How to do summer like a French woman

I am in Paris for couture this week. The city is somewhat off brand for July. It’s mostly rainy and cool, so feels like, well, home. But rest assured that the Parisiennes remain determinedly on brand. All that’s changed from their usual soignée summer service is that they are working an array of nonchalantly perfect trench coats. Sigh.

And then, the second the sun comes out, they take off their nonchalantly perfect trench to reveal their nonchalantly perfect flirty frock and, yet more irritatingly, nonchalantly perfect legs. It’s almost enough to make me catch an early Eurostar home. The only consolation I can take is the learning that at least the French can’t pack away their trench come summer either.

Nonchalant perfection. That’s at the heart of their thing, I think. They manage to come across as if they don’t care de trop while somehow looking all the more parfait for it. As Morgane Sézalory, the stylish founder of one of my favourite Parisian brands, Sézane, puts it, “it’s never overdone but it’s always thoughtfully composed”.

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As a proud Brit I can’t pretend I am happy about all this but I have to concede that “chic” is a French borrowing for a reason. Although I take solace from Sézalory’s insistence that she and her compatriots have something to learn from us Brits too. “Absolutely! What sets UK style apart is its playful and creative approach to layering.”

I look forward to reading about us in Le Figaro shortly. In the meantime, here’s me on what they are channelling this summer.

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The perfect trench

I promise you I won’t use the word “perfect” again. Whoops, just done it. Yet there really is no other way to describe what I am seeing this week. It equates to a cut that’s not too structured and a neutral that’s not too complexion-tankingly dull. Sézane’s Clyde is perfection and, yes, I am saying that with a French accent (£275, sezane.com). I like Hush’s cropped style too (£63, reduced from £159, hush-uk.com). Jeanne Damas, founder of the Parisian brand Rouje, is also partial to a summer trench — see her Gwenaelle style (£308, down from £385, rouje.com).

The summer blazer

Don’t take it from me, take it from Charlotte Gainsbourg, who was rocking one on the front row the other day. Non, blazers are not boring, and oui, they are absolutely summer-appropriate. Go for boxy and mannish to give it the full Rive Gauche. With Nothing Underneath’s Hutton in navy or ivory linen would do the job (£325, withnothingunderneath.com). Hush’s black or brown is another winner (£79 and £89, reduced from £130, hush-uk.com).

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The flirty frock

This might be long and strappy, or it might be short and flouncy, but either way it’s unapologetically come hither, or however you say that in French. Lou Doillon is one Parisian cool girl who is brilliant at this but then so is our own Claire Thomson-Jonville, who as head of editorial content at Vogue France has become, confusingly — albeit also pleasingly — the coolest French cool girl of all.

A couple of my flirty frock picks are the result of another UK-France cross-fertilisation, the new Liberty print range by the Parisian brand Balzac. Choose from a sleek and strappy mini or a flouncy one (£155 and £185, balzac-paris.com). That same pretty print is also — our little secret — available in a longer version, with a split that renders it still just a little bit of a tease (£240). If you don’t already subscribe to our newsletter sign up before Thursday at midday for a 20 per cent discount across the entire Balzac line-up.

The classic denim

Thomson-Jonville is the personification of the Parisian approach to denim too, which is not to dally with any cut that hasn’t been around for — to use a word they indubitably wouldn’t — yonks. They like a straight leg and they like a skinny leg, and they occasionally venture into a boyfriend. They are absolutely not messing around with horseshoes et al.

When TJ, as I am now calling her, and her predecessor Carine Roitfeld — still rocking le rock chick at 70 — were photographed having coffee the other day, they were both wearing a straight leg light wash, accessorised with serious attitude. Find yours — the denim, that is, not, alas, the attitude — courtesy of Lee, to wit the Classic Rider Straight in the shade “To the Sky” (£88, freepeople.com).

The sexy top

This might be a shirt, it might be a cami, it might even be a tee. Yes, somehow Frenchwomen manage to make even a common or garden white T-shirt look like a move (see Roitfeld, above). Check out those aforementioned French brands Balzac, Sézane and Rouje, plus Maje. The Parisian T-shirt brand Maison Labiche offers white tees — and indeed bretons — with petite embroidered logos that vive la difference, its summer style adorned with a pink “amour” (£63, maisonlabiche.com).

Neutral rules, preferably black

There’s never much colour on the streets of Paris. Navy and camel tend to be as outré as things get. I lay it at the door of that ever-after, investment-dressing obsession of theirs, which we could probably learn from.

Summer black is a particularly European habit, but where the Italians tend to go long and loose, the French pair theirs with a bit of (perfectly tanned) flesh. See Lily-Rose Depp in a flippy-skirted Chanel number in Cannes. The only other accessory? What both the French and the front row call “nothing hair” — artfully mussed without looking messy, never too neat or blow-dried.

@annagmurphy