Look, we’re not trying to start anything, but on a recent trip to Paris Fashion Week, we could’ve sworn the street style had taken on a decidedly British flavour. It all started when we noticed one person in low slung jeans and a cropped souvenir top, ‘London, England’ emblazoned across its front. That’s when more Union Jacks started to materialise, first on the earrings of one leather-clad showgoer, and then on the front of a Sex Pistols t-shirt moments later. Elsewhere, 70s punk influences appeared via safety pins and mohawks, while tartan cropped up at various points, as shin-grazing kilts over camouflage cargos, or as patchwork trousers paired with crimson creepers.
At some points, Paris did try and fight back. One attendee wore white trousers with ‘France’ printed all over them, but that was no match for the glut of British iconography. Maybe it had something to do with the unrelenting rain, but Paris was in the clutches of Anglo fever, and it wasn’t letting up. Another Sex Pistols t-shirt arrived on the scene, this time layered beneath an ink-black blazer, while one showgoer even covered her head with a trench coat to shield herself from the rain, arguably the most British thing you can do. And over at the Vivienne Westwood show, French TikToker Lyas transformed into his best Brit cosplay, arriving in impressive striped knickerbockers and a purple check tie.
Although the two countries may only be separated by a small body of water, you don’t usually think of British style as having a huge influence on French. And – despite this showing of Britishness – that’s probably still the case. What we saw on the streets of Paris wasn’t actually British style, but a pastiche of it, all punk inflections and flag-covered irony. There’s not a lot of Londoners, for instance, who dress with the notion of “Britishness” in mind like we’ve seen here, but here’s hoping that might change – when you see others try it on for size, you get a true sense of how cool Anglo fever could be.