An insider’s guide to Parisian style

The elusive art of French style lies in its balance. It requires a delicate dance of opposites – masculine and feminine, sophisticated and dishevelled – which combine to create ‘chic’ in the purest form. Indeed, while Parisian women have become slightly more at ease with a décontracté aesthetic (track pants, sneakers and athleisure in all its guises were once considered poor taste), there is a certain unstudied polish that ensures effortless elegance – at any time of day.

Journalist and fashion TV presenter Alexandra Golovanoff grew up in the world’s fashion capital and has spent a great deal of time around its most iconic members – her interview hours clocked up the most time with the late Karl Lagerfeld – perhaps explaining the innate sense of style she possesses.

This impeccable insouciance has been immortalized in Golovanoff’s eponymous cashmere-sweater line, which has already made fast fans of Sofia Coppola, Eva Chen, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Deneuve (who even has a style named after her, following her request for a specific silhouette).

At home, in the sprawling Paris apartment she has recently moved into – among two larger-than-life portraits of herself taken by Karl Lagerfeld, and a scattering of front-row souvenirs – Golovanoff teaches us the (almost) unteachable: a certain je ne sais quoi à la Parisienne.

“I like to have very simple, very ‘raw’ pieces, mixed with something more sophisticated. I always balance opposites – such as casual looks with diamonds. Or a very simple outfit with vintage pieces, but a very beautiful bag. I like the idea of positive and negative, sophisticated and casual. I do it very instinctively; I don’t like to overthink it.”

“Once, when I was on the front row at a show, I realized I was possibly dressed a little bit too blasé, so I challenged myself to try to express my creative side. For me, knitwear was the only way to do it. I love the idea of making clothes with just a single thread of yarn. You don’t need anything else, it’s like magic. It’s cosy, its warm – a sweater is almost a friend – it’s intimate. Our pieces are made with the best-quality cashmere in Mauritius and are hand-knit by loom. The way we do it is exactly what I wanted: a small, family owned factory. The cashmere itself is totally natural. When we do cotton in summer, it’s organic. This is so important.”