Notes

Filled with advice and insights from Parisian women, this is an engaging and practical guide to cultivating inner beauty and that irresistible je ne sais quoi.

Author Biography

Jamie Cat Callan is the author of the bestselling books French Women Don't Sleep Alone, Bonjour, Happiness! and Ooh La La! French Women's Secrets to Feeling Beautiful Every Day. Her books have been published in twenty-one countries and have been featured in major magazines, including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Time. Jamie makes her home in New York's Hudson Valley at La Belle Farm, where she and her husband have created a little bit of France and grow lavender, sunflowers and produce their own brand of French sparkling apple cider.

Review

"We can't all live in Paris, but Jamie Cat Callan has shown us in her effervescent new book how to bring a little Paris into our own lives. Enchanting, wise, full of esprit—and delectable as a Laduree macaron."
 --Karen Karbo, author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

"In this lively and upbeat book, Jamie Cat Callan inspires the reader to grasp the true meaning of charm – often described as 'giving delight.' A related concept, etiquette, also brings forth delight by focusing on respect and consideration. Charm and etiquette: two powerful and necessary foundations for building positive relationships in today's hectic world."   
--Peggy Post, The Emily Post Institute

"A book full of grace, charm, and that truest of feminine virtues, intelligence. The subtitle for this book should be: 'Smart girls get more!'"
--Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris, Picnic in Provence, and Chez Moi

Review Quote

"We can't all live in Paris, but Jamie Cat Callan has shown us in her effervescent new book how to bring a little Paris into our own lives. Enchanting, wise, full of esprit --and delectable as a Laduree macaron." --Karen Karbo, author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel "In this lively and upbeat book, Jamie Cat Callan inspires the reader to grasp the true meaning of charm - often described as 'giving delight.' A related concept, etiquette , also brings forth delight by focusing on respect and consideration. Charm and etiquette: two powerful and necessary foundations for building positive relationships in today's hectic world." --Peggy Post, The Emily Post Institute "A book full of grace, charm, and that truest of feminine virtues, intelligence. The subtitle for this book should be: 'Smart girls get more!'" --Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris , Picnic in Provence , and Chez Moi

Excerpt from Book

Chapter One La RentrZe (Back to School) The only real elegance is in the mind; if you''ve got that, the rest really comes from it. -Diana Vreeland It is September in Paris, and we are in the middle of La RentrZe. This is the time of year we might describe as "back to school," but in France, the season has a bigger narrative because it''s when most French people come back from their six-week holiday, tanned, rested, and ready to begin anew. It also signals big events around Paris, including Fashion Week, the Salon du Vintage, F'te des Jardins, and Paris Design Week. There''s a lot of excitement over the new museum exhibits, concerts, ballet, and all the cultural happenings the City of Light has to offer her devoted citizens. It''s also the time of year when France''s top writers see their creations filling the bookstore shelves. I am here in Paris in search of a deeper understanding to the meaning of Parisian charm. After months and months of preparatory e-mails and phone calls, I have created a kind of course syllabus for myself-a semester''s worth of research, reading, and conversation-my own do-it-yourself charm school. And so, I arrive on this sunny day for my first meeting at CafZ de Flore on Boulevard Saint-Germain and I immediately see Edith de Belleville. You can''t miss her. She stands in front of the cafZ, looking very pretty, wearing her signature ensemble-a kerchief in her hair, a dress with a pattern of tiny red and white polka dots, red bangles to match, high heels, and a string of beads in the style of Coco Chanel. Edith and I give a bisou (a kiss) on each cheek and agree that the day is glorious and, ah, isn''t Paris simply the most wonderful city in the world? Edith hosts the rather famous Edith''s Paris, tours specializing in literary Paris, as well as the great Parisian women in history. Her tours are informed by her insatiable interest in French social and literary history. She was educated at the Sorbonne and she''s incredibly well-read. Edith was married to a Canadian, and while she has visited Toronto, she did not want to live in Canada because, as she tells it, It is too cold and impossible to wear high-heel shoes in the snow! I realize that this is a French woman''s particular gift-to be articulate and well traveled, but to take the conversation and effortlessly throw in a silly aside that makes you laugh and completely disarms you. And then, once disarmed, Edith will switch gears and give you a little lecture on the importance of Stendhal, the Chambre Bleue, and the great literary salons of seventeenth-century Paris life. She has a talent for presenting all this French social and literary history in a theatrical, slightly gossipy, and very funny style. Truly, after just a short time with Edith, you feel as if it''s 1925 and you''re hanging out at Harry''s Bar at the Ritz with Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and look-in walks the barefoot artist''s model, Kiki de Montparnasse. You can practically taste the sting of the dry whiskey and smell a cloud of French perfume. And so Edith takes my arm and pulls me past the tourists and the couples sitting at the outdoor tables drinking their cafZ cr'me or their espressos and watching the theater of life passing by on the sidewalk. Edith tells me that we will not sit outside, but inside the cafZ, upstairs. This is where the true Parisians sit, she explains. This is where we can really talk. I met Edith years ago during a book event at the American Library in Paris, where I was speaking with the author Harriet Welty Rochefort, author of Joie de Vivre. Edith was in the audience and she stood up during the question-and-answer period and pronounced-enthusiastically, and rather provocatively-that this whole idea of the French woman is a myth. There is no such thing as this quintessential French woman! And then, with her passionate protestations, she went on to show in word and deed that she was the absolute embodiment of the quintessential French woman, because she was a mix of the most delightful and frustrating inconsistencies and a complete dichotomy. She was dressed all in vintage, wearing a red blazer with a silk flower at the lapel, and a flirty skirt, but her ideas were quite modern. She was sweet and smiled more than French women are known to smile, but she was also incredibly argumentative. In one moment she complimented me and in the next moment, she challenged me. More than anything else, she was completely her own person, and that made her very, very French and, yes, the quintessential French woman. It''s because of this original encounter that I wanted to meet with her and ask her about this thing called charm and why French women seem to have so much of it. I follow Edith into the cafZ, past the huge mirrors and the art deco posters of Paris, up the circular stairs to the upper floor. "Simone de Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex while at the CafZ de Flore," she says, a little breathless, quickly negotiating with the waiter to find us the perfect table. "The Second Sex sold over one million copies in the US in 1949 and two hundred thousand copies in the first week in France." She gives me a serious look with her big brown eyes as we sit down at the red leather banquette, facing the window overlooking the bustling boulevard below. "So you see, it''s good luck for writers." We order coffee. Edith is talking-talking-talking. It''s hard to keep up with her. She jumps from how Colette discovered Audrey Hepburn to play Gigi on Broadway to how she adores Swedish men, then on to Stendhal and Bonaparte and something called "crystallization"-a condition to describe falling in love beyond all reason. Edith has a Louise Brooks-style black bob with bangs, mercurial mannerisms, and, as mentioned before, big brown eyes. Oh, and red lipstick. She is a true Parisienne, born and bred in Belleville-across the street from Edith Piaf''s birthplace, she tells me. "I come from a working-class part of Paris, but I got a great education." When I ask her about the secret to Parisian charm, she tells me it''s very simple. "Develop your intellect. Don''t show a man you''re interested in him. Show him you''re an interesting person." She goes on to explain how even a high school student will have eight hours of philosophy each week, where they read the literature of Nietzsche, Kant, Rousseau, and Freud, among many others. "The French are expected to form their own opinions and to be able to discuss and disagree, but still maintain their charm," she explains to me. Edith tells me how when she was a teenager, she attended the Fran'ois Truffaut film festival, and how these iconic French films from the 1960s made a tremendous impact on her life. Edith opens her purse, takes out a book, and hands it to me. "Here, you can have this," she tells me. "I didn''t care for it." I take the book and thank her. It''s a well-worn English language copy of Lucy Wadham''s The Secret Life of France. For a book she doesn''t like, it certainly has been read. The pages are warped and as I flip through, I notice water stains inside. I wonder if she read the book in the bath? As we are talking, Edith spots a couple at a nearby table. Actually, they are not exactly a couple. I turn to see an older, gray-haired gentleman and a slightly younger woman with long blond hair. She leans in and holds a small recorder up rather close to the man''s lips. He is pontificating about something or other. I assume it''s important, because he gestures, patting his hand on the cafZ table for emphasis, and the woman nods in rapt attention, a serious expression on her pretty face. "That''s Laure Adler," Edith tells me. "She''s a famous journalist. She''s always in here, doing interviews." I glance over at their table again, as discreetly as possible, and Edith whispers in my ear, "She''s a feminist intellectual. She wrote the book The Women Who Read Are Dangerous." And then Edith gives me a meaningful look. "Les femmes qui lisent sont dangereuses." We sip our cafZ and Edith gives me the history of Saint-Germain-des-PrZs and how it became the place for intellectuals and artists, even surpassing Montparnasse. Edith tells me she is learning Chinese. "That''s how I flirt," she says. And then she tells me a story about how she has an admirer and she''s known this man for quite a long time, but the other day, they happened to be with some people from China and without a moment''s hesitation, she began speaking Chinese to them. Well, the admirer was startled. He had no idea she could speak Chinese! "That''s how the French flirt," she explains. "This little surprise would not be nearly as effective if I just boasted-hey, I know Chinese! No, it''s the surprise that makes it fun." I must admit I am enamored over this kind of flirtation. Perhaps it''s because I admire education and reading, but I think it''s more than that. I think I like this form of flirtation because it''s available to anyone-anyone who wants to take the time to develop her intellect. "Read, read, read! Feed your spirit." Edith''s parting words to me, as I leave her, are: "Read, read, read! Feed your spirit." Girls Who Wear Glasses My mother once told me that when she was coming of age in the 1940s, there was an expression, Men don''t make passes at girls who wear glasses. To our ears today, this sounds terribly dated. After all, especially now, eyeglasses are certainly having their style moment, and we have entered an era where Jenna Lyons, the former creative director of J.Crew, rocks the thick black brainiac frames. Lately, we''ve seen eyeglasses on the models on the catwalk and the runway

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