Dreaming of France -- People Watching

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.
People in France look so different from people in the United States.
While sitting in a cafe along Rue Mouffetarde, I took a few shots.

I was focusing on people wearing scarves, but as you can see, I also captured a man carrying a baguette along the street, a paper wrapped around it.

This woman does not look like she is getting what she wants out of the day as she and her man do some shopping, but her scarf is a complicated affair guaranteed to keep her neck warm.

 

Men frequently wear scarves in France, but not so much in the U.S., although it's becoming more common. I think some men still consider it too effeminate.

Scarf Impaired

I think I'm scarf impaired. No matter how I tie a scarf, it ends up looking like a thick string around my neck or a kerchief. Sigh.
This morning, I have on my purple cashmere sweater and a silk scarf from a blogging friend who moved from Texas to Paris for a year. The scarf has shades of green, some blue and pale purple running through it. I knew it would go perfectly with the sweater, but how to tie it?
It's a square, so I folded it in half to make a triangle and I turned to the Youtube video 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf.

The woman on this video is a genius and she makes everything look so easy.
I tried and tried to tie it, but each time it ended up looking like I was a cowboy wearing a bandana ready to cover my face in a dust storm created by cattle on the move.
Sigh.
Then I went to school to teach and scarf unwrapped itself like a snake uncoiling. Crumbs from my breakfast fell onto the desk in front of me and I wiped them away before any of the students noticed that my kerchief had captured my breakfast crumbs.
Eventually, I just tied the scarf in a knot in front of my sweater. That's as fancy as I'm able to get with scarves.

Generosity

When I returned home from Florida, I found a thin, pliable package with a return address in France. Shouldn't everyone find gifts in their mailbox? The possibilities are endless.
Inside the package was a beautiful silk scarf from my blog friend Gina.

Okay, it's still a little wrinkled from its travels, but you can see the beautiful colors and I wish you could feel how soft the material is, like a whisper in the night.
Gina started a blog last year before her family moved from Texas to Paris. Her husband's job required him to go to Paris for the year. (I know. My husband is obviously in the wrong line of work.) They also have an adorable set of boy/girl twins who just turned 7 this week.
I loved watching Gina discover France, and I have to admit that she reminded me that it isn't all stars and red wine. Moving to another country is full of challenges.
Gina handled it like a champ and when the company changed hands and the family needed to return to Texas five months early, again she rolled with the punches. But before she moved, she took the time to send presents to some of her blog friends, including me!
Thanks for sharing your adventure, Gina, and for your generosity, a trait I'm still trying to learn.
My links never work on blogger, but you can find Gina's blog in the column along the right under "My Blog List." It's called "A Year of Change" and boy, has it been.

More Fashion Tips From the French

Scarves and the French go together like peanut butter and jelly, like caviar and champagne. This year, scarves have had an upsurge in the US too. And how many people turn to Youtube in search of different ways to wear their scarves? That's why I tried to find pictures of women wearing their scarves in various ways, as an example to you, my readers.
A loose wrap around the neck is one of the most popular scarf looks. Not too tight around the neck though. The tighter the scarf, the more repressed and high strung you'll seem (that part is my interpretation of it).
Another common scarf tie is the double over and pull it through. Women in the US have caught onto this one and you see see it everywhere now. The pull through again can be loose or tight. It can also be male or female. I know, I know, the whole men wearing scarves things seems so French, but I've seen some guys wearing them on the college campus where I teach, so it could happen.
Men seem to limit themselves to the two basic scarf ties -- either the loop around the neck or the double and pull through. I didn't see any men with elaborate scarf tyings.
Past the common tyings, things get a little more elaborate. The most I can tell you is that there's a lot of looping and knotting.

I'd see women check themselves in the reflection of windows and stop to tie one more knot in the scarf. Apparently, the knotting can continue indefinitely.
A small silk scarf can work too. Just slim it into a long band and wrap then knot. Spend a few minutes smoothing those ends so that they flare out to add some bulk.

The scarf can be used as a simple tool to stay warm. Then it has to be spread out and draped across the upper body and shoulders before a jaunty flip over the shoulder.

I also liked this draped look, where the ends of the scarf are not visible from the front. I think this might be harder to pull off if you actually have to move rather than sit still.
For men who don't think they have the... well, the nerve to pull off a man scarf, the French have a few other fashion options.
There is the ubiquitous sweater tied around the shoulders. See it everywhere. Everywhere.
In the US, it has a kind of preppy look to it, so don't combine it with sagging jeans, for instance. I don't think those two looks go together. But combine it with a Ralph Lauren polo or a dress shirt without a tie and you should be fine.
The most daring, most French look of all for men is the beret. So go ahead and give it a try. Maybe if you don't say anything, they'll think you're actually French. At least to me, that would be a good thing.