It’s 10 a.m. in Paris, and the Cool Teens™ have split their ranks. The hoodie-d hype beasts camp at Jordan Bastille for Virgil Abloh’s Off-White Nikes. Across town on Rue de Rivoli—five minutes past the Louvre—there’s a line of filles in Stan Smiths and Zara blazers. They clutch their lip balms and faux marble phone cases, waiting for their turn inside a new selfie hub: Urban Outfitters.
The mothership of strappy tank tops was founded in 1976, but its first-ever Paris flagship opened just a few weeks ago. Though it’s located mere feet from the Place de la Concorde, it’s packed with très American merch: BLDG sweatshirts and Crosley record players cram the millennial pink shelves, along with racks of Tommy Hilfiger sportswear. Even UO’s perfumes are here—ironic, considering their best-selling scents are French Girl odes like Macaron Rosé.
“We know in America, people think about ‘Paris girls’ and our style,” says Laetitia, a 19-year-old student raiding the romper section. “And it’s true—we are very good at a certain kind of fashion. But we see girls in America on Instagram and we love what they wear.”
Like Song of Style and Man Repeller?
“No, just like girls in Brooklyn and L.A.,” she shrugs. “Not even people who are famous on the Internet. Just New York people wearing Urban Outfitters on Instagram,” she explains. “Their style is really cool in a more casual way, and until now, it’s been hard to get in France.”
“Like what girls wear to music [festivals],” adds her friend Amandine, 18, “And things like cool sweatshirts and jeans.” She has a point: though Paris is rich in luxury streetwear favorites like Pigalle and A.P.C., it’s tough to find a reasonably priced hoodie that fits well, feels soft, and doesn’t have the Eiffel Tower splashed across the front. “We could go to Zara, I guess,” she adds, “but everyone shops there, and we don’t all want to wear the same thing.”
18-year-old Laura cites Urban Outfitter’s denim selection as another major lure, because it’s “nice, yes?”—the French-girl phrase for “quality”—and sewn in trendy cuts, but still affordable. And since French pop culture has a perpetual obsession with the wild west, “Super American” blue jeans are as coveted in The Marais as Parisian striped tees are in Manhattan. For the record, Urban Outfitters in Paris doesn’t stock any nautical bateau shirts, though they’ve got an Après Love graphic tee that’s begging for a selfie shot.
Back on Rue Rivoli, I spot a young woman clutching an Urban Outfitters shopping bag in one hand and her boyfriend with the other. She is Alicia, 23, and like the French teens in the store, she went to Urban “especially to buy the jeans, because they have overalls and [rompers] that are so cool… It’s harder to find good versions of them in Paris, unless they’re very expensive or they feel thin and stretch so much, you know?”
Oh yeah. I ask if she saw the “French Girl” scents and candles for sale by the counter. “Oh, you know we do not really try to smell like macarons, right?” Alicia laughs. “We don’t smell like pastry.”
What do they smell like?
“Chanel.”
