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There is more to French style than Brigitte Bardot, artfully tucked shirts, and slightly oversize menswear. Take the 1988 film Frantic, a Paris-based thriller centered on a perpetually broke smuggler, Michelle (played by Emmanuelle Seigner), and a doctor from San Francisco named Walker (Harrison Ford). The two end up crossing paths in Paris while Walker is searching for his kidnapped wife.
The movie is a fun portrayal of late-’80s Parisian nightlife, but it is also a costumed view into the dichotomous stereotypes of uptight Americans and the laissez-faire French. Walker is a well-to-do suburbanite who never veers outside of his tepid self, even while being caught in car chases and shoot-outs: He never changes out of his straitlaced jacket of a drab gray check suit, white shirt, and suffocatingly fastened tie. On the other hand, Michelle is the definition of unhinged chic, in a revolving collection of looks that waver between coyly baggy and boyish to alluring and curve skimming.
Michelle is a far-flung French fantasy. She wears a military cap without irony and looks great. She eats white bread without hesitation. Her electric bills go unpaid, but her apartment lights still stay on. She can’t be bothered with everyday responsibilities like money, or thoughts of the future, but she has a perfectly imperfect overgrown bob, a smoldering smoky eye, and a covetable collection of just-baggy-enough Levi’s jeans. The bohemian, city-as-a-playground lifestyle fits her gritty wardrobe: outfits sleeplessly tousled with too-large leather jackets thrown over tight-fitting tanks. Her accessories are glitzy and garish, like huge parrot hoops or studded belts. She chews gum obnoxiously. It is French insouciance at its best.
Fast-forward years later, and the Frantic aesthetic feels just as timeless as Jane Birkin’s patchwork denim or those Left Bank Le Smokings. (Frantic served as an inspiration for Altuzarra’s Resort 2017 collection, too.). Still, Michelle’s look wouldn’t have been the same without her attitude. As she says to a fretting Dr. Walker, “Relax, be cool, and just walk.” The rest of the outfit will fall into place—good advice, no matter where you are.