Bon chic, bon genre 2 / VIDEO : Les Inconnus - Auteuil Neuilly Passy

 In the 1990s, French humor trio Les Inconnus even recorded a song entitled ''Rap BCBG'' or ''Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy'', which are regarded as a triangle of posh Parisian neighborhoods where the BCBG tend to congregate, to mock people living in these areas and their supposedly complicated life.

This single was one of the biggest hits of the year 1991 and remains to this day a reference in French humor, so don't be surprised if you ever hear a local jokingly hum the song.

Bon chic bon genre, which can also be shortened to BCBG, is the French version of posh, preppie or Sloaney - ''Good style, good class''.

SEE ALSO : http://tweedlandthegentlemansclub.blogspot.com/2016/08/bcbg-bon-chic-bon-genre.html?spref=fb

Bon chic, bon genre (French for '"Good style, good class"') is an expression used in France to refer to a subculture of stylish members of the Paris upper class. They are typically well-educated, well-connected, and descended from "old money" families, preferably with some aristocratic ancestry. The style combines certain fashionable tastes with the appearance of social respectability. The expression is sometimes shortened to "BCBG" (the fashion company BCBG Max Azria was named in reference to the subculture).

Parallels are often seen between this subculture and similar upper-class social groups in the United States ("preppy") and the United Kingdom ("Sloane Rangers"). As with those groups, BCBG drew mainstream attention during the 1980s. Thierry Mantoux published a handbook for BCBG style (BCBG - Le Guide du bon chic bon genre) in the 1980s, a French equivalent to The Official Preppy Handbook and The Sloane Ranger Handbook, both published earlier in the decade. Examples of BCBG are seen in Clive James’s first 'Postcard from’ series where he visits Paris (tv episode ‘Clive James Postcard From Paris’ 1989) where he is sitting in a cafe and people demonstrating ‘good BCBG’ are pointed out to him.

The BCBG social group is not to be confused with the "bobo" Paris fashion subculture (short for "bohemian bourgeois").

The BCBG social group is associated with certain residential areas in Paris and Versailles. BCBG are often identified with the "NAP" area formed by the triangle between Neuilly-Auteuil-Passy, from the 16th arrondissement to the Bois de Boulogne, as well as the 6th arrondissement closer to the centre of Paris, and the 7th and 8th arrondissements for shopping.

 While chic can be quite of a compliment on its own, the expression bon chic bon genre tends to be used to describe and stereotype people from the bourgeoisie who try too hard to maintain a certain image of their life and themselves. While this is not an insult, this is also rarely used as a compliment, so beware.

For a French to describe someone as BCBG, they would most certainly have to wear at least one of these items on a day-to-day basis: a pearl necklace, an emblematic silk scarf from the high-end fashion brand Hermes or a three-piece suit.

Here is an example of how you could use this expression: Je ne vais pas acheter cette robe, elle fait trop bon chic bon genre! - I'm not going to buy this dress, it is way too posh!

In the collective imagination, it is also common to associate the expression with hyphenated first names such as Charles-Henri or Marie-Francoise and more generally to traditional Catholic culture and strict education.