Paris Fashion: Seen on the Streets of Paris

Gray, the color of shadows and rainy days. The color of hair as we get older, the love child of black and white. For such an in-between color—if you can call it that—it is still often referred to as a steady neutral that we must have in our Paris fashion wardrobes in some form or another. Perhaps it makes the perfect canvas because it is such an undefined mix. Unobtrusive, it won’t detract from the wearer or from whatever statement piece is paired with it. How do women use gray when they dress? I took to the streets of Paris to find out. 

I spotted a lady wearing a gray coat belted with brown leather while she was shopping. All her accessories were black, apart from a leopard-print shopper. She looked incredibly elegant, and the gray broke up the black without being too harsh a contrast. Had she worn a white coat, she would have looked less relaxed and not quite as mysterious. 

There were many gray coats, in fact—perhaps it is the time of year, or maybe women tend to have one coat per season that must go with everything, and gray goes with everything. 

The trend I liked the most was gray wool tights. I also liked gray tights that seemed barely there. Gray is a little less defined than black, a lot less ballet than white and more accepted in the workplace than color. Let’s not even talk about nude tights. Gray hosiery is chic, and different deniers can take the wearer from rustic to ethereal. Beautiful. 

On my walks on the boulevards, I found that a gray coat is a popular choice in Paris, and that the color is often used for knitwear and occasionally for tights. I’d love to say that I saw more, and I did lose a girl in a silvery long skirt somewhere in Pigalle, but for the majority, gray covered men’s suits and women’s coats. Understated but chic, let’s wear more gray!

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