Street style, Paris Fashion Week: 28 shots that remind us why it’s the chicest city in the world

by Nicole Livey October 1, 2015

The past month has been chock-full of street style hopefuls peacocking around NYC, London, and Milan—but everyone knows that the real gauntlet isn’t thrown until we hit Paris.

That impossibly chic French propensity to wear bateau stripes and insouciantly tied scarves? Check. Those miniature bags and frayed denim designs we’ve been noticing everywhere? Well, they’ve managed to become even more of-the-moment in Paris. It’s obviously been said to death, but it bears repeating that there’s something in the water (or wine) over there that makes everyone look as though they’ve just stepped out of a Jean-Luc Godard film (see: Caroline de Maigret’s enviably tousled locks). Le sigh.

Yes, quintessential Parisian style may be so deeply ingrained into the city’s fabric that it’s practically gospel, but it is also not a place where creative types are prone to rest on their laurels. There is still a hearty dose of boundary pushing, to be sure, as evidenced by the ominously bat-winged/bunny-eared matron seen ushering two little mohawked boys along the Seine (Fashion? Art? A campaign launching The Gap’s new Wiccan tot line?).

An enthusiastic co-opting of masculine prints and proportions was also noted in a variety of brogues and Comme des Garcons-like striped suit. Of course other prints were also on the menu, served alongside decadent confections such as jewel-encrusted ear bobbles and snakeskin totes.

The cool-girl quotient was out in full force too, with dynamic duo Shea Marie and Caroline Vreeland (that would be Diana’s great-granddaughter) causing a scene in their effortlessly styled cropped pants. Zippered flares, paint splattered jeans with the knees blown out, high-waisted culottes—they all seemed to espouse the merits of shirking conventional leg-draping garments as we know them. Hey, if it’s good enough for French girls…