Why Money Can't Buy You Style

Money can buy you fashion.
Money can't buy you style.
As The Beatles famously sang 'money can buy you diamond rings but it can´t buy you love'.  

In the same way, money can buy you fashion, but it can´t buy you style.

Many people are under the misapprehension that you need money to:
- Have good taste
- Have style
- Dress well
- Dress like a chic French woman

If this were true, then ALL wealthy people and celebs would be the best dressed in the world. Well, Newsflash! It is fair to say that this is not true. Have you seen the wealthy pop stars, celebs and Hollywood actresses lately? More money than style, that's for sure.

I have always wondered why people with such deep pockets seemingly lack any sense of style. I have come to the conclusion that they think with their purse without developing a sense of style. If it´s new and it´s trendy, then they buy it and wear it, regardless of whether it suits them.

So money can buy you fashion. It lets you buy all those new ‘things’, the latest clothes, the latest gadgets, the latest shoes and handbags. Heck, you even get sent free clothes when you are rich and famous! Still, free clothes are never a sign of good style. And as they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. What celebs gain in free clothes they lose in having any sense of personal style.

Money definitely can’t buy you style. Because you see, style is not a thing. It isn´t hanging on the hooks in the stores for you to buy. You can´t waltz into a boutique and ask for a handful of style or taste. Why? Because style is knowledge. A know-how. It is about you, knowing yourself and what suits you. With all the money in the world, without style, you will look at best fashionable, at worst, well pick your own euphemism here.

Certainly, if you have the money you can be well dressed: You can pay a personal shopper to dress you.

But, do many women have the money to pay for someone else to dress them? And, to be honest, most celebs have fashion advisers and personal shoppers and as we have all noticed they are amongst the worst dressed. So, paying for someone else to dress you is no guarantee of being stylish.

Can you see the difference?

Chic French women are rightly recognised the world over for being the best dressed in the world. We must be wealthy, right? Err, non. In France, salaries are low and taxes high, so French people watch how they spend their money, I can assure you. The only thing on which we spend money with abandon is…food!

When it comes to clothes, we buy  less.
We buy the best we can afford.
We buy quality.
We buy what suits us because we KNOW, from a lifetime of self-critique what suits us.

We are strict in our observance of what I have called The Three Pillars of French Chic.
We don’t stray far away from great style and into fashion.
We are in style and don’t follow fashion.

Buying trendy pieces indiscriminately just because they happen to be the latest in fashion? Not for us.
We buy them ONLY if they fit our guidelines. We ALWAYS follow our guidelines, our rules of French Chic. I may venture out there by saying this, but perhaps French Chic is THE strictest style there is.

Ask French women whether they would wear silly trendy clothes, trendy colours, trendy prints and trendy designs: you will invariably receive the same response: Non! They may laugh or look at you as if you’re ‘dingue' for asking silly questions. A French woman does NOT wish to stand out by wearing ‘fashionable but silly’ pieces. If fashionable pieces are stylish and chic, yes of course, they will wear them. If they are ‘out there’ they will avoid them. A chic French woman wants to be noticed for herself, not for her outlandish clothes. Even if they are the latest things. We don’t care  about that. No French woman wants to wear silly clothes and look silly. Ever!

The good news is that, although chic French women have spent their lives refining their own, personal sense of style, it is never too late for you to catch up. All you need is someone to open your eyes and show you the way. It really is very simple. Once you see what you need to do, your style and confidence will increase in leaps and bounds.

So, the lesson today is: You don’t need money to look stylish and chic.
What you DO need? Knowledge.

And this knowledge is what I ALWAYS give you, mon amie.

Use the money you would spend on unflattering pieces, pieces you would wear only once, to enrol in the best style courses, such as The French Chic Academy. 

For this, you have to be ready to learn. But this knowledge and application WILL give you style.

Enrol in The French Chic Academy to receive all the knowledge and experience of
chic French women without having to be French yourself.

A Bientôt
Marie-Anne ♥︎