During an Instagram Live between our editor in chief, Hannah Almassi, and Who What Wear’s resident French-style expert, Marissa Cox, founder of French-inspired lifestyle destination Rue Rodier and author of the 2021 book, Practising Parisienne, the conversation naturally turned to French style, specifically jeans. For her book, Cox spoke to some of the country’s most iconic dressers to gain an exclusive insight into their wardrobes. It didn’t take her long to see a pattern was starting to form. When talking jeans, there was one pair—a specific cut by a particular brand—that kept cropping up.
“French style is really put on a pedestal, but the truth is, it’s actually a lot simpler than we think it is,” says Cox. “When it comes to fashion, it’s a lot easier to re-create than you might think—it’s a lot less try-hard than what people make it out to be. That’s certainly something that came up when I interviewed some of the women for my book. One of the main things that was repeated, maybe four or five times, was that one of the core items in their wardrobe was Levi’s 501s. That was four different women who said that was one of their favourite items in their wardrobe. You know, just get yourself a pair of 501s and pair it with a simple T-shirt and a blazer, and that’s the more classical take on French style, and it’s very, very easy.”
