Fabulous French Dressing Past Fifty
by Jennifer Johnson
French women don’t date (and don’t grow old) the way everyone else does. This photograph of Ines de la Fressange (on right) was taken in 2016 when she was 59 years old. What are the rules commonly followed by Ines and other French style icons, here?
- They believe in sunglasses
- They believe in pants/jeans
- They believe in flat sandals
The Sandals
Starting from the ground up, Saint Tropez based Rondini makes the Salome sandals worn by Kate Moss, summer after summer. A few years ago, she bought eight pairs in different colours.
The real Tropéziennes sandals have been manufactured since 1927 by the Rondini family. Colette and Marlene Dietrich wore them too.
Bardot’s Sandals
In 1933, also in Saint Tropez, shoemaker Jacques Keklikian created a brand of sandals called K. Jacques, worn by Brigitte Bardot and Pablo Picasso.
Black & White Classics
Guess what year this photograph of Juliette Binoche (on right) was taken? She was 50 and it was 2014, at Cannes. Mono colour (black and white, or all white, or all black) is a French staple. Carine Roitfeld was wearing this in (below) 2016, aged 62. Yes, you read that correctly. Almost a decade ago, over 60, looking simply incredible in all black.
So, this is something else ageless and timeless French women believe in. Blanche. And/or Noire.
Paris Jeans
These are jeans, but not as the rest of the world knows them. They are Paris jeans, modelled here by Charlotte Gainsbourg in 2019, who could also wear this look today and be chic at 53 years old.
No trainers. Yes perfectly cut jacket. Yes designer bag. Yes, the sunglasses (see Ines de la Fressange, who also Believes In Sunglasses).
This is Brigitte Macron in 2017. She was 64 at the time. This incredible combination of everyday denim with le stylet (stiletto, also known as le talon aiguille, the spike heel) could be carried off in 2024 too.
Elevating Your Jeans
In France it’s known as ‘comfort clothes’ turned chic. If you want to know how to elevate your jeans, designer Charlotte Husson and her muse Fanny Lamblin have made a great video.
