Five French Style Icons to Get Inspired By

Fashion is constantly changing. Trends arise, disappear, and come back, while some individuals seem to remain style references long after their own time has passed. There appears to be something in the ability to choose for oneself – to refine, simplify, unleash, or mess up, until clothes and accessories become an extension of one’s own personality.

This is also what unites the five Frenchmen in this article, despite their differing expressions. They wore suits, shirts, jeans, and knits – often garments that were quite ordinary in themselves. Yet, we continue to return to them. Perhaps it is precisely the obviousness of their own choices that distinguishes a style icon from someone who is merely well-dressed. After all, style is not just about what we wear, but about how we wear it, what we make our own, and what we communicate through it.

Yves Saint Laurent - The fashion designer and visionary

The man behind perhaps the most recognized initials in the fashion world not only changed how women dressed but also the perception of what clothing could express. Yves Saint Laurent borrowed from the male wardrobe and created garments for a new era and a woman with greater independence and place in society. For him, fashion was not just about dressing the body, but about expressing a feeling and an identity.

His own wardrobe, however, was far from as revolutionary, even though Yves is still regarded as one of the great style icons of his time – a contradiction that makes him all the more interesting. The well-tailored, often double-breasted suits, shirts, and ties were hardly foreign to the male wardrobe of the time. Yet, the expression became unmistakably his, not least through the thick black glasses that followed him through the years. Perhaps this says something about what truly distinguishes style from fashion.

It doesn’t have to be the new or unexpected that leaves a mark, but the ability to carry the familiar with such consistency and conviction that it ultimately becomes a part of one’s identity.

Jean-Paul Belmondo - The actor and charming rebel

With tousled hair, a subtle smile, and an undeniable charisma, actor Jean-Paul Belmondo became the epitome of relaxed French elegance. During the 1960s, he mixed well-tailored suits, slim trousers, and shirts with sturdier pieces like leather jackets, coats, and knits. The classic met the casual, and the result never felt contrived – rather, it was as if the clothes followed him, not the other way around.

Therein lies Belmondo's enduring allure. Playful, charming, and a little rough around the edges, he allowed his wardrobe to enhance his personality and moved effortlessly between the tailored and the everyday. A style principle that feels just as relevant today: elegance doesn’t have to be perfect. Perhaps it is only when we dare to loosen the rules that personal style can truly shine.

Jacques Dutronc - The singer and stylish provocateur

Jacques Dutronc and his girlfriend, the singer Françoise Hardy, in 1970, Paris.

With a cigarette in hand and a guitar as a natural accessory, Jacques Dutronc combined the rock'n'roll attitude of the 1960s with French elegance. His music blended French pop with rock, psychedelia, and garage, and his wardrobe followed the same creative direction. Slim suits, polo shirts, boots, and casually worn blazers or leather jackets became part of the expression. 

Unlike the aforementioned style icons, Dutronc perhaps had something that can more clearly be described as a look. He dared to go further, allowing the clothes to take center stage and building a visual expression around the same creativity and nonchalance that characterized his music. It is hardly a coincidence that musicians so often become style icons – when the music, personality, and wardrobe tell the same story, style becomes part of the artist. For Dutronc, individuality was the point itself.

Serge Gainsbourg - The singer-songwriter and dishevelled dandy

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin at Berwick Street Market, London, April 1977, ahead of the premiere of Je t'aime Moi non plus.

Where Dutronc dared to create his own look, Serge Gainsbourg took it a step further and challenged the very notion of what goes together – and what is considered elegant at all. The controversial musician was as loved as he was provocative and seemed rarely to care about others' opinions. The same desire to forge his own path was evident in his wardrobe. The shirt was left unbuttoned, jeans were worn with a pinstriped blazer, and the denim shirt found its place under the dark suit. Military shirts, platform shoes, sporty glasses, and the characteristic white Repetto shoes became other recurring elements.

Much of this hardly feels revolutionary today, but in Gainsbourg's time, the combinations were significantly more unexpected. He moved between elegant and casual, right and wrong, doing so with a nonchalance that became part of his identity. Perhaps this is also Gainsbourg's main lesson: dare to combine what doesn't obviously belong together, challenge established rules, and sometimes wear exactly what you want – even when someone else thinks you should refrain.

Alain Delon - The actor and effortless icon

Alain Delon's style was almost provocatively simple. Dark suits, white shirts, knitted sweaters, and jeans made up large parts of his wardrobe, often worn with a certain nonchalance – shirt unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, and tie slightly looser.

When Delon broke through in the 1960s, audiences were met with a movie star sporting a charming smile, a rebellious side, and a bad boy aura that stood in exciting contrast to his elegant wardrobe. Roles in Plein Soleil, Le Samouraï, and later La Piscine reinforced the image of the mysterious and seemingly unbothered Delon. The same simplicity characterized his private style, but now the garments were charged with something more.

Perhaps that’s why we are still inspired by him: not because he showed us something new to wear, but because he demonstrated how much the person in the clothes can change how we perceive them.

Being inspired by a style icon doesn’t necessarily mean wearing the same clothes. Instead, borrow the attitude: the confidence, curiosity, and courage to make the wardrobe your own. Perhaps you’ll become enamored with Yves Saint Laurent's double-breasted suits and turn them into your own uniform. Maybe you’re drawn to Belmondo's way of mixing tailored pieces with casual wear, or you follow Gainsbourg and combine things you never thought would go together. Take inspiration from a silhouette, a color, an attitude – or from the courage to disregard it all.

Personally, I’m bringing a bit of Dutronc into the fall: a touch more rock'n'roll, a bit more nonchalance, and perhaps something unexpected. The next morning, it might be something entirely different. Because perhaps the greatest lesson from these five men is that personal style truly begins when we dare to decide for ourselves.