04 — The Larry David
When I hear the word ‘trend’ my immediate reaction is to follow it with some sort of loud eye-roll. Through the years I spent working in the field of design and interiors I came up with an equation of sorts where the word trend is usually followed by a number and a color or season: Five trends you can’t miss to spruce up your living room this Fall. Then the next step is to open Instagram and immediately spot those trends whether it being fluffy rugs or colorful glass accessories - you name it.
Connecting the dots when it comes to interior and design trends is a digital matter; you need to be a consumer of social media (specifically follow interior accounts) and magazines which nowadays are digital as well (thank you, Readly) making it so that unless you are a consumer of said media, you’ll mostly be unaware of what the trends are. You’ll eventually be exposed to them once they reach the mass market and several reproductions will be made available on the shelves of every Zara-H&M-Watever-Home but, until that moment, you’ll happily live unaffected.
Fashion tho, that’s a whole other story.
Whether you are conscious of it or not you’ll be exposed to it - you just need to observe. Depending on where you live in the world, you can sit at a coffee shop and just start connecting the dots. With the strong cultural need to fit in, Sweden makes making those observations a tad harder especially when there are strong nationwide waves like an all-black look for winter, camel trench coat and white sneaker for spring, flowery dress, white sneakers, and leather jacket for summer.
The word ‘Trend’ acquires a whole other meaning in Paris.
It has nothing to do with what you see in shopping windows or the clothes you find in stores, it’s more nuanced than that. I started noticing that women, of all ages, wear heels as the preferred choice of the chic Parisian woman. Don’t think of stilettos and Uber rides, these women walk (fast) and bike. The ones who are tuned in with the actual fashion trends opt for a square toe-square heel boot - how very Dear Frances of them. Let me tell you, every outfit immediately feels elevated just because of that.
Then there’s the Blazers.
Oh, the blazers. Not any blazer. Not the oversized black or gray The Frankie Shop look-alike blazer. Elegant-plaid-blazers. Deconstructed-plaid-blazers. I’ll admit to having run down the street a few times to catch some of these women being chic and effortless wearing their high-heeled boots and plaid blazers together. Paired with gray or blue jeans, pleated skirts, wide and pinocchio pants, high heels, or moccasins (I‘ll probably need to write about the shoes soon). Ah, the elegance!
Of course, I am making big generalizations here, but, let me continue indulging in these observations of mine. There is no such thing as practical clothing choices, even when it was pouring rain, the style wasn’t compromised, an umbrella was just simply added. These trends were something strikingly clear. I am not sure whether it’s a seasonal thing confined to this Fall or if it’s to be attributed to the chic French genes that run in these women’s veins. I observed and made a mental note, then thought of the big contrast compared to the trends I can spot in Sweden, Gothenburg specifically, where practical clothing becomes a daily necessity.
I decided to attribute it to the colder, rainier climate if you will. When it’s pouring rain, cold, and windy all at the same time, elegance most likely goes out the window. It’s a style downward spiral of practicality and comfort. Flat, waterproof, and anti-slip boots to walk on cobblestones with snow and rain vs those trendy squared-toe-squared-heel ones, thick and padded rubber-like jackets to keep you dry vs cashmere jumpers knotted over plaid blazers. You catch the drift. You slowly get carried by that practical flow and neither you want to be caught trying too hard (to dress nicely) - and we’re back to that societal need to fit in.
Although I am quite content being an outcast and have no wish to fit in (at least speaking of fashion and style choices) with the white sneakers and all, I have been relying on the same choices as well. I am currently surfing my very own downward spiral of practicality and comfort and now own a special section in my closet where clothes go to die. Kidding (but also being dead serious). There is a section, at the far end of my closet right by the elegant evening pieces, if you will, for all the clothes that I simply won’t pick up for daily use because of practicalities. The uniform that I gravitate towards is one more of a Nordic Larry David than a 90s Princess Diana. With the necessary seasonal adjustments, this outfit and its variations can be worn all year round and it consists of a cap, a slouchy pair of jeans, a wool sweater, some non-white sneakers, and a Barbour. For the next upcoming weeks, you’ll find me thinking of ways I can make my Nordic Larry David look a bit more Parisian.
