Home » Education & Career » Living Abroad: France » Spend it Back Home

Spend it Back Home

© Sara Dellinger

September in Paris is like the beginning of the end. While an occasional, sunny day can still be found, there is an unmistakable feeling that winter is not far off. Fall is virtually nonexistent here and it's been difficult to know really what to wear. One day will be warm, summery and sunny, the next seems as though it's been borrowed from mid November, dead leaves swirling out into the busy streets.

I've seen a few women still wearing open-toed shoes, in temperatures below what I would call comfortable. Maybe I'm still on my Memorial Day to Labor Day schedule and haven't yet figured out the French equivalent. Or maybe these women just have no qualms whatsoever about wearing summer sandals with fall jackets. I'm not one of them. I've put away the white shoes, sleeveless tops and summer pastels and have pulled out last year's beige and black that's been à la mode since last Fall.

The beige tones have deepened into darker browns and maroon. the New Bohemian Chic theme has picked up where it left off last winter. Long skirts, multiple colors and patterns, leather, suede, fringe and those wide, 70's style belts are de rigeur in every boutique. It's a very feminine, romantic look and is topped off perfectly with tall, pointy-toed boots, also from last year, perhaps with the addition of a fringe or other trimmings.

Of course, one can't dress like a gypsy every day. Classic sportswear is still a good choice and never démodé. American sports brands, popular in France for quite a few years (and often selling for twice the price here) work great at the gym or during the weekend for outdoorsy type activities. On principle, I refuse to pay more than what I consider something to be worth. I buy "Made in the USA" when I am in the USA. All of my workout clothing and my jeans were bought back home. However, for more formal or eveningwear, my wardrobe is European. I'm somewhat divided on accessories. I love the handbags I find in France, but bought several pairs of shoes during my last visit the US.

I like to base my buying decisions on what I call the quality-price ratio. A 40 or 50-dollar pair of shoes in the US offers a quality that I can feel comfortable wearing. In France, the same price will buy plastic or cheap leather that is probably not worth the cost of a repair at the cordonerie. I remember one mistake I made a couple of years ago: I bought a pair of basic black leather shoes to wear with a pants suit and discovered that the hollow, plastic heels made a horrific, embarrassing noise when walking on concrete or another hard surface. I took them in to be "repaired". The cordonnier stuffed some sort of material into the heel and replaced the heel cap. I took them home and tried one more time, but the "improvement", which cost half the price of the shoes, was negligible at best. Those shoes quickly went the way of the Croix Rouge (the French Red Cross).

The copyright of the article Spend it Back Home in Living Abroad: France is owned by Sara Dellinger. Permission to republish Spend it Back Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.