What Not To Wear In Paris 2019 | How Avoid Looking Like A Tourist

Tutorial Transcript

Salut Youtube - Bonjour - I love it - So French - Yeah she's American - if you couldn't tell from me accent! I've got a guest with me today, Charli hello, Charli, American I moved here about a year and a half ago also for love for the Frenchman, so cliche, I'm a journalist and also I run the blog Am I French Yet? - It's an awesome blog and we'll link that down below and also what we're gonna link down below is an article related to today's topic which is the things that you should really not wear in Paris Tourist tells. And obviously this video is not for people who want to express themselves in their individuality and wear whatever they want, you do you, that's totally fine but it's more the people who are visiting Paris and don't wanna stick out like a sore thumb and there's a couple reasons for this one is you're gonna be treated better if you don't look like an obvious tourist you're also not gonna get targeted as much for scams if you don't stick out as someone who people think they can take advantage of. We've got a few categories we're gonna take you through - you wanna start? Yeah definitely so the first one are what we we call, I don't know, "sexy clothes" which means like too short, too tight... so I'm talking like short shorts where your butt cheeks are hanging out, cleavage I don't know why but France, for a country that seems so sexy and all about liberty and everything the French are really allergic to cleavage, I never see it. They keep some things hidden, the idea of the image is more sexy than just showing it outright. Exactly they've got this thing in France where it's very easy for things to become vulgar, like that would be very vulgar to have your boobs out and about. So not only do you not really see French women wearing short skirts or tube tops, or things like that, midriffs or like bandage dresses, Kardashian style Right so these would be the types of things where if you're going out to dinner somewhere you're not gonna want to wear anything too short too tight people are gonna know that you're not French if you wear that as a woman. More the kind of illusion of sexiness than overt sexiness. Menswear is actually big for women going out to where it's sort of like a kind of feminized suit very it's very sexy there's a few street style kind of Parisian Instagram stars that I linked to in my article who have a really good sort of style for night time and going out where you can see how they kind of balance the cool and sexy Parisian look. So this might be the biggest to tell in my opinion and that is athletic wear or leisure wear one in the street there's a strong demarcation in France between what you are at the gym and what you wear in public at least in America yoga pants are are just everyday wear. Here that is not acceptable. Yeah you do not wear leggings you do not wear yoga pants you do not wear sweat pants you know like this is seen as for the gym and the gym only. Even if you're running to get some milk or something you have to put proper pants on believe me I've been told off. Yeah that was something that my husband and I definitely have fought over I'm like I just want to run out get some milk yeah, I'll be a five-minutes. He's like it's offensive! If you walk into someone's store in those leggings its offensive, just put on some pants. This extends also to your oversized hoodies, your university sweatshirt, sportswear like you know sports jumpers with big slogans basically anything you would wear to the gym or anything you would wear on a hiking trip, you want to avoid. Yeah you will stand out. Even anything that you would wear at home on a Sunday and it feels really comfy that's a sign as well. It's never too casual but it's never too much. The golden rule is that French women tend to be less over-the-top at night but also less casual day to day. Moving on to the shoes now this is quite a big category because I think again the idea of Paris I always imagined a woman in like a slinky dress and everything. You can't wear heels in this city I mean you can but it will be painful and hard every there are cobble stones everywhere and Parisian girls just aren't wearing stilettos out they wear often like pretty sandals or like mary-jane style, blockier or just flat boots or ballet slippers and that kind of thing but you'll stand out like a sore thumb if you're trying to waddle down the cobblestone streets in six-inch heels yeah no, you do not see Parisians doing that. And on the opposite side of that on the casual side you also won't see Parisians in uggs. No. Unfortunately. But yeah uggs are a no-no, as are wearing your running shoes in the street so it yes if you're a tourist you're gonna be walking a lot but wearing the shoes that you would run a 10k in... if you're going for sneakers go with kind of the Stan Smith style, leather... so sandals, so for men just forget sandals like sandals for men are for the beach only in France, like a man foot on the subway is bound to get you some nasty looks. Yeah definitely. From women there's a little bit more of a line so you want something that just looks a little more dressy not made out of plastic, not made out of rubber it's like a mule or something in suede or something nicer is totally fine. Also it can get a little dirty in the streets you don't necessarily want to have your entire foot exposed. No you do not you protect your feet because you never know... when the dog poop is going to strike. Unfortunately. So berets, the number one sort of cliche French item. So we're gonna talk about two cliche items Berets and striped shirts. I own berets, I wear them in the French streets you do see French people wearing them yeah but there's a few kind of rules around it. If you're wearing a bright red beret people know that you're not from here. If you're in a group of people and you're all wearing Berets they know that you're tourists and if you're by the Eiffel Tower and you're wearing a beret, French people don't do that. Wear your beret if you're coming to France you want to get some pictures in a beret do it totally it's not gonna immediately peg you as someone who's not from here. Especially if it's cooler weather I do see French people wearing them when they go out you know to run errands or whatever to go shopping, it totally happens but they're more subtle aren't they? A red beret a striped shirt and red lipstick together it's a little crossing the line and striped shirts the same you'll see striped shirts all over the place yeah in France all over France but not all together not in groups but yeah you do you in France. You want to get that fun picture do it but you have to know that you're probably going to stick out. Yeah and the striped shirt is gonna be like a nice sort of boat neck subtle striped shirt maybe with a leather jacket kind of thing rather than like big striped t-shirt with like Paris Mon Amour. It's called Saint James if you want to look it up, that's the original ones that made them for the French Navy so if you want like the legit stripes Saint James is the is the original. The next category kind of goes without saying but there are some real tourist tells that will scream tourists alert, so I'm talking about Disney anything, so Disney t-shirts, caps, key rings like the whole shebang. Save that for Disneyland Paris but not in Paris and in fact the whole souvenir culture right Hard Rock Cafe like souvenir kind of style t-shirts, caps Paris t-shirts you'll be surprised how many people I see in the streets here who bought a Paris t-shirt and are wearing it here. Just just generally like caps especially backwards caps if you're wearing like a Kentucky Wildcats backwards cap yeah they'll know that you're not from here. Something I actually saw on someone this morning actually are people who are visiting wearing like those hiking backpacks, you know the Osprey hiking backpacks like okay you obviously want to carry some stuff but it's Paris it's not Kilimanjaro yeah and I think finally the the camera obviously you want to have a camera meet you're on vacation yeah wearing a giant camera around your neck it just kind of makes you a target if people are gonna try to scam you put it in the bag down or a purse, don't hold it around your neck. Or in like a little daypack you know which by the way if you're on the metro maybe just swap around to the front so that it's not on your back as well because you never know. And finally okay so not so much what not to wear but how not to groom. So grooming, hair, makeup, nails things like this. The general rule for Parisians is that you don't want to look like you've tried too hard so you never see, even at weddings, women who look like they just got out of a dry bar, that kind of perfect wavy hair, the blow out, or stick straight It's more kind of a natural look you don't want to look like you tried too hard I mean French women do their hair - yeah they do - but it just doesn't look that kind of perfect pageant queen hair. Even when it comes to nails the French manicure is a lie even gel tips and acrylics such a small market here because it's just not in demand. French women do their own nails. Yeah they do it's not gonna look too perfect the crazy nail art is not a thing, doing your eyebrows and having full face of foundation and contouring contouring does not exist, any colored eyeshadow I mean it will just be obvious. It's much cooler if you look lived you've rolled out of bed, it has to look effortless and natural. I think jewelry is kind of the last point with more stuff that you could wear everyday they don't do a ton of this big chunky costume jewellery, Flintstones style, it's more of this dainty, feminine, classic stuff. I think with that that you are you're ready to pack for Paris! Yeah check out Charli's blog post she does have you know some inspiration in terms of Instagram accounts and stuff that you can follow - real French women, not us! As well as some concrete advice on actually okay we've told you what not to wear but what do you wear? So head to the blog to check out more about that. If you have any questions or any comments about Parisian style please let us know in the comments down below we'll definitely be reading and checking those out and thanks guys for watching I'll see you in the next video. Bye! A bientôt!