The 3 commandments to timeless style, according to the French

(Image credit: Emmanuel LAFAY)

What if I could tell you that you could bottle the timeless elegance of a Parisian woman while looking bang on trend for autumn/winter 2018?

It turns out there's a very simple formula to it, as shared by Paris-based fashion stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington for the launch of her capsule with & Other Stories

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1. Start with good basics

'As a foundation for a wardrobe, I would put together a mix of masculine and feminine items. From that, I would add items you can wear with flat shoes; one or two looks for a last minute romantic date or dinner in a fancy place; one or two looks that are good for working; some basics but not necessarily boring ones, and not too many colours,' she says.

Another key sartorial rule is to never be a slave to trends, which is obviously super tempting. Camille says, 'Challenging yourself is fun, but following trends because it's written in a magazine or because it looks cool on someone else is just very wrong to me. What looks cool on an it-girl can look silly on someone else.'

3. Streamline your wardrobe

How to achieve the perfect capsule wardrobe? Pretend you're packing. 'I guess, if you think you would have to leave and dress from your suitcase for a month, what would you bring? With those 10 to 15 things you can create billions of looks, and since you’ve already worn those things because they are in your suitcase, you know you will feel good,' she says.

The collection of AW18 essentials, styled by Camille, launches online and in selected & Other Stories stores on Thursday 6th September.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.