Color Inspiration: What to wear to a wedding in France, part 1

I just returned home from an eight day excursion through Paris and Normandy. The occasion: the nuptials of two amazingly awesome friends whose love shines as bright as the City Of Lights itself!

As chic and continental as this all sounds, there were a few American missteps- my traveling companions and I found ourselves locked out of the Parisian pied-a-terre we were borrowing on the second day there.  Did you know that the French do not have the words ‘locked out’ in their vocabulary- they say “I’m at the door”.  Many euros later we had mastered our first ‘un-tourist’ French saying and had the perfect wedding reception icebreaker of a story.

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Second, a little important travel tip to pass on: pack your GPS if you are planning on driving anywhere!  We sure were wishing we had…especially after passing by the same set of cows 14 times around 2 AM in Normandy- a region whose lack of signs and streetlights only adds to it’s charm.

the following morning- I had the distinct feeling that these bulls actually recognized the Renault we were driving

With that all said,  let me back track a few days.  To the week leading up to the most important part of the trip- what I was going to wear to this wedding?  The factors involved- a tight budget paired with a need to create ‘a look’ that captured not only my American desire of ease, but was on par with the joie de vivre spirit of this oh-so-very French event.

A few friends said to me- Why don’t you buy something in Paris to wear?  Well, I have to admit- I thought the same thing.  But there is a big risk in taking this chance.  1.) I tend to have no luck when I am shopping under pressure and 2.) I didn’t want my first days in Paris to be stressing about what I was going to wear to the wedding.

I figured if I stumbled upon something- well then fantastic, no harm done.  But there was no way I was leaving NY without a complete ensemble in tow.  So I set about the search.  First with the budget part in mind a trip inside my own arsenal.  I have in my possession a few choice vintage pieces that have been dying to see the light of day.  One in particular- a brown grecian style gown circa 196o’s- came first to mind as perfectly ‘ timely’ for the event.

I figured a few chunky pieces of coral colored bakelite and a touch of animal print would ‘pop’ against the chocolate brown of my treasured friend

But after trying it on…I don’t know.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  I liked the silhouette..but the color of the dress felt flat- it wasn’t conjuring up the image of a magical summer evening in France that I had swirling around in my head.

A quick rummage through my ‘dress up’ box ( i.e. the storage box that contains all of my favorite vintage finds) and I came up empty handed. Everything felt too heavy, too formal and too flashy for what I was hoping to be an easy, carefree night.  My colors to choose from- a smokey blue, a pale golden yellow, and iridescent green all felt right for a night in urbanville…but somehow seemed slightly off for the north of France.

Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted something in a box of accessories…the perfect inspiration- a black Chanel flower pin ( a gift from fellow color maven April Clark-discovered at NY’s Housing Works thrift shop years before).

Voila! Why hadn’t I thought of this first- like the saying goes’ when in Rome, do as the Roman’s do’ so of course-’when in France do what Coco Chanel would do-wear black and white!’

To be continued….