Vanille Verloës Is Changing the Look of “French Girl Style” With Her Eclectic, High-Low Vision
Vanille gallery
Who’s that girl? is a question you hear often in the Vogue offices, whether we’re scrolling through Instagram or reviewing hundreds of new street-style photos. It’s particularly intriguing when no one can seem to place the stylish woman in question: Is she a model? An editor? Or just an unsuspecting civilian who happens to have great clothes?
Vanille Verloës is a stylist, but she’s brand-new to the scene; most recently, she was assisting the design director of See by Chloé before going out on her own in March. She still has a modest Instagram following of around 6,550 people, and she isn’t the kind of girl who’s desperate to be photographed on the street, either. That said, we’ve spotted her a few times during Paris Fashion Week. She has a natural, offbeat look that stands out instantly: bike shorts with knee-high boots, vintage floral dresses with Nikes, snakeskin pants with neon sweaters. “During fashion week, I don’t over-dress for the occasion, I just dress like it’s a regular day—but maybe I overdress on a daily basis?” she jokes. “My style can be very different from one day to another, as I dress according to my mood of the moment. I really like trends from different eras, so I mix them up while trying to remain elegant, sexy, and comfortable.”
Verloës attributes her eclectic tastes to her upbringing in the French countryside, where she was “pretty isolated” and far away from any major town. “We were surrounded only by nature and animals,” she says. “I would do a lot of manual activities with my parents, like painting and embroidery, and I used to spend a lot of time outdoors with the animals while wearing my princess costume jewelry. When I was six, I came across Fashion TV, and watched a lot of runway shows. I started drawing my own collections and cut up my old clothes to create new ones.”
Now, Verloës is based in Paris, where that DIY, mix-and-match spirit is back on the rise. “I’ve been living in Paris for about six years now, and the local fashion scene is quite interesting, even though I think it’s super tiny. We do have some young, cool designers, and a couple of great shops,” she says. “But I feel like people have become more open in Paris [over the past] couple of years—they can finally dress the way they want. People are less judgmental now. You can take a metro in see-through pants, and it’s okay.”
It’s a far cry from the minimal “French girl chic” stereotype we’ve long associated with Parisian women. For the time being, Verloës is busy building up her portfolio—she recently styled the Avoc menswear show in Paris, and has worked with Burberry and Heron Preston. She dreams of becoming a creative director at a major fashion house. “For now, I just want to go deeper into my creativity, establish my own codes, and assert my identity,” she says. Look out for her at Paris Fashion Week later this month, and follow her on Instagram here.
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