Isabel Marant And Caroline De Maigret

It turns out that while skinny jeans, a silk blouse, a beaten-up leather jacket and tasselled pixie boots certainly help, the secret to true Parisian chic is a confident state of mind.

"The Parisian woman is a feminist which informs her style," Caroline de Maigret told the Vogue Festival in association with Harrods this evening, during her conversation with Isabel Marant and Lisa Armstrong who were on hand to uncover exactly what makes Parisian women so cool. "When people look at you, you want them to see more than your clothes. Isabel's woman eats, drinks, dances - she has life, and more to do than looking at herself in the mirror."

Marant - herself a bastienne of 21st century Parisian style and responsible for many of the cult fashion items that have become synonymous with the French capital's look in the last decade - agreed.

"Fashion often shows women as objectified and on the contrary, I like to promote a confident woman," she said, adding that she tries to get inside her customer's head to considers what she needs. "For me, style is more about behaviour and the respect you show and have for other people."

The certain je ne sais quoi also extends to a laissez faire attitude concerning almost every area of life. According to Marant and De Maigret if you want to eat cake, you should, just maybe walk somewhere instead of taking a taxi tomorrow; you should be okay with the cycle of life and accept that if you have a big nose or grey hair, that's okay; you should be understated at all times as it's deemed vulgar to show off wealth; and you should never ruin an evening out by wearing something that you feel uncomfortable in. In other words, "It's not about having guilt, it's about just enjoying pleasure," summarised De Maigret.

Interestingly, the pair revealed that neither has a style icon. "I hate the idea of having an icon - I find it too restrictive, that's the beauty of a woman, it's more about character," said Marant, while De Maigret concurred saying, "I look up to activists and people who make me feel small."

When it comes to being sartorially seductive, however, the pair had more words of wisdom.

"I think it's way more sexy to play with the mind, to show off a bare neck, a cutout on the back, a T-shirt that is too big and falls off the shoulder - more than just a cleavage," said de Maigret. "It's more sexy to play with the imagination," again, bringing it back to the beauty within. "I'm inspired by the beauty of what human beings are able to achieve," said Marant. "It's a big part of my job and the most joyful part. It gives me a lot of inspiration."