Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2017

France’s Number One Pastime

image by Nick Youngson, see photo credits at bottom of page I’ve recently rediscovered a fluffy French reality show called ‘Les reines du shopping’ (The Queens of Shopping). The premise is simple: 5 women are given a theme, a budget, and have to find an outfit in 3 hours that fits the theme. They then have to model their ensemble in front of the show’s other contestants and receive a grade. One thought struck me while watching the other day. ‘Why is it,’ I thought to myself, ‘that these women are so opinionated on the clothing of one another?' Of course part of this is the premise of the show. But for one single outfit you can hear everything from ‘Wow, that looks stunning on her. I love it!’ or ‘No, Chantal, that doesn’t fit you at all.’ I noticed this because it echoed with things I have heard in real life. A clothing store clerk, for example, once said to me when suggesting a dress to try "Now, this dress is more ‘flashy’ than what you normally wear, but it w