The Best Accessories to Go From Day to Night Without Changing, According to a French Editor
Eugénie Trochu is a Who What Wear editor in residence known for her transformative work at Vogue France and her Substack newsletter, where she documents and shares new trends, her no-nonsense approach to fashion and style, plus other musings. She’s also working on her upcoming first book that explores fashion as a space of memory, projection, and reinvention.
We’re standing in my entryway—coats still on, Uber already ordered. Paris is downstairs, impatient.
“You’ve been wearing the same thing ever since you had kids.”
She says this while looking at my Re/Done jeans, white Petit Bateau T-shirt, and Frankie Shop blazer as if she’s just identified a worrying behavioral pattern.
“Yes,” I say.
“And yet you never get bored.”
She sighs. She knows me too well.
On the coffee table, it’s organized chaos: socks, bags, belts, jewelry. It’s a kind of parallel wardrobe—horizontal, alive. The rest of my outfit, meanwhile, is already set and almost administrative. I used to be a girl with spectacular looks. Then I had less time (i.e., two kids). Since then, I’ve become a last-minute girl.
“It’s all about the accessories. Look—master class.”
Today, I invest in accessories because it’s fast, it’s effective, and it doesn’t require deep thought or an existential crisis in front of the mirror.
She looks at the mess, then at me.
“You know no one notices these things.”
“Exactly.”
So I add a belt and white lace socks that contrast with my Repetto ballet flats. I slide a Bottega hair clip into my hair.
Suddenly, I’m not quite the same anymore. Same outfit. Different intention. Different energy. I’m a different version of myself who’s noticeably more interesting.
“Let’s go.”
She grabs her bag, then turns back, hesitating for a second.
“You don’t happen to have an accessory I could borrow?”
I smile. Paris can wait two more minutes.