Parisian vs American Style

Since living in Paris, I have noticed many differences in how Parisians dress versus Americans. Let start with things I’ve noticed about Parisian style that differs from American style. First, Parisians dress up more. In general, everything Parisians wear is “fancier”. You rarely see sweats or athleisure being worn on the street. Matching sweatsuits, yoga pants, graphic tees, and sweatshirt, are all essentials in Americans day to day wardrobe. This is not the case in Paris. The only sweatshirts I see are plain colors and are usually paired with jeans or trouser pants.

American casual wear Parisian casual wear

Speaking of pants, the pants are slightly different here as well. For starters, there are not as many distressed jeans. Ripped jeans are very popular throughout the US and are frequently worn. For the most part in Parisian's jeans are well fitted with no holes. Also, there are more dress pants worn on the streets weather it’s to work or just running errands.

Parisian style jeans American style jeans

Another thing that is very different is the coverage of legs. Parisians RARELY show their legs. This is something that I was not expecting and something I feel made me stand out here the most. Even when it is 80 degrees out, Parisian will not wear shorts. Shorts are a rarity here. When it is hot, the only legs you will see are if Parisians are wearing dresses and skirts. Now that it is getting a bit colder, there are so many nylon tights. No bare legs here, nylons are almost always worn when wearing skirts and dresses.

Nylon tights worn with skirts

This brings me to my next point of how much warmer the Parisians dress than Americans. This is something that still confuses me. Parisians will dress for about 10 degrees colder than what it actually is. I know if I look out my window and see people wearing coats and scarves, its probably about 65-70 degrees out. One day it was 76 degrees out, I wore jeans, a tank top and a cardigan, took my cardigan off in the metro (because the metro is always 10 degrees warmer than what it is outside). I look to my right and there is a girl in a parka and a beanie on the metro! It truly baffles me. So yes, in general the French cover up. They dress conservatively and warm.

Parisian outfit in 75 degree weather American outfit in 75 degree weather

Another difference is the style. French and Parisian style is very classic. You will see many timeless items on the street; trench coats, blazers, straight jeans, loafer, black boots, etc. There is not as much uniqueness or variety in French style. Versus, in the US people wear much more color and trendy items. Going along with this, American style is much more casual. Yes, we wear athleisure much more, but we also wear more casual outfits during everyday life.

Typical Parisian style Typical American style

So there you have the differences between Parisian style and American style! Keep in mind this is just my opinion and others may have different opinions. Both style are chic and stylish with minor differences. Hope you enjoyed this weeks post:)

- Kamryn