Oh la la… I’m shooting another segment for the C’es Chic Crash Course and so much is going on here on FoS.
It’s a triple threat for this week’s Summer Spotlight of Ageless Style + highlights from FocusOnStyle’s Best of 15th Anniversary online, PLUS, Day Three of the three-part FoS series Ageless, Age-Appropriate French Chic At A Certain Age.
Master this style: How to pull off classic man-tailored jacket like Ines de la Fressange’s tuxedo and school boy looks
Wearing a jacket can get a bit tricky. If you’re busty, you end up looking boxy (wear it open). If the jacket is too conservative, you just added 10 years to your appearance and, worse, the aura of being inflexible and boring (avoid anything that reads old school banker).
But when you can pull off an offhanded jacket in just the right way, the result is the epitome of effortless chic.
Add the moxie of French Chic icon Ines de la Fressange, and the result is effortless perfection.
Here’s how.
Avoid wearing matched suits- they are aging. Yes, the pantsuit is making a huge fashion return, but unless it is the RIGHT pantsuit, you look like Hillary Clinton in her not the most photogenic phase. Mix and match the jacket with a bottom that is less expected and more of a contrast to amp up your style.
I’ve been revisiting one of my two YSL Le Smoking jackets and certainly not with its matching bottom. I pair the black gaberdine version with a pair of back jersey YSL palazzo pants (another classic), and it’s instant timeless and grown-up chic.
Menswear will never go out of style and therefore be timeless. But never take menswear too literally, even if your pile on other otherwise guy touches, like a school boy hat, plaid muffler, classic khakis or jeans. Keep it unexpected and original. Never be too literal or you’ll look like a dragking. Add too many feminine touches and you will look gender confused. It’s the right touch of sophisticated accents that creates that special yin and yang to look confident, timeless, and sexy.
Then, mix up the classic guy pieces, like the schoolboy jacket or womanly take on a tux, top photo,with chic and sophisticated accessories. Ines has a penchant for Roger Vivier buckle ballerina flats (yes, she has long thin legs; you may want to try a bit of a heel) and shoulder bags, but you can ry anything else that withstands the test of time and has that extra oomph.
Playing with classics, like either of these two jackets, in unexpected and personal way makes it all very original and timeless as it is not falling prey to trends- that is really ageless French chic!
Superb Reading:
- More French Chic at a Certain Age
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- Join my FREE newsletter and download “Passport to French Chic,” now!
- French Chic Fashion Tips
- How to Dress French When You Are Not
- The French Chic Formula for Everyday Style a la Emmanuelle Alt
- French Chic Style
- Cannes Do Chic Series
- French Chic Shoe Lesson 101: Red shoes pops a simple LBD, a la Berenice Bejo
- More French Chic posts