May 15, 2025
The Color I Saw Everywhere in Paris
In Paris last week, I kept seeing women dressed in a certain color…
Pale blue — either powdery gray, like the blazer of the lovely barista, above; or more of a baby blue. Everyone looked so fresh and pretty in the shades. Inspired, I looked around for few pieces that felt similar:
Thoughts? Which would you wear? I LOVE this polo.
P.S. Past Paris trips, and tomorrow we’re doing a Big Salad issue on what people were wearing in Paris, if you’d like to sign up. xoxo
(Photo taken at Boot Café, used with permission. This post is sponsored by J.Crew, a brand our family has worn for decades. Thank you for supporting the brands that help keep Cup of Jo running.)
Tags: Paris trip
Comments
57 commentsOK, but can we please talk about that barista’s style! The eyebrows! The nails! The lipgloss!
Ooh – this reminds me of the colour ‘glaucous’!
I so wish you would declare when a post is sponsored at the top, before i read through the whole thing only to find it is really an ad. It really affects the integrity of your posts as now when I read something I’m never sure if its your independent opinion, and have to scroll all the way to the bottom to check if it is sponsored before I can relax into it.
thank you for your note, tanya! it is marked at the top (“SPONSORED” right above the post) but I’ll add it to the intro paragraph, too, so it’s extra clear. thank you so much for the feedback.
Hi Jo – personally sponsored posts don’t bother me, but I’m also not seeing any note near the top that says sponsored and often only seeing that it’s sponsored at the very end. I think it also shows differently on the web vs phone. For example, the Old Navy post very clearly shows “sponsored” when viewing on the phone, but not on the computer. However, neither Paris post shows that it’s sponsored on either method, only at the very end of the post. I hope this is helpful!
Hi Emily, thanks so much for sharing your note! We mark all our sponsored posts as “sponsored,” but we realized that if we check a secondary category (like, style or food or travel or motherhood), the post ends up displaying just that category, versus displaying “sponsored” as the category. The Paris trend post was marked as “sponsored” AND “style,” but was only showing “style.” We have now fixed this, and moving forward we will mark our sponsored posts only as sponsored (and not any other category) to avoid any confusion. xoxo
ugh i love that cardigan… i looked in my closet recently and everything is black, white, blue, or white and blue. and then a random orange dress, lol. this shade is perfect
I have a cotton whisper weight very traditional looking close fitting pale blue cardigan from J Crew that I’ve been wearing on repeat this spring. It’s a perfect layer over a tank on a warm day. I was lucky to find brand new “used”, in a bundle with all the colors i love: navy, cobalt, lime green, emerald green. I don’t really fit warm or cool, and never fit one season, but greens and blues are the colors that look best on me and that I like best.
I started wearing this color last summer, bag, slides and sandals. I felt like it gave a breath of fresh air to my appearance and wardrobe, received many compliments too. Almost forgot the hoodie I recently purchased similar to that velour shirt.
If your looking for a trench ebay has some terrific options -just bought a chic pale blue London Fog trench ($15) for a spring trip to London where I did indeed see lots of light blue
OMG, I used to own a pale blue London Fog trench. It was lovely. I think of it from time to time, no kidding. And I also used to have a gingham check grass green and khaki raincoat from the gap in the late nineties. I miss that one too! So glad you loved the blue trench too!
Ok speaking of colors…I’d love to see an article about the color seasons for dressing and makeup. I recently was deemed a “winter” and it’s made me rethink buying some colors. Would love to know the science, if any, behind this…..
Ashley, I think it must be optics. The tone of your skin/hair/eyes being matched with similar cool colors brings them out. I am no scientist but have been a devoted member of the church of color seasons for over a decade now (and a fellow winter!) Still fascinated how my skin starts looking radiant and my eyes shine when I pull on an electric blue hat.
Winters tend to look best in cooler colors (navy, teal, fuschia, etc). A good way to integrate trend colors is in accessories like a belt, purse, socks, etc. away from your face. But with that said, wear what makes you feel good. :)
Loved how the links were easy to find and use! is it fun thrifting?
My husband has blue eyes and I am obsessed with him in light blue lately. He has light blue corduroy shorts from Quaker Marine Supply Co and I bought him light blue Boston Birkenstocks he looks adorable in, especially with striped socks. I’m thinking of getting him this Dehen baseball cap (one of his favorite buy-it-for-life brands in our home city of Portland): https://dehen1920.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/unstructured-baseball-hat-dusty-blue.
It would be fun to head to the thrift store with the challenge of finding something beautiful in this color! ☺️ I love going thrifting with a goal, and I’m finding the thrift stores are bursting at the seams.
Happy to see a fellow thrifter!
This is a local stylist near me and she’s doing a thrift the rainbow series, where she goes to the thrift and looks for just one color at a time. It’s so fun! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHpV7HsMJ_q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I love this look if leaning towards pale blue. Personally, I am so tired of grey as have been wearing it for the last couple years with other neutrals like oatmeal and the like. But pale blue feels fresh and Spring-like. *still no labels on the comment form, fyi – I’m just guessing where to enter from memory, lol
I saw a French brand called Basus ( https://basus.fr/products/veste-de-travail-bleu-ciel-basus-ii ), which makes beautiful colors and they have this blue too this summer ! Love it so much, I think I’ll definitely splurge now ;-)
I have been loving various hues of baby blue/cloud blue/angel blue/and now French blue for a couple years, to the point where, while shopping with a friend, she watched me pick up a baby blue corduroy dress and said “I think you have enough things in that color…” Okay point taken! But I am headed to Paris next week so I am glad I will be amongst my people! Did I just buy two things off that list (the linen pants and the sneakers)? Oui. Do I regret it? Non.
Yes, I love powdery blue and have at least 4 thin sweaters, and 6 striped tops in the color. I did a color analysis of myself a few years after noticing in photos I really really awful in burgundy and black but great in blue and coral and mid tone green and low and behold i’m a light spring. I still wear whatever color I feel like but not tend to buy more in those colors as it makes my face look so much brighter.
That blazer the barista is wearing looks like a chicer version of one from Talbot’s that my mother used to wear! Will be looking for vintage blue grey blazers…
Ah, wearing all pale blue currently! It’s one of my go-to colors! Today it’s a faded chambray shirt dress (https://posh.mk/NpykkQSRpTb) with a blue/white stripe linen unbuttoned over the top (https://www2.hm.com/en_ca/productpage.1219107010.html) It’s one of my favorite summer looks
I love that you included links. I clicked on them and can envision your outfit. I bet you look so cute!
Thank you April! 💙
Without knowing anything I call this color “French blue!” I swear to gods. My friends’ windows have this trim color, and I always sigh and think how someday I want something trimmed in French blue. Achievable dreams for the win!
I had a pair of sneakers this color acquired on my first trip to paris when I was ten years old! I loved them and wore them into the ground. I too associate that color so deeply with France and casual glamour, and window shopping!!
When I think of French windows I think of the color Bleu de Nîmes. Where the word denim comes from. Such a beautiful color!
if you like the books hat, you can buy a similar vibe from a small bookseller in nyc: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCF64-KtP7t/?hl=en&img_index=1
I can’t wear most baby blues. Maybe bottoms, but def not tops. It does not look good on me. I love the color though!
H&M has almost the identical sneaker and they are a fraction of the price. I have a pair and they are great, they fit a bit big so you can size down at least a 1/2 size. https://www2.hm.com/en_ca/productpage.1268920002.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mk_ca|ln_eng|pl_google|ct_sh|bu_ladies|kt_bra|bg_branded|cs_shopv2|adt_all|sp_low|pi_cag06anu3aa214&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14306463012&gbraid=0AAAAADvrmzQBk7jtJb0HLuHNBFSFsmA4P&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoZbBBhDCARIsAOqMEZV4K0jTK8x5YJ7J8a0krW-lq0J2OvJFP0qrdz1wiqCOfZ2iYAgx-0AaAmmHEALw_wcB
Do they have any good support or are they just for looks? Hoping they could withstand some walking!
That’s funny. I live in Paris and I haven’t seen a single person wearing that color.
Egon, I was just thinking the same . I live in downtown Chicago and see so many people and so many styles and colors. I could never even attempt to decide what color “ everyone is wearing “ in Chicago this spring.
I think sometimes when you are traveling certain things like colors stick out and you start seeing them everywhere!
I have always loved shades of baby blue and I wear it all the time!! Glad to be in fashion. One of the only pastels that look good on me as a winter.
A really pretty summer color…not one I would have expected for myself but now I think I’ll need a few pieces!
I just got this sweater in sky blue and have been wearing it basically every day! Perfect spring cardigan: https://tinyurl.com/236hexev This is also reminding me in my early 20’s/baby-post college days I had a corduroy skirt in pale blue that I wore on pretty much every first date or bar crawl with friends. Wow I miss that skirt!
The grey-powder shade looks like a fresh take
on mother’s day I wore a simple baby blue striped t-shirt and light wash jeans and felt SO put together for once. So I can get behind this.
I have that Books hat thanks to a CoJ post a couple years ago – i get compliments all the time. highly recommend the books hat.
I hate those espadrilles! I do not want to see your meshy toes! LOL
Agreed! Yikes!
In college I declared baby blue my signature color and only bought and wore baby blue. I was French ahead of my time.
whoa. i am currently head-to-toe in that color. i feel so french.
I really like the grid format for the shopping links! Easy to look over them all and compare the colors :)
MEANINGFUL cameo, that is. I get all excited when I talk about mock turtlenecks and velvet and forget to vary my descriptors.
As an unrepentant child of the ’90s, I would wear something like this – https://tinyurl.com/yeymfxct – which really says “had a one-episode but very important cameo on CHARMED when my character dropped by with an all-important spell component and was never heard from again.”
Hahaha yes Lauren! I saw you on that episode! ;)
Yes!! My older sister had a velvet shirt like this and I died waiting for it to get passed onto me!
!!! i had a velvet shirt JUST like this but honestly probably from Delia’s
omg the core memories the pics of this shirt unlocked…
Did I just buy the shirt to assuage the pain of not being able to buy the fancy crab bells fron Instagram that I would have used to play a respectful-to-women cover of the xylophone riff in the Beastie Boys’ “Girls”? Reader, probs.
I was already thinking of the original, sky blue Hard Candy nail polish, but this just sent me over the nostalgia edge!
I had so much velvet from thrift in the early 00z. Wore it all completely out. My very favorite was a pale blue camisole with satin straps. Dead sexy, as we used to say. Also couldn’t beat a black velvet tiny tee under over sized overalls and Doc Martins.