Hot Book: ‘How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are’. #maisoui!

“Four whip-smart, successful French women poke fun at the stereotypes of the “Parisienne” and give genuine beauty and lifestyle tips, recipes, and fashion dos and don’ts.. De Maigret’s photography and a witty, wise, often tongue-in-cheek delivery puts the reader on a sure path to achieving the French femme’s je ne sais quoi.” Publisher’s Weekly

“You don’t have to be French to be a Parisian” Karl Lagerfeld

“Very, very funny. While reading, I actually felt chicer, wittier and très Parisienne. I was laughing out loud by the end.” Plum Sykes, author of Bergdorf Blondes and The Debutante Divorcée

US Vogue writes  ‘In an ideal world, I would be Caroline de Maigret. During the hustle of the shows, she’s one of the few women I bother to stare at—a 39-year-old loping around in the sort of mannish clothes I love (jackets, shirts, and pants galore). Karl Lagerfeld co-opted her as one of Chanel’s ambassadors; Lancôme has just asked her to package her mystique into a makeup line. Part aristocrat, part rock chick she’s the living epitome of a Frenchwoman of substance—far more riveting with age and experience than she was earlier in her career as a model in New York in the nineties.
Now she’s authored one of those snatch-uppable books of the “French secrets” genre: How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits (Doubleday), co-written with three of her girlfriends—writer Anne Berest, journalist and screenwriter Audrey Diwan, and movie producer Sophie Mas.
I met de Maigret during Paris Couture Week at the Hôtel Amour, not far from the place she shares with Poupaud and their eight-year-old son. She arrived, hair still slightly damp (Parisians never blow-dry—and like to claim they cut their hair themselves), wearing a perfect navy velvet blazer, a white shirt (three buttons undone), skinny blue jeans, and Stan Smiths. The jacket, she said, was “Thomsen—she’s a young Parisian designer who doesn’t have shows. It’s never too much, but it always has this little twist.” The shirt? She shrugged. “Céline, I think.”
It’s a central tenet of Parisian dressing that, although one looks impeccably on point, label-flashing is out. Another first principle, she advises me, is to grasp the essential idea that you never know when something will happen to you. “I believe you should always be ready to meet someone, whether it is your favorite writer or the man of your life. I don’t mean just physically ready—you’ve read, you’ve listened to music. You see—realistic, but still romantic.”
Oh la la! A must read. Formidable.

$15 Publisher: Doubleday (September 2, 2014) Amazon.com