Window Wednesday

A retro hat a tiny shop a Montmartre side street.

*** 

In Paris, the period of roughly the late 19th to early 20th century is often called the golden age of millinery. Historians place it within the Belle Époque (1870-1914) when hats were an essential part of daily dress, and Paris the global center of fashion. A well-dressed Parisienne might change hats multiple times depending on her activities, which is why the trade flourished. Hats weren’t just accessories: they signaled class, occasion, and even time of day. Modistes specialized in high-fashion women's attire that often included custom dresses, gowns, and especially elaborate hats, bonnets, and trimmings.

Today chapellerie refers more broadly to hatmaking, the hat trade or a hat shop, and back in the day several hundred to over a thousand of these shops might have been operating at once, from small independent workshops to prestigious houses. Entire districts were dense with these shops and catered to both locals and international clients. But gradually lifestyles changed and demand dwindled, and with it the industry, as many skilled hatmakers went on to work with grand fashion houses. - BPJ

It's in the bag

 Two bags from Christian Dior's uplifting spring collection.

 Dior

Le Village Royal

25 rue Royale 75008

Parisienne rules

As my previous postings on Parisiennes have been getting much feedback, this morning I've put together this (far from exhaustive) list to get non-Parisiennes started.

 Enjoy! - BPJ


  ***



15 ways to be a Parisienne - or at least feel like one - in Paris:

 1. Take good care of your skin. Keep it glowing by moisturizing and sipping water throughout the day. And when it comes to makeup, keep it simple.

2. Bike and/or walk. Every day.

3. Keep jeans and plain white T's on hand, then add a nice jacket, bag and/or scarf to change your look. And white sport shoes are fine.

4. Wear a skirt or dress sometimes, even when riding a bike or motorcycle.

5. Don’t be afraid to express your views or disagree, and this includes politics. If someone gets offended, leave. Fast.

6. Don’t get fat.

7. Don't talk about money. Especially yours. And don't brag. Exception: family members who are doing better than you.

8. Have favorites: favorite cocktail, chef, author, film director, designer, restaurant / wine bar....

9. Let your eyes do the speaking. Most of the time.

10. Shop and eat bio.

11. Never arrive early.

12. Don't sit drinking red wine as an apéritif and on its own. Ever. Every Paris café and restaurant has its apéritifs list and red wine isn't on it. Or white, except as a kir.

13. Don’t be afraid to wear the same thing or variation on the same thing every day. Think Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg, That Woman At That New York Ad Agency... Parisiennes have more important daily decisions to make and know it's just their local café, not a fashion show.

14. Don’t be smiley (w/masks currently en rigueur this one's easy). Save smiles for those you know or if you want a service. 

15. Choose a parfum as your signature scent. With holiday shopping in full swing, drop hints.

 

 

 

 Tomorrow:

Perfume me

 

***

 

Photo image courtesy of Danielle

My French hair

    

"Cheveux: un chaos, oui, mais organisé!" / "Hair: chaotic, yes, but organized!"

Les Do's & Dont's de La Parisienne - Caroline de Maigret in Vogue Magazine (February 2020)

 

***

Some years back as editor-at-large of BonjourParis.com I wrote an article called, "Getting It Straight: A Hair Piece." (© Barbara Pasquet James). At the time it received quite a bit of attention and, thanks to those days, many of those readers followed me to USA Today and eventually here, to this blog.

From an early age, my hair never really did what I perceived it should be doing. It seemed like everyone but me could effortlessly achieve perfectly coiffed, straight hair. But no, mine had to be curly, fly away, rebellious, no matter how much time I spent trying to tame it. If I blew it out to a smooth sheen, in no time at all East Coast humidity would frizz it up again. Not curlers made from coke cans or ironing or teasing it or even applying chemical straighteners made my hair "behave" the way I wanted it to, like the carefree do's of those snooty private school girls in Georgetown, and peer pressure made it worse. It was hopeless. Then one day, I suppose I was about 15, waiting in line to buy an ice cream, someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was French. I'd seen him before and thought he knew my name, Pasquet, but he didn't. And then he said, delighted, "You have French hair!"

It was the first but not last time I'd hear that. As it turned out, French hair was a "thing." A concept. It was unruly, defiant, tousled. A cousin, Mireille, who spoke only French, came to stay with my family one summer in the U.S. and I remember watching with awe her daily routine of piling her thick dark locks atop her head in one quick gesture, securing the knot with no more than two long hair pins. As strands tumbled around her barely made-up face, it felt good just looking at her. My siblings, our offspring, relatives on my father's side - including an aunt who was a print model for Revlon well into her 40's (we'd come across her photos leafing through glossy magazines at the supermarket checkout) - all of us, had this hair. Mine wasn't "strategically disheveled" as in yesterday's Parisienne ("My Little Paris") chart. It did it all by itself. When I moved to Paris for good, so many, I began to notice, had hair just like mine and like The Ugly Duckling, I thought, maybe I'd been swimming in the wrong lake. - BPJ

***

"Flat, straight, hair looks like death... The biggest difference [between French hair] is that they are much more into movement than other countries in the world, and they like volume... It doesn't have to be perfect." - celebrity stylist David Mallett (Paris' Most Famous Hairstylist on French Hair - Kathleen Hou 2016 The Cut)

 

Update: "Ditch the brush" - Caroline Maigret for thezoereport.com / Fashion and Style

 

Below: in Cadaqués Spain, 80s

Merci to beautiful Parisiennes everywhere. Wherever you are.

 

***

Also see: Messy French buns

 

 

The Parisienne #2

How many of these are you?

 [Chart: My Little Paris 11/2019]

Clichés are often anchored in truth and in Paris, the (cliché) Parisienne is alive and well. Like other clichés - the Southern Belle, Valley Girl, Sloane Ranger... - she is a subgroup unto herself. Not every woman in Paris is, or even wants to be, this Parisienne. But many are. Trying to change and redefine her to fit your comfort zone doesn't work. As legendary hair stylist David Mallett put it, "You know her when you see her."

That’s her on a bicycle with flawless skin, scarf in the wind, a baguette under her arm. She's feminine, thin, natural, but mostly, she's "bien dans sa peau" (well in her skin) at any age. Facelifts and botox are not part of her world. She can be chic. Or not. As long as it's on her terms, not yours. And her hair! Sometimes referred to as that "just-rolled-out-of-bed look," it's been like that all of her adventurous life.

Long after she's left you in the dust will it hit you that you were sent off on fausses pistes (translation: holes in her stories). And besides a full head of "French hair" (didn't you know?) she's had that smug expression - some call it a sneer, others a smirk - for as long as she can remember and it usually means, “You are a bore.”
 
You hate her but love to copy her. In your zeal to wrap her in as many shapes and sizes as there are French cheeses you forget that she is, like all clichés, unaware that she is one. Or cares what you think what she is or isn't because, well, she just is.

La Parisienne plays by her own rules. She tries to be politiquement correcte and not judge books by their covers, but will point out that if covers don't matter, why do publishers devote entire departments to book cover design? - BPJ

***

The No. 1 response to my informal survey of French women about the secret of magical ageing is not gaining weight. Ever. - From French Secrets to Ageing Gracefully - Ann M. Morrison (Lifestyle/Beauty - Sydney Morning Herald 2010)

***

Some comments lambasting Parisiennes:

- Believe me when i tell you that NO ONE wants to look like most french women do ! I've lived here for 6 years and for the most part, they shower once a week, don't wear any make up and very rarely even put a comb through the hair! Not to mention about the hairy situation all the time... And the parisians that everyone is talking about are one in a million rich people who can afford to buy Channel and Dior….

- (Paris) is full of people who are not a singular white, thin woman in a messy topknot and Breton-striped shirt. And yet, this is rarely (if ever) included in the many odes to "French style.” How to be Parisian, for example, doesn’t mention the incredible array of hijab fashion you will see on the street every day in Paris. And, while it would be wrong to imply that France (and Paris in particular) is a bastion of diversity — or that French culture has mastered embracing different backgrounds — the reality is that these outdated notions of What Is Parisian only perpetuate the real problems of representation in the country itself.

- Thank you for this article! I couldn't agree more with your points, especially the last one on diversity. As a Francophile, I have been made aware of this obsession with trying to become the French woman since "French Women Don't Get Fat" hit the bookshelves in 2004. To be honest, I've also entertained the notion that they possess a certain je ne sais quoi that was lacking in American culture and that I should try to obtain it. Now, I'm just over it and I roll my eyes each time Vogue, Huffington Post (or Refinery29...) writes an article about this elusive woman. I roll my eyes because I know her and she is just the same as us! Let's be proud of who we are as women on this earth and not women of Paris, of New York, etc.

 

But then...

- You almost convinced me. But then I remembered that the last time I was in Paris, I was struck by the dozens of chic Parisian women, commuting on bicycles, looking fresh faced and moist-lipped, even in blaring traffic. They pedaled in skirts and flat shoes, gamine and athletic no matter their age (...). I love being an American woman, but I love loving the French women.

***

Adapted from: 

Seduction and the Art of The French Femme

and

Eating French: Why French Women Won't Get Fat

   a.k.a.

A French Paradox: The French Non Diet and The Art of Eating for Pleasure - Barbara Pasquet James

Tomorrow:
My French hair

 

The Parisienne #1

 "Qui a dit que la Parisienne était un mythe?" / Who said the Parisienne was a myth?....

You don't have to be from Paris or live there to be a Parisienne. It's a look, a style, a state of mind. - Inès de la Fressange and Sophie Gachet La Parisienne (2019)

 

***

 

Once again, the elusive Parisienne is in the news, democratized and watered down by people who never understood the entrance requirements. Like the Southern Belle, she is a category all her own that no diversity seminar can mint. To be a Parisienne is an attitude, a style, and unapologetically French. Try as you will to rebrand her, she’ll still be leaning against the zinc café counter in her ten-year-old trench, regarding the whole circus with the faintest lift of an eyebrow. Some myths refuse to be focus-grouped into oblivion. - BPJ

Tomorrow:
Are you a (cliché) Parisienne? Check the chart

 

Update: see December 14, 2020 post

Parisienne rules

 

 

 

 

Fashionable

Above: a happy shopper exits Louis Vuitton

Below: her outfit matches her pet

We are French

On a shopping bag of a boutique that sells lingerie:

"We are French. We believe in being sexy independent fashionable and optimistic"

***

French women care about how they look. They care about their weight, their skin, their hair, what they eat, and how they present themselves. Not so much for others as for their own sense of bien-être... and on their terms. It's cultural. There are few self-help books and no Tony Robbinses. No "self-esteem industry" here; one gets on without having to brag, considered vulgar and a sure sign of insecurities. If anything, one's own accomplishments and possessions are downplayed, and when it comes down to it, few care if they're liked, the heart of the endearing French Attitude.

You won't hear, "It's what's inside that counts" because the outside is seen as almost always the manifestation (and result) of what's been knocking around on the inside: all those small daily choices and decisions, spanning years? They had a cumulative effect.

 

Even women of modest means treat themselves to a special accessory or scent; mani-pedis and facials are part of life's routine, and in Paris, there are almost as many lingerie shops are as there are tabacs. One of my French nieces, a young college student at the time, excused herself early from a family lunch so as not to miss her weekly massage - a nécessité, she explained, despite living on a tight budget.

 

While gym clubs and joggers abound, many find other ways to get in their daily exercise, such as foregoing the elevator and taking the stairs, or walking instead of using métro, car or bus. Cities all over France have become bicycle friendly, and not just to reduce pollution. One role of the sacred vacances d'été is to shed the year's stress, and with August coming to a close and everyone sharing stories and photos of where they went and what they did, Paris is re-energized. - BPJ

***
 

Adapted from: 

Seduction and the Art of The French Femme

and

Eating French: Why French Women Won't Get Fat   

a.k.a. A French Paradox: The French Non Diet and The Art of Eating for Pleasure - Barbara Pasquet James

  

A dinner for 8

Fabulous evening with seven gorgeous, fun, successful women, all old friends converging from New York, Geneva and Paris, excited to be together at the same time in Paris.

Below: classic moelleux au chocolat a simple finale to a sumptuous dinner in the shadow of Napoleon's Tomb

 

Restaurant Vauban

7 Place Vauban 75007

 

***

 

Un grand merci à toute l'équipe

 

and especially Paula

 

Weighing in

 

 

Yesterday I happened to walk into my local butcher shop just as everyone was still reeling from the size of an American woman who'd bought a chicken.

Knowing I'm from the U.S. they asked if it’s true that obesity in America has become epidemic, and brought up something I’d heard years before from a small group of French doctors at The American Hospital of Paris: "In Paris, most hospitals don’t have scales to accommodate such proportions, so these patients get sent to a veterinary clinic outside the city, in Asnières, where livestock gets weighed."




In Paris, obesity (not to be confused with being surpoids, or overweight), while it exists, remains a visual rarity, as noted with surprise over and over by visitors from the U.S. When severe obesity is spotted ("Mais c'est pas possible!"), usually it's in areas that are magnets for tourists, and it is assumed that they definitely are not French.

 
Illustrations often depict French girls and women as stick thin, which of course is not the norm nor is it the desired norm. But fashion and beauty, synonymous with Paris, is a big part of French culture. Most café terrace chairs face the street like front-row seats to a runway so passersby can be seen, and appreciated. One has but to look up at the sky just about anywhere inside the city limits and no electrical or telephone lines are visible because, as a French architect friend explained, "It ruins the eye!” 

 


I used to wonder if Mireille Guiliano's best-selling “French Women Don’t Get Fat” shouldn’t have been titled, “French Women Won’t Get Fat.” When I was growing up my father, who never lost his sense of style (or French accent that could melt butter), used to admonish us to "take a little pride" in our appearance. Stepping out with a tousled mop (think Caroline de Maigret) or wearing the same "uniform" every day (think Steve Jobs) was fine, but packing on the kilos? Not so much. Obesity was associated with personal neglect and lower-income communities and, as recent studies show, still is today.

 
In France, so far, beauty remains firmly in the eye of each beholder. We won't be bullied into adjusting our tastes to suit PC outsiders. When it comes to obesity, health is one consideration yes, but for now, at least, the French still like to quote Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Beauty will save the world." - BPJ 

 

 ***

 

  ***

 

Adapted from:

Eating French: Why French Women Won't Get Fat 
a.k.a. 

A French Paradox: The French Non Diet and The Art of Eating for Pleasure - Barbara Pasquet James

Special thanks:

Treize au Jardin

5 rue de Médicis 75006

 

***

 

 Updates:

 

4/2020 - Covid-19

"According to the first number from a national record released by Le Monde, 83% of patients in intensive care in France are people overweight or obese, the most often suffering from high blood pressure or diabetes."

 

3/2021 - Covid-19

"CDC study finds that about 78% of people hospitalized for Covid were overweight or obese."

 CNBC NEWS

 

9/2021 - Covid-19 

"Children and teens gained weight at an alarming rate" in U.S. [since start of the pandemic] says CDC.

NPR

 

 

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