Yes, the old fashion wooden shoes are back... in a trendy way.... colorful, high-heeled, glamourous... and french...Even Channel's models are wearing them.

These wooden clogs ... used to be the symbol of an outdated France, here in Brittany ... Parisians were looking at the inhabitants of the rest of France and specially the Western part as backward people with their wooden shoes and their cap...
Brittany is taking its revenge being the land of clogs, traditional ones and fashion ones...
Villecartier forest (next to Fougères)used to house manufacturers of those wooden soled shoes ... One is still working in the artisanal tradition at Parigné, a small village really close ... but there used to be lots.... about 400 people were living in 1840 amid the trees. The forest was inhabited until 1932. Today ten clog'makers are still working in France ... half in small Britain, but no more under the trees.



A few decades ago, these families were migrants, they settled for almost two years, near a tree to have the time to turn it into wooden shoes... Yes they needed a long time to do the work... Then, the home was disassembled and reassembled next to another tree. In the Villecartier forest, you can see a wooden hut which is a replica of the traditional habitat.

These wooden shoes were used for field work and every day life... They were carved for young girls to marry ...



Today there is the trend shoe, the classic Swedish clog, double sole clogs (wood and rubber), the crocks in plastic, these leather sandals with soles made of wood ... the wooden and leather shoes... for men and women, very useful for those who love gardening: they can wear their shoes and go picking vegetables in the garden next door).

Read this article in French : Chaussures tendance : le sabot revient à la mode

This year, French fashion will be striped... stripped T-shirts... If you don't wear a top T-shirt or a navy striped sweater, you'll be old-fashioned... Fashion is stripped and the wardrobe of babies, children, women and men, youngs, … even old ones, Parisians and Froggs... are full of them. You have to wear some...

The reason for stripes ...
Initially, these stripped clothes have a history and a very specific use ... Fishermen and sailors used to wear (and still do) stripped clothes ... And for good reason ... A man overboard is easier to find with this type of clothing ... That's what the legend says ... I did not try !

No wonder that great clothing brands are French, even Breton : Armorlux for example... has an entire collection of marine clothing... Long or short sleeves, blue, white, red, yellow stripes... Nautical trend is back...

And to buy them cheap, you can either plan to go to France, even Brittany and buy them there on the Armorlux company at Quimper... Or get them on websites Brin de mer, for example, another marine clothing brand, where they sell the last year collection online … cheaper... at really low prices...

Other clothes are originally sailor « wardrobe »... la vareuse , a cotton jacket really thick that protects you from the wind ...

There's also the yellow rain slicker ... The emblem of stormy weather in Britain, of wet and drizzled weekends ... I discovered that its history starts in 1960, in France when a man tired of waiting his friend in the rain, (he was a clothing manufacturer) had this great idea... Before there were oiled jackets... waterproof ... but it was a different time ...

The sailor sweater, buttoned on the shoulder, has had its period of glory ... It used to be wool, 100%, … now they use cotton or other materials...
In short, these stripped tee shirts are trendy ... With the first sunbeams, everyone is wearing them... And you ?