Au natural

Posted by Isabel Dexter at 09:59 on 3 Aug 2009

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Result! (Come on my son). I am now practically French. Not only do I now spend at least fifteen minutes picking out a brie for dinner each night, I also roll my eyes when I see a girl wearing too much make-up (in Paris that means wearing blush) and barely blink when couples snog in front of me on the metro. Move aside, Jane Birkin.

The real crunch though came when TNB (The New Blonde) accused me of dressing French because I was wearing black footless tights in summer. I hasten to add we were having a cold spell. Plus I was also wearing the smallest sequin mini I could find and a grey marl American Apparel tee. More Skins than Amelie I thought. This was confirmed when I turned up to DJ at Pop In with a friend and he greeted me with the words "Hey - you're dressed like a hooker!"

"No," I laughed, "I'm dressed like an English girl." Did Jane ever have this problem I wonder?

Now I just want to apologise as well for the lack of blogs recently. A combination of new job, looming beauty article deadlines, looking for a flat in Paris and opening a bank account here (I kid not, this has taken four different appointments lasting over an hour each. It would have been easier to actually rob the bank than try to give them my money) have taken up all my waking hours. On the plus side though I have just secured an interview with Jean Louis David - the hair mecca that every chic Parisian goes to for that skinny-yet-sexy hair that is like an epidemic this summer. I am already flattening down my barnet in preparation.

In the meantime I will leave you with the best piece of Parisian style advice I have heard in a long time. "Be natural. But in the French way. Natural here is not about not wearing make-up or making an effort with your clothes. It means doing it discreetly. So that everyone thinks you spend your time reading Sartre and not buying shoes or getting your eyebrows shaped." Ok, so I am just off to the erm... book shop for a little preening.

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