What to Wear in Lyon

What works in Lyon is set by two things: the weather you will actually be standing in, and how much of the day you spend around monuments, markets and museums, where covered shoulders and knees are expected. Lyon has four real seasons — summers that can be hot, winters cold enough for a proper coat — so the month you travel decides what you pack far more than the city does.

The traditional wear recorded for Lyon is Lyon silk — a scarf from the canuts' hill. Silk is not a souvenir trade in Lyon, it is the reason half the city looks the way it does: the canuts' four-metre Jacquard looms set the ceiling heights on the Croix-Rousse, their revolts in 1831 and 1834 are a landmark in French labour history, and the surviving workshops still weave to commission for restoration work in historic buildings. A scarf from one of those is a different object from the printed squares in the tourist shops of Vieux Lyon, and the price says so.

Colours that photograph well here: Black, Charcoal, Deep red and Ivory. For everyday looks the Dressed to stand still in December and Layers for a continental city, not a Mediterranean one options are the easiest starting point.

On footwear — warm, waterproof and flat — you are standing on cold stone for hours, not walking.

Across the year: spring (Mar – May) — light layers — warm afternoons, cold mornings, comfortable walking shoes; summer (Jun – Aug) — light clothes, sunglasses and sun cream, breathable shoes or sandals; autumn (Sep – Nov) — mid-weight layers and something rainproof, closed shoes with grip; winter (Dec – Feb) — a proper winter coat, hat and gloves, insulated, waterproof shoes.