Finding My Inner French Girl

I've always been drawn to the "French Girl" books about the mystical way of life a of a French woman. Now, I suspect that this is at least partially a myth or at the very least a huge exaggeration. However, the image appealed and I started by the road looking for my inner French girl.

The first place I started was my wardrobe. Over time it had become disjointed and drifted from who I really was. Bottom line is that I am a very conservative, traditional dresser. I went shopping a few times with my sister who is an elementary school teacher and dresses more J. Jill than Brooks Brothers and I began to drift.

I found an amazing blog called The Vivienne Files. She is a lovely blogger and has a great series about starting a wardrobe from scratch and choosing colors. My main colors are navy blue and gray. I also use white, red and hunter green. I have been ruthlessly editing my closet and keeping really only the things of better quality. This is the few items but better quality aspect that you will hear a lot about if you read books about the life of "The French Woman". Although, I think it is a more common trait among Europeans in general. My Swedish friend totally swears by this.  It's not necessarily and easy transition but I am trying to move to only buying things that I love, and love me back.

I'll post about the other ways I am "finding" my inner French Girl in the days to come but for now, I have decided that her name is Collette! What about you?