Summer chic on the streets of Paris

The World Cup eclipsed all other events in Paris. Almost simultaneously, the Tour de France and Haute Couture Fashion Week for autumn-winter 2006 were taking place, but every Frenchman’s heart beat only for his football players. Les Bleues team, who were in their 30s, were considered "the old men of Europe" and were not expected to win against the youthful Portuguese and Brazilian football idols. But they valiantly fought their way to victory after victory and miraculously reached the finals.

But hey, let’s not forget the fashionistas. They can be as diehard as football fans. They are the raison d’etre of all the haute-couture designers who are worth their weight in euros. They are the rich and the very rich who fly to Paris from all over the world, some in their private jets, to replenish their wardrobes with the collections of the grand masters of fashion: Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, John Galliano for Dior, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Elie Saab, Giorgio Armani.

During the Valentino show, I caught a glimpse of some royals from the oil-rich Middle Eastern kingdoms, celebrities Elizabeth Hurley, Kylie Minogue, Liv Tyler, Paris Mode TV host Marie Christian Marek, and the editors of Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, L’Officiel, etc.

At the Balenciaga Exposition at the Louvre, English heiress Jemima Goldsmith was there with beau Hugh Grant, and so were other celebs like Jennifer Connelly, Maggie Cheung, Charlotte Gainsbourg, etc. It is a whole different world of fantasy and one can get lost in its magic, but only temporarily.

Back in the street waiting for a cab, a backpacker approached me asking for 5 euros ($7) to buy a meal and I realized that the very rich and famous are in their own world and they belong to the .0000001 percent of the world’s population. We normal mortals take commercial flights, ride taxis instead of stretch limos and will not buy a haute-couture Valentino unless it is in its final stage of price reduction (usually during the last week of sale in July).

More realistically speaking, we commute via subway or bus and we go bargain hunting for name brands in out-of-town outlets.

So what do ladies wear when it is the height of summer and the temperature is in the high 20s and 30s? As it turns out, the kind of fashion we can easily identify with – the kind of casual chic that is realistic for our climate and our lifestyle.