In a previous post entitled La Femme Française, French blogger Garance Doré explores the enigma of the Parisienne by discussing style in general, stripes, layering, scarves, solid colors, and even smoking.
Garance's images of women are striking, fierce, endearing, and most of the time - very Parisienne indeed - beguiling.
For those rare instances that men grace her pages, one notices that pictures have a different pull; the timbre or weight of the images change. They are not necessarily heavier, but they retain a tinge of the exotic and the strange that whisper from her shots of women.
It is easy to call some of these men soft and fragile, but I think that that impression is just their version of the ruse. If women appear tough and feisty, these men may only be allowing an impression of weakness - tenderness to coat rough edges.
There is that same tendency towards the scruffy - via hair, layering, frippery, or even just the roll or the crease of the sleeve - but as with women, it is always intentional: a nonchalance that is both innate and studied.
Of course, some of you may have ready reactions for style flourishes.
But not all differences are deviant or done in daring.
A simple scarf, a brightly colored shoe, the fall of a hem - these are enough to add vintage to a common drink.
Other times it's really just bad-ass hair, the perfect bag, being surrounded by classic architecture, the size of your necklace, or accessories that place a plume on your outfit.
Or having a scar at the right place.
Who can say what makes the Parisian who he is? There is no single script.