What does Parisian fashion really mean?

I have always wondered one thing: are the pictures you see in magazines and fashion blogs realistic?

Do women really dress up that much in big, international cities?

I was recently given the chance to study abroad in Paris to learn about fashion trending and merchandising.
 
Since I was always an eager traveler, I grabbed at the opportunity to answer my  most pressing questions about Parisian fashion trends.

To be honest, I remember leaving American soil with a specific vision in mind.

As a regular reader of style blogs, I couldn’t avoid the preconceived notion that the women of Paris always looked like they walked straight off a runway.

While I’m sure that is the case for some, I had to wonder if it was the same day-to-day rule for everyone else.

Having lived in the city for a week now, I find myself confused and somewhat surprised by the casual dress of this city’s inhabitants.

Walking a couple blocks away from the highly concentrated tourist traps, the Cathedral of Notre Dame for example, I found myself sitting in a café settled in the middle of the university district in Paris.

It didn’t take long for me to see the casual clothing worn by various students coming out of Paris University.

After seeing a common trend in what the students were wearing, I had a new question pop into my mind.

Rather than wanting to know what was fashionable and currently trending in Paris, I actually wanted to know what real Parisians wore — not what I saw hanging off of a stick-thin model. 

What does the average French college student wear day-to-day?
 
Furthermore, how does Parisian college fashion compare or contrast to that of IU students? In reality, I rarely saw any Parisians dressed up more than necessary.

If you were to pull a random student out of Ballantine Hall, and drain all of the color from their outfit, you would get a good picture of the Parisian wardrobe.

I commonly saw guys wearing sweatshirts, or “pulls” en français, along with black jeans and sneakers.

Girls were dressed much in the same way, only their clothes were more tailored to their curves. They also traded in the sweatshirt for a blazer.

After semi-creeping out many people on the street — I may have not been so subtle when I was analyzing my trends — I felt that I was ready to go.

I paid my bill and got ready to head back to my apartment.

As I pulled away from the outdoor patio of the café, I had one final question settling in my mind:

What Parisian fashion did I want to adopt into my wardrobe?

— audperki@indiana.edu