noticed that dresses can be either slim fitted or flowy but generally the flowy ones are still fitted at the bodice silk dresses are also very popular warm both as day wear and evening wear last but not least the dreaded dreaded jeans and t-shirt combo this is probably the only outfit that i can't really get behind and i mean if you dress in jeans in a t-shirt that's totally fine like that's not a fashion faux pas i also dress in jeans and t-shirts sometimes but a lot of people also wear jeans and a t-shirt on a regular basis and the only time the fashion industry calls people fashion icons for doing so is when they're skinny white [ __ ] like kendall jenner popular shoe choices include kitten heels loafers mary janes strappy sandals sometimes sneakers and popular bag choices include designer bags or small leather purses or basket bags in the summer time and then some notable brands that i associate with the french girl aesthetic include rouge realization par reformation with jean cezanne orson iris redone mussier paris and then of course luxury labels such as chanel dior louis vuitton hermes and gucci french girl capitalism has been super successful is a recurring trend that utilizes the ever during peel of the french girl to market new sophisticated styles every decade according to a 2017 interview with charlotte austin an editor at list the fashion marketplace grew 45 in overall searches for french contemporary brands in the three month period emails and articles on how to get the french girl look consistently outsell products compared to other articles but i haven't answered the main question yet which is why so i feel like to understand the popularity of the french girl we have to dive into the history i would say that the allure of france's perceived opulence as we know it today probably started with louis xiv's reign he came to power in 1643 and at the time spain was actually the center of fashion um france was not producing a lot of luxury goods and they were mainly importing from places like madrid milan and brussels but louis xiv was determined to change this he firmly believed that luxury production was important for the economic fortune of a country as well as to maintain the prestige of the monarchy he set course and agenda to build up france's luxury industry and during his reign one third of parisian wage earners were employed in the textiles and clothing industry louis also set a strict core dress code to maintain the demand for french luxury goods and he also often underwrote these expenses and of course he also employed a successful marketing slash propaganda campaign he subsidized the production of fashion plates by major french artists to promote luxury goods the captions were usually satirical and sarcastic and contain sexual innuendos to capture the attention of its affluent international audience france's vivacious fashion scene led inevitably to charlesworth an englishman to establish his fashion house there in 1858 he was a popular dressmaker among french aristocrats and the first to be associated with the term hot couture so that's just a brief overview of how france became associated with luxury and fashion however i would argue that the french girl appeal was an american media invention so let's unpack that a little bit americans have been in paris since the days of the american revolution think benjamin franklin and thomas jefferson because the united states was still so new many americans believed that europe had a rich cultural history that the us could not match and so wealthier american aristocrats would travel to europe to see the arts and culture there was an experience called the grand european tour which was considered to be like a rite of passage among wealthy american elites throughout the 19th century american scholars and writers started traveling to paris and writing about their adventures there these writings eventually spread around the united states adding to the allure and mystique of paris then in 1892 vogue was established vogue was originally marketed towards wealthy new yorkers and they contained a lot of articles on parisian arts and culture articles like how to wear a hat like a french woman similar to articles that we see today actually started during this time period and vogue loki helped establish paris as a trend-setting city the 1920s is considered to be the golden age of paris this was mostly due to the strong arts and literature scene which of course helped its reputation of being an unviably cultural city the franc which was france's currency at the time was severely depressed due to the war the american dollar was really strong in comparison and so it was very easy for americans to attain a good life living in paris american writers such as hemingway and fitzgerald popularized a particularly romantic decadent and lively vision of paris by the end of the 30s the great depression hit and a lot of americans packed their bags and moved home because they could no longer finance their livelihoods in paris i assume that over the course of world war ii many americans felt a nostalgic way about paris and we can see that unfolds in hollywood movies such as casablanca and an american in paris but what about us we'll always have paris however following world war ii america established itself as a global power and um pushed for increased tourism policies in the marshall plan as to reduce the amount of direct financial aid that they would have to give to europe to improve their tourism industry among americans who now possess the oh so powerful dollar france increased the number of english-speaking attractions and establishments as well as the availability of commercial products in paris interestingly enough many americans were opposed to what they saw as americanization and paris longing for a more authentic vision of paris this new demand for an authentic paris led to a resurgence of frenchness in the city sometimes to an overdramatic and sincere level for instance according to the travel book art bouche walls paris sidewalk cafes were a most popular outdoor sport while eating at cafes was part of the culture its importance was definitely exaggerated for american tourists this time period is where we can really see paris being set apart from other european cities in the eyes of taurus compared to cities like london and berlin paris did not really suffer from physical destruction during world war ii and so it was a lot easier for american tourists to visit and kind of ignore the political and economic problems that the country was facing eugene fodor's travel guys which were very popular in the 1950s emphasized how paris was the perfect place for escapism from everyday life guy books would also have articles like how to win over a french woman which added to the overall mystique of the french woman and set her far apart from american women in some what i'm really trying to emphasize is that paris and the idea of paris existed completely differently in the eyes of americans versus the eyes of actual parisians in the 1920s and 30s americans had a [ __ ] ton of money and they were able to live a very glamorous lifestyle compared to a lot of french people who were suffering the economic consequences of world war one and following world war ii americans pushed for a pseudo-authentic vision of paris um that was actually not very authentic at all i honestly believe this pseudo-authentic vision of paris still exists today everyone knows the eiffel tower hall is the best france is clearly in a different economic position than it was 70 years ago but i feel like its reputation in american media has stayed roughly the same [Music] okay so what's wrong with french girl capitalism everybody wants to be the french girl she's cool she's sexy she's feminine and she does this all without even trying and there's never anything wrong about dressing a certain way or being french for that matter the problem stems from society's lust over a very small subset of french women which has allowed businesses to capitalize off of this lust and rather than saying hey woman here's a lipstick brand you should wear they're saying this is a lip color that french girls wear and french girls are the epitome of femininity and sex appeal so if you buy this you'll be one step closer to that ideal also the things surrounding french girl optimization tend to be quite shallow and misogynistic they're generally all about maintaining your appearance losing weight and dating what's more is that all these marketing schemes are trying to get you to perform femininity in a very specific way and they want you to do it all the time when we move from an aesthetic to a lifestyle that's when a problem is created the last thing i have to say is that the point of the french girl is that she does everything effortlessly and naturally but i think the idea of being effortless when it comes to aesthetics is counterproductive like if we're going to go on diets stress ourselves over the photos we post on social media spend hours learning how to do different hairstyles we should at least talk about it pretending all this is effortless like actually puts down a lot of women who don't realize that everything does take effort you know if someone is not born looking a certain way or um doesn't know how to do a certain makeup style like they will feel worse about themselves if they feel like everyone else is able to do this just naturally if we set up a dichotomy between women who are born this way versus everyone else we are ignoring the ways in which the system encourages all of us to maintain certain appearances so i guess what i'm trying to say is think critically about the ways you feel pressured to or want to be perceived [Music] yeah i think i'll end on that note see you later

Channel: Mina Le

Views: 472,038

Rating: 4.9508214 out of 5

Keywords: french girl, french girl style, history of, fashion, style, makeup, beauty, shopping, fashion style, france, french, paris, parisian, parisian fashion, francophile, francophilia, realisationpar, tourism, french tourism

Id: ByPmnIfymR0

Length: 16min 8sec (968 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/GFTurnedIntoTheMoon]

Love her critique at the end on the "effortless" appearance of the french girl aesthetic. Great video!

[u/Heidi_Ous]

This nourishes me

[u/walkingcity]

She’s great!

[u/poor_yorick]

I love Mina's content so much! Her Emily in Paris video was great.

[u/-WhoWasOnceDelight]

I love her 'I learned these words from reading' pronunciation of certain words.

[u/squash_the_pug_1]

This was funny and informative!

[u/Brittle_Panda]

Thats awesome, thanks so much OP!