An Englishwoman in Paris
If you're planning a visit to the capital, wear comfortable shoes...
When I was headed for Paris recently, for a business meeting, the one thing all of my friends kept asking me was: "What are you going to WEAR?"
It is interesting, and kind of amusing, that armouring oneself with the perfect outfit is something all women understand (I'm hoping they just all assumed I'd do my research, prep the vocab and come up with a decent question list...). And the truth is, I did arm myself with some options for outfits, including a shocking pink couture silk coat, a magenta satin 1960s dress suit, a 1960s silk and wool suit in blue and a magenta cotton vintage dress, none of which I wore.
Even my eventual choice of a 1960s lemon linen dress suit with hemstitching and a bow on the waist, I jettisoned at the last minute in favour of trousers, which for some reason make me feel more confident. I also didn't want to wear high heels, because of the heat (it was about 27 degrees in Paris) and I feel you can get away with low heels more easily with trousers.
In the end, I wore grey flared chinos from Boden (my interview was conducted on a purgatorially uncomfortable Moroccan chair, only inches from the ground, so I was glad of the trousers which saved me waving my big fat knees at my interviewee), a plain white t-shirt and the jacket from the lemon linen suit, which has three-quarter sleeves and three big, covered buttons. It also has lovely hemstitching, which you can't see in these photos.
I always wear a hat and took this raffia one (see top pic). Earrings were made by my jeweller friend Suzy, in silver fused with gold, and went with a pink pearl necklace; a cheap Hong Kong Cartier-tank-style watch from Ebay and some lemon leather vintage gloves with hemstitching, plus a screaming magenta pashmina tied to my bag handles.
I hate my hands, so I only ever wear a wedding ring (also made by Suzy), and I went for nail varnish for once, in iridescent pearl (as soon as I got home again, I clipped all my nails off, as I loathe long nails, which strike me as nasty and unhygienic).

My handbag was a big mint-green mock-croc leather tote with neon stitching from Di Cristina (I love this thing - it's like a giant sweet and it holds all my junk), and I had a beige mock-ostrich laptop bag for my computer and papers.
My notebook was magenta hand-made Italian buffalo leather with hand-marbled cream paper (a present from the DH from The Online Pen Company) and my pen was a cream and black marbled Parker Duofold fountain pen he bought me nearly 20 years and which I was shocked to find recently is now worth a small fortune (something to do with the rareness of the acrylic). I did also, of course, record the interview, with a small and discreet recorder that I set going well in advance, but it's always useful to be able to make notes as well.
Shoes, as I've mentioned before on this blog, are something that drive me a bit crazy generally, and I ended up wearing a pair of 12-year-old almond-toed courts in pale blue and gold brocade, with silver leather 2in Louis heels. I've worn these to several events such as weddings and parties, and I know I can stand all day in them if need be.
Interview over, elsewhere in Paris and for travelling, I felt very comfy in my pale blue linen Jasper Conran sundress (v-neck, v-back, fully lined and an asymmetric skirt), and a pale grey cotton cardi from H&M, teamed with navy Fly-Flots, or Boden chinos in navy, worn with Nike low-tops on which I've coloured in all the pale bits with a black marker pen.
With temperatures up in the high 20s, I didn't need my Burberry polocoat, other than to lie on it in the Tuileries. It is ancient now, and there are holes appearing everywhere, so when I got back, I splashed the cash on a vintage trench from Aquascutum.
The French are marvelously stylish and I envied their nonchalance, but, I looked every inch the Englishwoman in Paris. Which is fine by me - because, believe me, the French find the English every bit as chic as we find them.

In Charla Krupp's book How Never to Look Fat Again, she details certain things that a girl should avoid if she doesn't want to look as big as a bus. Bright colours and skirts with volume are two of her 'Don'ts', so she'd have been well ashamed of me at the weekend.


Having noticed that clothing company Wall are following me on Twitter, I paid a visit to their website, where I haven't been for a while.
Along with the cracking colour, note the 40s-babe-friendly details on all these garments: a nice depth of neck to break up the bustline, a bodice design that allows you to wear a bra without it showing, a touch of Japanese asymmetry to the hemline, a waist seam that hits right at the narrowest part of the ribcage.
A Damart catalogue dropped through the postbox last week, so I thought
I'd review it, since it's here - even though it's quite hard to think about summer clothes when the temperature is once again below freezing.
This blouse (right) also has some very
nice details - note all the vertical seams, the flattering neckline,
the three-quarter sleeves that allow you to show off a bit of arm
candy. It comes in ivory and a sort of grape colour on the UK
site, but this taupe shade is only available on the .fr site.
This camisole (left) is also a good design - again with vertical
detailing, wide straps you can get a bra under and enough length to be useful - while the piped navy
cardi below is the sort of thing that would smarten up jeans or team with a
white skirt or navy trousers for summer. It is a little formal for me, so even better is a navy and white striped one they have on the site.
Dressing smartly in summer is always a problem for mid-life women -
especially for work. The office might be either air-conditioned or a
sweatbox, while travelling can be a nightmare on public transport -
at least in a car you can set your own temperature, but on a bus or a
train, you never know what you're going to get. Meanwhile, if your
look or your lifestyle doesn't suit strappy, clingy little bits of
nothing and you do at least need to look respectable, the manufacturers aren't interested in you.
This classic shift dress shown right (what the Americans would call a
'jumper') is again available on the French site but I didn't see it
on the UK one. Made of chambray, it could be worn almost anywhere from the
city to the waterfront. I can see my friend C wearing this.
From the French site (not available in the UK) comes this crinkle
cotton outfit (left), in khaki or blue. This is the
kind of outfit beloved of French women in mid life: a bit of pattern,
vertical detailing, no ironing required, a bit of flirt in the ruffles, and quite a lot of flexibility. You
can team the dress with a cardi, shrug or the matching blouse, or go
sleeveless, and the fabric can take an absolute hammering without
showing a mark. I see a lot of women wandering round my supermarket in various dress-and-blouse or skirt-and-jacket combos like these.








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