France Traditional Clothes

Fashion has been an important industry and cultural export of France since the 17th century, and modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s. Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses. The expression Haute couture is, in France, legally protected name, guaranteeing certain quality standards.

The association of France with fashion and style (French: la mode) dates largely to the reign of Louis XIV when the luxury goods industries in France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style in Europe. But France renewed its dominance of the high fashion (French: couture or haute couture) industry in the years 1860–1960 through the establishing of the great couturier houses such as Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy.

In the 1960s, the elitist "Haute couture" came under criticism from France's youth culture. In 1966, the designer Yves Saint Laurent broke with established Haute Couture norms by launching a prêt-à-porter ("ready to wear") line and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as LVMH.

There isn't one traditional cloth for France. Every region has it's own, and they are sometimes very different. The most famous ones are the ones of Brittany and Alsace (in my opinion). It's the women's traditional costume that is famous, not the men's one. But as I said, most French regions have their own traditional clothes (there are 22 regions in France).  But no one dresses like that anymore, except some very old people.

There is no single traditional Breton costume, as there are variations in colours and cuts between towns and provinces. Generally speaking, men wear black trousers and jacket plus a wide-brimmed black hat. Women wear dresses with tiered skirts. Some have elaborate bodices, but all have aprons which are usually embroidered or decorated with lace, the extravagance of the decoration reflecting the wealth of the family. 

The traditional lace headwear worn by women is called a coiffe and again varies in size and complexity, from small pieces of lace worn over a bun, to elaborate, towering creations with flowing ribbons. Unfortunately use of the Breton language, similar to Gaelic, is dwindling, but Breton folk music is flourishing - old songs have been revived and young bands are producing modern interpretations of traditional music.