Paris Travel Blog: Feminist Style in France

This Christmas I spent a week in Paris. The french capital city and the European capital of fashion, was full of unrest as French citizens have been organizing a massive strike throughout the month of December and at 30 days and counting this is the longest and most widespread strike in the history of France.
The beautiful boulevards were lit with sparkling lights and Christmas decorations adorned cafes and shop windows on the fashionable avenues around the city. I loved wandering through the old city streets and discovering new cafes and boutiques. I also made sure to stop by the many art museums including the Louvre and Musee Rodin. Since there were no metros and few city busses running due to the strike I had to Uber or walk everywhere. As I criss crossed the city going from the fashionable Saint Germain district to the historical Marais and all the way up to the bohemian Montmartre quarter I made sure to check out the styles in store windows as well as street fashions of the famously chic Parisian women. After a week in the city I started to notice a few trends.
One morning I was feeling particularly Parisian, and as I sat in my hotel lobby sipping a cafe au lait and reading my morning paper "Le Parisian" I spotted an article titled "Top words from 2019". The article covered words that represented the major events of the year and one in particular stood out to me "femicide" was listed in the article and defined as a form of gender based violence that has been on the rise around the world. The article stated that the word had been officially added to the French lexicon by the Academie Francaise (the regulating body that is in charge of the French language in France) this year. The article talked about the importance of giving a vocabulary to this discussion so that the problems can be named.
French feminism has always been a unique movement, and American feminists were often thought to be too severe in their attitudes and styles when it comes to the fight for social equality. But in recent years France has had to pass several laws criminalizing street harassment and cat calling because the problem has become so severe. In 2016 Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first female to be named Art Director of the famous and historical French fashion house Dior, made a statement in her runway debut with her "We should all be feminists" t-shirt.
The show coincided with the #metoo movement that swept across Twitter where women from around the world shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault.
The shirt became a cultural icon and was the most instagrammed moment of the show that season. Since then it's been spotted on several celebrities and social media stars in France and around the world and the message is clear. Feminism is not a bad word and it can take many forms.
On December 12th the #jaieteviolee hashtag was trending on Twitter in France where many women lamented the low conviction rate for perpetrators of sexual assault in France.
In Paris as the decade comes to a close the style on the street seemed to reflect this new attitude.The ever trendy young women of France have adopted the 90s grunge trend that has made a revival in the fashion world in recent years. They sport cargo pants or high waisted jeans and boots, and accessorize with heavy metal on belts and jewelry. Their fashion is on trend but even more than that it makes a statement. These women are going into the new decade with their eyes wide open. They know they will need to fight for their place and they are giving a voice to the struggle with their fashion statements.