Go Fish France: CLOTHING; You Know You are in France when....

Oh boy, I have been composing this blog entry in my head for months now. So, here we go!

CLOTHING; You know you are in France when....

1. ANYTHING GOES! For instance, this was a new billboard in the metro that we saw on the way to church today:

Now, you might think that I just randomly took this photo of something weird to illustrate a point. In a sense, I did. But, in another sense I really did not. For me (and I'm pretty sure for Mark as well), men's fashion has been the most culturally shocking thing about living in Paris. It's just not at all what I expected. And, it does seem to us as though anything goes. You have "plain-Janes" and "out-there-weird-Al's" living in perfect harmony. It's people watching at it's best!

Sticking with the male theme, here are some photos to try to illustrate some of the differences we notice:

You've got man purses (or is it a man bag? or some might call it a murse?):

I've seen super classy men dressed to the hilt in expensive black suits carrying multicolored striped (yes, pink and purple included in those colors) man purses.

Berets are everywhere especially now that it's cold:

And so are helmets:

Millions of people drive mopeds or motorcycles here. They have this really clever leather wrap they put on their bikes in the winter to help with the cold. Smart. But, they wear their helmets a lot. Maybe more than someone would in the States. I was in a Bakery getting bread one evening and there was a long line in the store. After I was served my bread and paid, I turned around to see a guy right behind me wearing his helmet inside the store getting his bread. I just about cracked up! This is a normal occurence here. Somehow, though, I think it is funny.

Now, here we have a photo of Mark modeling the classic Paris look. Mark did not have ambitions of transforming to the classic Paris look so soon, but it came as a result of necessity. He has lost 20 pounds since we arrived! Wow! As a result, all of his pants were falling off, and his heavier coat was so big it wasn't warm in the least bit anymore. So, we had to go shopping. The only jeans available are French looking jeans. (SKINNY JEANS! No "relaxed fit" jeans to be found here!) The only coats available are French looking coats. So, adding the scarf (which is also a must here), Mark has turned into a very Parisien looking guy! Who would have thought?

Now, for Mark to really complete the look, he should buy the pointy toed shoes all men seem to wear here. Here's a photo of what they look like:

2. Black is IN! Yes, black is the color of Paris these days. When we arrived, it was still nice summer weather and we saw beautiful colors, especially on women. But, with the turn of season and the donning of coats, the colors have disappeared and the black has come on in full force. (I especially notice this when I wear my bright pink coat that I got at a Lands End Inlet shop on clearance. I knew I would stick out like a sore thumb...and sure enough I do!) Here's a photo from the metro today.

Now do you see why my bright pink coat sticks out? While we're looking at a photo of the metro together, I'll throw in a photo of the guy who jumped on board our train today and played accordian for us for a short while today.

So, back to clothing...
3. Women look just like what I expected. Tall black boots, black pants or tight-fitting jeans, a fancy blouse and a really upscale tailored black coat with a belt at the waist...and yes, a scarf with lots of fabulous colors. And, yes, they are by-and-large very skinny people. They make the look look very good.

Now, here's another look that is very common here among women.

4. Children. Oh, my how I wish that I could take hordes of photos of the children in France! They look like they should be in Norman Rockwell paintings! It's just fabulous...especially the little girls! Best of all, now that the cold weather is here, we see all of these little children in super cute coats with SCARVES around their necks! It's just so cute! I tried to get a photo. Here's the best I could do without really scaring parents.

This extremely happy little girl was probably about 1 and a half years old and she had on tall boots, tights, a skirt, a dressy coat and a scarf and a hat. The little fella next to her also has on a hat and scarf.

I got a photo of the little girl as we were coming into the metro, but the colors went funky on my camera, so this is the best I could do given the way my camera read the light in the room.

But, isn't that sweet? I just love it. She matches every other little French girl. Here's a couple of photos I found on Flickr that also show French children.

And, it seems all kids here have scooters. This photo is very true to life here.

4. Families. I'm going to show two photos of families next. Both of these photos were taken today. This first one is what I would call typical. Girls in tall black boots. (Lena's hinting BIG-TIME for these high boots for Christmas. She tells us ALL the girls in her class wear these.) Boys in classic coats and jeans with black shoes. It's the look.

But then, you have those families that just make you smile inside. Like this family.

I wonder if they are really from France. They might be or they might not. The Mother's hair was died blue. You can't see it in the photo, but it was very blue. The young gal had on Wheelies and here Mom and Dad where pulling her through the Metro. I'm wondering how she managed to get her parents to agree to pulling her through Paris. Then, there's Dad. He's wearing capris. These were the army green quilted variety. Which made me wonder if he was, in fact, a hunter because he also has such a bright orange sweatshirt on...but then his shoes that looked a bit more like slippers than shoes really confuses that idea. :-) Oh well...

Perhaps you can see why I began this blog on the subject of clothes with ANYTHING GOES! Although, there are many days when I feel like anything goes but what I'M wearing! What fun it is to be in another culture. Never a dull moment out here. :-)

Well, rather than end this blog with flowers in Paris again, I thought I would end with photos of the kids.

Here's Todd being a cowboy. This little cowboy just filled his canteen in the very modern sink. I love it!

And, I wanted to show you the sidewalks we walk going to church. I must admit that I am growing very tired of the "step on a crack and you'll break your Mother's back" game that Lena and Ryan play every Sunday walking to church. The sidewalks are really not very condusive to this game! Ugh! (You can see Ryan's feet...and he's about to break my back!)