At home I was never big on accessories. I always felt kind of ridiculous in them, or that I just simply wasn’t a person who could pull them off. I have necklaces I never take off, and occasionally will wear a belt, but that’s about all I stick to while at home. While being in Paris something I’ve noticed is that hair pieces are so much bigger here. Whether it’s a small ribbon in your hair, a headband, or a head scarf, they are everywhere and they make such a difference. So, one of the first things I did once I got here, was by my own leopard hair piece from Bershka, pictured below.

As a girl who loves to wear black pretty much over any color, I find that hair pieces change the game. Suddenly, a simply black outfit is elevated. Did you wear black jeans and a black turtleneck and black boots again? Don’t worry, just add a hair ribbon and your life is changed. I think one of the things that has inspired me most while I’ve been here is accessorizing. French fashion is definitely made up by the small things. It’s the way that French people put themselves together that makes the difference. A hat, a scarf, a belt, a necklace- it all combines to really makes a look, not just an outfit. So in conclusion, YOU CAN PULL OFF THAT HAIR BAND WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE BLAIR WALDORF, AND YOU SHOULD. Be bold and go try things you never thought you would, because you’ll end up loving it.

Till next time,

Dina

I’m back… and here to show you how my idea mentioned in the previous post, FLOURISHED.

Booooy, it was fun alright… so here’s a lil general run-down of my lil escapade.

Here we have the thrift store… COIFFEUR.

Located on 32 Rue des Rosiers, this place is a GEM. Before I did this project, I wasn’t even aware of the name, we’d simply refer to it as, “the place next to L’As du Falafel” and that was that.

I decided to start this project with Coiffeur because I was positive it had a euro bin and I knew that I could (halfway) trust randomly selecting items from it, just due to the carefully curated pieces the store already has, I knew that the euro bin had to be those items they picked that never realllyyy got purchased (still purposefully picked out, just not hitting it with customers).

If I could rank this thrift store I’d give it a 6.8. The clothes are good, nothing where every single item you find you want to buy, which isn’t even typical or an expectation you should have with thrift stores. The space is just a little crowded, it almost sets you (or at least shoppers like me) up for failure… aka buying an item without trying it on and it INEVITABLY not fitting. WHICH for me was due to my DIFFICULT nature of not wanting to deal with the ONE dressing room they had in such an already cramped space. It also only has one mirror right in front of the register, which just makes me feel a littttle bit judged. Aside from that, clothes are good and prices are fair.

So here’s a little run down of my trip…

And here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

How I decided to incorporate the first item I picked…

Here we have outfit #1… it’s something I would typically wear. It’s just a simple, open knit sweater, so I guess the hardest part I had with it was kinda trying to jazz it up to actually make it semi-cute (which some people might still disagree with). I’ve been into only buttoning the middle button on cardigans lately and I couldn’t tell you why, but I think it’s cute. BUT what really is cute, anyway?

And here’s outfit #2&3… I didn’t get as excited for these days as I did with the 1st… there was no dramatic photo shot for me pulling from the bag; I just pulled it from the bag… and went on my way for the day.

• 

BOTH of these items I picked HAPPENED to be accessories, which to me… is always difficult. I’ve always wanted to be someone who could accessorize so effortlessly, but alas I’m not and deciding how to jazz up some earrings or in this case a purse or a hat, is not my forte, which I guess made this more challenging (but STILL FUN!!!).

Allllll in alllll, the items I got were slightly different for me personally and it was fun to incorporate them. I got 5 items altogether from the Coiffeur euro bin and these were the 3 I guess I was destined to be forced to wear throughout last week. The other 2 items were a striped purple sweater and a flower print dress, which I think I’ll try to wear at some point because I still like the items, but I wasn’t forced to wear it as I made myself with these items.

I think I will wear the white cardigan again and I definitely want to keep the purse just because I think it’s fun and cute and not what I would typically go for with a purse. The hat on the other hand, might be passed down to someone else… it just doesn’t look good on me. I still think it’s kind of cute, I’m just not the right person for it… she deserves someone else.

STAY TUNED FOR NEXT WEEK AS I PLAN ON GOING TO FREE’P’STAR, which ALSO features a Euro bin that ONCE again I will be choosing from.

See y’all on the flip side,

ABBY

I’ve always felt that fashion was dictated by the young. That the people who make or break trends are young people. High schoolers, teenagers, young adults- most susceptible to peer pressure and least affected by the way the world stifles creativity as you get older. In New York, it was high schoolers who ruled the aesthetic of the city. When I was a freshman in high school it was American Apparel everything. Every high schooler who was with “it” walked around the city in knee high socks, circle skirts or easy jeans and a cropped top. Even I fell subject to its timeless American appeal. Eventually, American Apparel would go bankrupt because it’s basic styles just could not justify the exorbitant prices for the items; yet at the time, it was the youths of the city that kept them in business.

As I was preparing to leave high school, a new trend began emerging. The trend of thrift stores, of vintage stores. Suddenly I began to see rich girls parading in clothes that made them look anything but that. They wore mismatched articles, old and mishapen, with baggy pants and tight shirts. Florals mixed with patterns, scarves as shirts, scarves in hair, belts and bags that our moms wore before having us. When I left New York for college, I was quickly surrounded by girls who all dressed alike, in clothes that were foreign to me. These were the Suburban Girls, with their suburban fashion. As I progress through college, it seems to me that these Suburban Girls are always just a year or two late to the trends the City Girls make; real life trickle down economics.

Then, I realized it was the youths of the City that dictated fashion. Every time i return home from college I am re-inspired. I am reminded of the bold fashion choices these girls make, the ways they singlehandedly made androgony fashionable, brought back low-rise jeans and baggy pants, mixing 90s fashion with 2020 sexual empowerment. These are the girls that run the world, create fashion from whatever they are given, from what’s around them, from the city that lives within and without them.

So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself even more intimidated by Parisian teenagers. They stand outside of school during lunch or after the day has ended smoking cigarettes, leaning on walls, talking to one another playfully. They don’t wear skinny jeans, they wear big coats, and sneakers, and they hang their cigarettes so casually from their hands. They are effortlessly cool, appearing to come from every decade all at once. In conclusion, I’m scared of the Parisian youths, the ones running the city without people ever even turning their heads to notice.

Paris.

The shopping capital of the world.

…and I still seem to find myself shopping at thrift stores.

Surprisingly, I’m not too mad about it. Paris being the fashion capital of the world is attainable for some people. Getting the latest Parisian fashions from local boutiques or even luxury houses is what Paris is about for certain individuals- it has shaped Paris into the fashion hub it is today. Thankfully, most of those boutiques and luxury stores provide a window display with a little itsy-bitsy card at the bottom that provides the prices of the outfits on display- and most of the time (who am I kidding… all the time) it’s enough for me to take my little, broke American behind on my way. Didn’t need them anyway!

Paris does have affordable fashion but it comes at an even higher cost: FAST FASHION. Which could be it’s own blog post on it’s own and a subject that I’m sure most people are aware of. So I tend to stay away from fast fashion brands that I have access to at home (another reason I don’t like to shop there, bc shopping here is about getting pieces I couldn’t at home) like Zara, H&M, and Primark.

… and that is exactly why I find myself back at thrift stores.

In the U.S. it’s more about the experience: checking out a quirky, unique store with the possible chance of stumbling upon a piece you actually like. In Paris, it seems to be that most of the thrift stores actually have (mostly) carefully curated items that fit into the whole “vintage” image that is popularized today. In Paris, it isn’t really a hunt. Most thrift stores have items that you would actually want to purchase, sure you have to look to find items that are your style & size, but it’s not all about ram-sacking through thousands of duds to get that one amazing item.

… except for in the euro bin.

Which is where I find myself this week.

I thought it would be an interesting concept (as mentioned in my last post), to go into the euro bin or sale/cheapest section of a thrift store and randomly grab a handful of items and purchase them. At the start of each day, I would randomly draw from the bag and wear whatever item I pick and incorporate it into my outfit. Not only is this a cheap way to switch up my outfits, but it’s also a way to show how attainable, cheap, and environmentally friendly wearing second-hand, thrifted clothing is.

Even further, I thought it would be cool to do this each week, focusing and rating the thrift stores and going around different areas of Paris to see what the area has to offer. It will force me to get out and around different arrondissements I wouldn’t find myself normally in.

So I’ll leave off for this week on that note, and will be updating again on Tuesday (maybe Wednesday, maybe Monday who knows) to give a summary of my last week of incorporating the thrifted items from Coiffeur Thrift shop into my outfit.

See y’all on the flip side.

Hello everyone! My name is Dina Re and I am one of the three editors here at RINGARD. I’m 20 years old, and from Chelsea, Manhattan in New York City. I am a junior at The College of William and Mary but I’m currently spending a semester studying abroad in Paris with CEA.

Fashion has always been really important to me, especially growing up in NYC. When I started to come of age, I found that clothes were the best way to express myself as I began to understood who I was and how I saw the world. To me, clothes show the world who you are; they provide a glimpse into your corner of the universe- the space you claim as your own and the spaces you still want to take up. As I’ve grown up my style has changed and evolved a million times over, but as the French say, se la vie.
I don’t think I can really describe my style. I am a dynamic young woman with a million different dreams and passions and goals. I find inspiration from walking down the street, from the people I meet and the people I love, from the books I read and the friends I make. I am so much more than just one thing, so to pick one category to describe my style seems to be doing it an injustice. I love to push boundaries and make people think twice, I love to make art and wear beautiful clothes, I love black clothes and colorful clothes. I love baggy jeans and skinny jeans, thick sweaters and cropped tees that show your underboobs. I’ll include a few pictures below so that maybe you can start to get a feel.

I hope through RINGARD, we can create a platform that inspires you. A place where you come to grow and learn and be inspired. A place where you see clothes you love. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you, and am so excited to show you my corner of the universe through the clothes I wear and the people I meet.

An Introduction

Blogs are weird and I don’t know how to start this because I didn’t have an exact direction that I was going to go with this exact post. I have ideas for future posts, but it’s currently 10 PM and I’m sitting in a train station in Amsterdam waiting for my 11:45 overnight bus.

So I’ve got a lot of time, a whooooole lot of time to sit and ponder about the direction that I would like to take this blog.

1st things first…

I want it to be fun and to not get tooooo mundane, but it’s easy for things that we see as routine to become more of an obligation and less of something you find enjoyment from. So, I just want to keep it entertaining, which I am currently lacking on.

2nd…

The main point of this blog is to focus on fashion. So I want to discover and discuss different realms of fashion that I otherwise wouldn’t be comfortable with or wouldn’t look into.

3rd…

I want to explore and fully understand the way that fashion is interwoven into Parisian culture and how to achieve that effortless Paris style. 

So that’s what I’m here for and that’s what I expect to get out of this blog. I’ve planned to have more routine posting schedules and I think we’ve decided that I will be posting on Thursdays.

For the next at least few weeks I want to explore different thrift shops in each arrondissement in Paris and get a random bag of clothing items from the one euro bin that a lot of the thrift stores have and incorporate them into my outfits to show the accessibility of cheap yet environmentally sustainable items. That’s a super important aspect of fashion for me, especially with the recent prevalence of the dangers of the fast fashion industry. Also I think thrifted clothes are a lot more unique and that’s what this entire blog is kind of about, or at least the angle I’m taking from it.

SO, all that being said I will be ending this very sporadic, slightly incoherent blog post with a Godspeed and a talk to y’all later.

Welcome to RINGARD, a fashion blog focusing on Parisian fashion with a twist. On this site you will find content all about the ins and outs of eye-catching Parisian fashion, such as outfit ideas, mood boards, playlists, and more!

Who are we? RINGARD was started by three college students as a project for a fashion and media class during a semester abroad in Paris, France. Our task: pick a fashion topic, consistently blog about it during the entire semester, and present it as our final project. When we think of Parisian fashion, we often think of the classic, neutral, put-together street style. Instead, we decided to add a twist: we would focus on eye-catching fashion that stands out from the crowd. ‘RINGARD’ literally translates to “tacky, old-fashioned, out of style”, but we instead want to look at how Parisians choose to stand out, tackle the trends, flip pieces, and go out of their comfort zones.

Over the next four months, we will be posting weekly content as we learn to navigate fashion, style, and lifestyle in Paris – the fashion capital of the world.