10 Best French Fashion Brands for Everyone

Curious what are the best French fashion brands out there?

Fashion is very significant in French culture. It’s also a crucial part of France’s economy.

Suffice it to say, this beautiful country is synonymous with fashion, elegance, and style. Only Italy has produced more fashion designers that have made a mark in the world. 

Pretty much like the Eiffel Tower, some famous fashion brands have become such icons that we associate with France.

10 Best French Fashion Brands for Everyone

Let’s have a look at some of the best French fashion brands, sorted in three categories.

Luxury French Fashion Brands

1. Dior

Founded by Christian Dior in 1946, the Paris-based House of Dior creates apparel and luxury leather goods that can only be bought in their stores. 

Its first fashion collection, launched a year after its founding, came to be dubbed the “New Look” in fashion history and revolutionized the industry in the 1940s.

Known for haute couture design, Maison Christian Dior has created style that conveys feminine sophistication fused with elegance and simplicity.

Every Dior collection manages to evoke sensuality through their signature motifs and intricate embroidery. 

The Dior long list of elite clientele ran from Jackie Kennedy and Evita Peron to Princess Margaret and the Duchess of Windsor.

2. Yves Saint Laurent

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Yves Saint Laurent, more commonly called by its initials YSL, is a billion-dollar French luxury fashion house founded by partners Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1961. YSL produces and sells a range of apparel, shoes, handbags and other luxury goods for men and women.

Yves Saint Laurent is noted for the popularization of women’s trousers for all occasions. The brand uses traditional menswear fabrics and designs for women, literally cross-dressing and providing chic pant suits, elegant tuxedo jackets, and urban safari gear for men and women alike.

Among YSL’s notable clients are Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and the former queen of Iran – Farah Pahlavi.

3. Balmain

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In fashion history, Balmain’s founder – Pierre Balmain – was called “a king of French fashion.” 

Since its establishment in 1945, Balmain’s clothing line has been outfitting the likes of Ava Gardner, Brigitte Bardot, and Thailand’s Queen Sirikit. 

Balmain’s apparel are known for their sophistication and elegance. The brand is also notoriously expensive, with dresses that go between $12,000 and $22,000. 

If you’re the type to wear a shirt with holes in it and comes with a price tag that will cover your monthly rent, then Balmain might just be the perfect brand for you.

4. Jean Paul Gaultier

Known for his irreverent style and unconventional designs with motifs that include corsets, striped sweaters, and tin cans, Jean Paul Gaultier’s creations have been based on street wear. 

Jean Paul Gaultier founded his eponymous fashion label in 1982, but it was only in 1997 that the brand achieved massive success. This is thanks to its haute couture line that’s very formal yet unique and playful. 

Jean Paul Gaultier apparel have been worn by famous celebrities the likes of Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.

READ MORE: 11 Interesting Facts About Jean Paul Gaultier

Middle-range French Fashion Brands

5. Lacoste

Lacoste’s embroidered crocodile is one of the most recognizable logos in the clothing industry. 

So, why a crocodile logo? This is because one of the Lacoste’s founders, tennis player René Lacoste, was called “the Crocodile” by his fans. 

This French clothing company, which was co-founded by  André Gillier, has been selling clothing, footwear, sportswear, and other goods since 1933. 

Lacoste, originally called La Chemise Lacoste, is noted for the tennis shirt with the crocodile logo René Lacoste himself had designed and worn on tennis courts.

6. Maje

Maje is one of those trending French fashion brands that reinvented accessible luxury. 

Established in Paris, France, in 1998, Moroccan-born Maje founder Judith Milgrom and her brother named the clothing brand after “Moyal,” their family name. 

The brand sells ready-to-wear urban clothes that are edgy but subtle. It is known for its elegant aesthetic that’s easy to wear with price tags that are just as easy to buy into.

7. Zadig & Voltaire

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Inspired by the 1747 novella, Zadig; or, The Book of Fate (French: Zadig ou la Destinée) and its author Voltaire,  Thierry Gillier founded Zadig & Voltaire in 1997 in Paris, France. The clothing company’s mission is to create a new French luxury brand that’s easy on the pocket.

Zadig & Voltaire’s style is boho chic. The brand specializes in cashmere knits, ripped jeans, and biker jackets, as well as teddy coats and lace-paneled camisoles. 

A little trivia: Fashion runs in Thierry Gillier’s blood. If his family name sounds familiar, that’s because his grandfather was Lacoste’s co-founder, André Gillier. 

Affordable French Fashion Brands

8. Kookai

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Kookai apparel brand is characterized as Parisian-infused chic. Their clothing lines are fashion forward at affordable prices.

This fashion label has been around since 1983, founded by Philippe de Hesdin, Jacques Nataf, and Jean-Lou Tepper in Paris, France. In 2017, Kookai was acquired by its Australian licensees, creating one global, unified brand.

Today, Kookai clothing brand is sold at over 200 stores in Europe, America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Its manufacturing facilities are in Fiji and Sri Lanka.

Kookai constantly raises funds to sponsor vaccinations for children in need thru UNICEF. They have also done the same for breast cancer and HIV/AIDS awareness.

9. Maison Château Rouge

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One of France’s most promising streetwear brands, Maison Château Rouge is a family-owned boutique located in Château Rouge, a working-class African neighborhood in Paris. Its founders, Youssouf and Mamadou Fofana, are sons of Senegalese immigrants.

Launched in 2015, Maison Château Rouge has quickly become popular among young Parisians. The company has since collaborated with Nike, with co-founder Youssof Fofana designing Air Jordans.

While the brand produces clothes with traditional African prints inspired by the Fofanas’ ethnic roots, Maison Château Rouge has also kept the traditional French aesthetics in each design.

10. Camaïeu

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Calling itself “a brand for all women,” Camaïeu is France’s largest chain of women’s clothing stores. 

The company, founded in 1984 by Dominique Débruyne, Jean-Pierre Torck, Éric Vandendriessche, and Jean Duforest, is based in Roubaix in the French region of Hauts-de-France.

The brand name, Camaïeu, means “monochrome” in French. It offers affordable and easy-to-wear French fashion that is trendy and always up-to-date.