mo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked How to Sell a Billion-Dollar Myth Like a French Girl The origins and consequences of everyon ’s favorite Parisian fantasy 6 he French Girl's Guide to Summer Date Style.” l You know it’s a racket, bt you click anyway. You already know what it’s going to ay: Showing less skin is ultimately sexier than wearing something too short or too low-cut, and a natural beauty look is more appealing than obvious contouring. Blue jeans, an of-the~ shoulder top, a litle red lipstick, and off you go into the evening, Life is good when you're a French Gi ‘Te effortlessly chie French woman is one ofthe most persistent tropes in our lifestyle landseape. Sixty years after a young, unapologetically sexual Brigitte Bardot danced her way into the pop culture canon in the film ..And God Created Woman, publications like Vogue, lato the Gloss, and Who What Wear now publish a steady stream of articles on the supposedly superior and increasingly specific ways that French women dress, do their hair, ea, exercise, and fallin love “The One Piece Every Chie French Girl Has in Her Winter Wardrobe.” “The Color Combo French It Girls Always Wear.” “Hovr to Do Valentine's Day Like a French Gir" “Hovr to Wash Your Hair Like a French Gi." Even the New York Times has investigated French women's daily habits (Aging Gracefully, the French Way") Some ofthese articles are written with a dash of knowing humor, because our French Girl ‘obsession has become something of a joke. (Last year, The Cut skewered its ubiquity in a post titled “97 Things You Can Do Like a French Girl”) In fact, there are times when it seems like our French nay not even exist. Maybe she’s just the product of a media pile-on, each story laying the foundation forthe next until she's a commonly accepted fac. hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly anamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked (On any given day, the pantheon of French Gir's includes Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Hardy, Jane Birkin, her daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, and former Vogue Paris editor Catine Roitfeld. Coco Chanel, immortalized not so much as a young woman but as an clogant matriarch, reties nearby, They/re distinet both as fully realized people and as types — Bardot is fiery, Deneuve iey, Birkin earefree, Roitfeld edgy — but all ae regularly brought in as evidence of the French Gitl’s actuality. The effortlessly chic French woman is one of the most persistent tropes in our lifestyle landscape. ‘Whois she? She's intellectual, cool, and abit ofa romantic, but she doesn’t give her approval casily or smile to much, She might run around in black-tipped Chanel slingbacks, or barefoot if she's on vacation, She has a signature perfume. She eats cheese without abandon and nurses a single glass of wine all night because she's a master of reasonable indulgences. She's almost always white, hetero, and thin, and you can only conjure her by willfully ignoring the many French women whose daily routines do not involve bieycling along the Seine in mini skirts with Daguettes tucked under their arms But the French Git’s influence is tangible, She makes money for big American drugstore chains, department stores, independent brands, book publishers, magazines, and digital media companies. She definitely has something to do with the fact that rosé, sales of which outpaced the rest of the wine market last year, has become so popular in the US. Te obsession has become a business, and in that sense, the French Git is perfectly ral “Perinaps a petit chocolate for breakfast, an impromptu dance session ila Anna 6e T here is a litle je ne sais quot in all ous,” the French Girl Organies website reads Karina, or an evening soak inthe tub paired with a glass of rosé. ‘The Chanel-inspired packaging of its skincare products is perfect, nothing more than glass jars and black sans serif type on rectangular white labels. They're filled with big pink flakes of bath salts, mint and rosemary body scrub, and shimmery bronzing oil It couldn't be more tasteful, or ‘more on-the-nose: This is where Instagrammable minimalism converges with Instagrammable Frenchness, Rose figures prominently in the brand's recipes, giving more than one product the dusty hue that has become synonymous with millennial tastes. rench Girl Onganies, which is sold at Anthropologie and Williamsburg jewelry meccs Catbird, is neither the work of a Parisian It girl nora clever marketing team, but rather a 60-something Seattle resident named Kristeen Griffin-Grimes who has a warm, ready laugh and an ‘unpretentious demear Grifin-Grimes gzew up on an oyster farm in Seattle, surrounded by the sensory pleasures of good {ood and nature. She always fella strong affinity for France through her Cajun mother, whose ancestors had immigrated to Prince Edward Island from France in the early 1800s and later to ‘New Orleans. Grffin-Grimes herself didn’t travel to France until middle age; the trip served as a celebration of her son's high school graduation, and a mission to locate her distant French relatives, Suddenly, everything shifted. “T never understood why Tloved aestheties and beauty so ‘much,” she says, "but when I got there I was like, now Ise.” Like what you're reading? Cet the Racked newsletter for even mote gest tris, vey dy. hips:Ihww racked, com/2017/715/15880175/how-t-french-git-style-beauly anam012017 How to Sella Billion-Dollar Myth Like a French Git - Racked ‘er first foray into French Girl anything was writing French Girl Knits, a book of knitting patterns that took inspiration fram French film and history. Later, she organized group knitting tours to France. Griffin rimes found herself exhausted after finishing her second French Girl Knits book and began funneling her love of gardening and cooking into making beauty products using her own ingredients. She sold them on Etsy ‘The business has ramped up — French Girl Organies now has 15 employees and a sales projection cof $1.5 million for 2 17 — and Grifin-Grimes works with larger-scale organic suppliers, though she still uses flowers from her garden sometimes. She attributes much of the brand's succes retailers’ and consumers’ growing interest in so-called “clean” beauty and describes its French connection as the frosting on the cake ‘We're not French girls just because we think being French is cool, which is,” Grtfin-Grimes says, “We're French iris because we're on a mission to promote sel-love and self-care. I think ‘that really is atthe heart oft. Listening to Griffin-Grimes effuse about the kindness she encountered while traveling around the French countryside or the locals’ pride in their history it becomes impossible to reproach her for ne French using sir name, When she talks about being impressed by the ritual of a meal that lasts three hours, and how beautifully the food was presented, and how it’s al so different from hhow we do things in the US, you're impressed, too. According to the conventional wisdom, heaven isa French pharmacy. From Gaop to i:D, beauty reporters sing the praises ofthe products lining the shelves of everyday drugstores, like Kloranc hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly anamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked (the best dry shampoo), Bioderma (the best makeup remover), Homeoplasmine (the best al purpose ointment), and Embryolisse (the best moisturizer). They're relatively inexpensive, and, therefore seem like a life hack, but aren't widely accessible, and therefore are to be coveted. For a long time, the Americans most attuned to these products were makeup artists, models, and fashion editors, who could stock up while they were in Paris for Fashion Week. International distribution, as well asthe internet, is changing that. Walgreens-owned Duane Reade bas carried Avene, La-Roche Posay, and Lierac in select stores since 2009. (In addition to being more expensive than the mainst nam American skincare brands, these products sit apart from the pack on shelves with special lighting.) Ricky’s, a funky chain of beauty supply stores in [New York that largely caters to makeup artists and consumers who want professional-grade products, has carried Klorane and Embryolisse for the better part ofa decade and introduced, Bioderma last year. Bioderma's version of micellar water, a type of no-rinse skin cleanser sold by ‘many Prench brands, quickly became one ofthe top-selling products at Ricky’ “The reason we started carrying it was because it was such a coveted item with makeup artists, not because it was amass trend, We're actually the only chain retailer on the East Coast that has Bioderma,” says Anna Daoud McConnell the vice president of product and brand development at Ricky's But it isa mass trend. Simple and Garnier both launched their own versions of micellar water in the US in 2015 — Garnier’ clear bottle and pink cap looking suspiciously like Bioderma's packaging — and they're now stocked at CVS and Rite Ai. In June, six days after Estée Lauder announced that it was shuttering its Kendall Jenner—fronted Estée Edit collection, the American company hired a much less famous woman who could nonetheless help it gain traction with millennial shoppers. Violette — just Vileite— is a 33-year- ‘old makeup artist who is both respected within the fashion establishment, having worked vith photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Mario Sorrenti, and a popular presence on YouTube, where she delivers tutorials to her nearly 97,000 subscribers. Violette is the Parisian dream, except she moved to New York when she was 19 to seek work as @ makeup artist. She has eve-grazing bangs, brown hair worn ina state of controlled chaos, anda charming accent that inspires fans to leave her videos playing as background noise, Even the production of her YouTube videos is aspirational: Apparently unembarrassed about doing her ‘makeup in public she films them in cute cafés and bars around Brooklyn and Manhattan, It's safe to say that Violette's French roots are part of her appeal. Her 10 most-watched tutorials include “Breakfast & Blue Eyes in Paris With Loan," “My Bardot Look,” “The French Kissed Look,” and "Yeux Chocolats in Paris." The search term "French beauty tutorial” returns more than 2 million results on YouTube at large ‘Just as Lancéme hired the professional makeup artist-turned-YouTuber Lisa Eldridge to consult ‘on product and make videos in 2015, Violett is helping Estée Lauder develop cosmeties while starring in tutorials and ereating digital content forthe brand, which she'll also share with her 199,800 Instagram followers. (The company itself sounds French because Josephine Esther ‘Mentzer, its founder and a Queens-born daughter of Hungarian immigrants, chose to go by an accented version of her childhood nickname, Estée.) Violette says that the French philosophy toward makeup — no foundation, messy hair, mascara, red lipstick, which works doubly as blush — is fundamental to her approach, but the diversity of techniques and looks she encountered in New York has greatly influenced her style, For an. American audience, she’s offering something enchanting but accessible, foreign but familia. hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly anamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked rance comnered the market on style centuries ago. It was Europe's luxury capital in the 18th century, a leader in everything from furniture to jewelry-making, though you can casily take that heritage back further: Louis XIV moved the royal eoutt from Paris to Versailles, a monument to high style and opulence, in 1682. The late 19th century sav the rise of, couturiers like Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman who nonetheless went to Paris to become one ofthe most prominent designers of his day, and the early 20th century weleomed Parisian fashion houses that set the standard for today’s high-end design like Poiret, Vionnet, Schiapareli, Balenciaga, and, in 1925, Chanel. Dior eame along in 1946, and Givenchy in 1952. Refinement — the cachet conferred by carrying a quilted Chanel purse or buying a Dior lipstick — is one clement of France's appeal to outsiders, and consequently the French Girl equation, too. Sexis the other, and nobody lingers inthe publie consciousness in that regard as much as Brigitte Bardot Bardot’ firs film came out in 1952, but it was her 1956 role in ..And God Created Woman, in hich she played an independent and sexvally aggressive young woman, that landed her in the international eye, We've been knocking off her heavy black eyeliner and glamorously disheveled hairstyles ever since Refinement is one element of France’s appeal to outsiders, and consequently the French Girl equation, too. Sex is the other. In addition to giving us heroines, flm has encouraged and sustained the mythical quality of France itself. Audrey Hepburn’ titular character in Sabrina (1954) goes off to Pars for two years and returns home a sophisticate; Paris provides the backdrop for her modeling stunts in Funny ace (1957). Amélie (2001), starring Audrey Tautou, paints an impossible but intoxicating portrait of the city’s delightful quirks, Even the Pixar movie Ratatouille, the sweet one about a rat ‘who eooks (and that also features a French Girl che), is transportve. The list goes on and on. ‘When foreigners talk about French Girls today, they often reference stars of the’50s, ‘60s, and 70s, Bardot included, The French New Wave gave us Anna Karina, wth her perfect bangs, eal- eve liner, cardigans, and colorful tights; Jean Seberg, known for her blond pixie cut and striped shirts, emerged at the same time, Jane Birkin’s flared, high-waisted blue jeans little white tees, and straw bags offer a blueprint for the 1970s resurgence we'e living ia, Ironically, none of these women are French. Karina’s a Dane, Seberg was American, and Birkin ‘was born in England. Laurent Philippon, a top hairstylist with Bumble and Bumble, even sees elements of la parisienne in Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, the closest thing we have toa ‘Now York Giel: “She's bit rock'n'roll, abit reverent, and it doesnt look like she eares muck.” (Of course, when Bradshaw does move to Pars in season 6, she quickly finds that her natural buoyancy is out of step with the unimpressed nature ofthe natives she meets there, and, for a host of other reasons, she moves back to Manhattan.) Sabina Socol, the social editor of the French fashion magezine L'Offciel, says that most of the interview requests she gets from foreign publications pertain to her style or beauty habits in the context of being French, "Which is funny, when you know that Iwas born in Romania!” she writes in an email, You can see this as proof that anyone can be a French Git] if she tries hard enough, or as evidence ‘that no cultural moment exists in a vacuum, As Nicholas Hewitt, a professor of French cultural studies atthe University of Nottingham, points out, the arty films ofthe French New Wave owe a debt to the “clunky, low-budget” American erime movies of the 19508. Leila Yavari, a model and hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly 5113m012017 How to Sella Billion-Dollar Myth Like a French Git - Racked stylist who recently moved from Paris to Los Angeles, ees the influence of American rock nt’ rll in the undone, devil-nay-care style of certain Parisian women, “The French are deeply impressed by Americans, It's very much a two-way relationship,” says Hewitt Still, the codes of quintessentially Parisian style aren't necessarily intuitive for an outsider, hence the need for so many explainer articles, I's important to note here that when we talk about French Girls, we are referring toa specific Parisian look. Alexandra Pinel, a ike -year-old who grew up in Paris and now lives in New York, outlines the rules for dress Parisian like this: Don’t wear sweatpants outside the house, ever. Don't ‘wear too many colors or loud patterns, and don't dye your hair crazy colors. A natural beauty look is preferred, as are nevtral shades like black, gray, and Khaki. If ou're going to wear jeans, don't wear a denim jacket, too. (That is, unless you're playing into the ’90s mania that has swept both the US and France.) ‘While Pinel knows Americans who don’t put any thought into their wardrobe, she says she's never meta French woman who doesn't care about style. “It's really ingrained in the culture,” she says, “Thave one friend who's a pediatric cardiologist, and she's in a white eoat every day, but ‘when I meet her atthe bar afterwards, she's weating that litle oral dress and she has her litle side bangs on. Above all, the look is predicated on what Pinel calls ‘purposeful negligence”: working hard to appear as though you didn’ ty at all. In high school, Pinel and her friends would muss their hait (You had to look lke you just had sex"), cut hole in thei jeans, and drop their shirts on the shoulder a bit hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly anamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked “There’s a lot of shame in showing people that you take care of yourself. Women don’t talk about exercising, and they don’t talk about dieting.” “All French women wear makeup,” Pinel adds, “They don't leave home without it, but i's very ‘minimal and they pretend like they don't. There's lot of shame in showing people that you take care of yourself, Women don't talk about exercising, and they don't talk about dieting, “Lbbelieve the exercise that these Parisian women (ineluding mysel) do best, is pretending they're careless about their outfits when infact, they're just doing their best to achieve this perfect didart doit on purpose’ look,” writes Socol. She freely admits that she dresses in “a kind of cliché Parisian (not French) way,” drawing a distinetion between the capital andthe rest of the country ‘You can't say for sure how much of a career lit being French gives a person, but it’s probably not zero, particularly when she works in fashion, Consider Camille Rowe, a French-American model ‘who has worked with Dior and Victoria's Seeret. A playful video she made with -D titled “How to ‘Speak French With Camille Rowe” is the magazine's sixth most-viewed YouTube upload ever, and a video on her "French syle secrets” isin the top dozen on British Vogue's channel, lose Dchind clips with Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Cara Delevingne. “It is true that in food, in wine, and in hair dressing, being French is a plus,” says Philippon, Less evident tothe foreign eye isthe degree ofclassism that is baked into Parisian style, The lingering attachment to the 18th-century aristocracy still exerts social influence today, and its not uncommon for parents to ask after the last names of their children’s friends, to see if they ‘come from so-called good families. Indeed, many of our French Gil style icons have a “a theirlast names, indicating noble status ike the Chanel muses Caroline de Maigret and Ines de Ja Fressange. (Wherever you go, high fashion favors those who can afford it) Ifthe nouveau riche dress in a gaudy manner and the upper crust exerts restraint, emulating the latter is an attempt, intentional or not, to tap into its privilege, Philippon grew up in a family of barbers, and deseribes being the comparatively poor kid in a posh area outside Paris. He feels that many French style icons carry themselves with @ nonchalant air to such great effect because they have solid manners to fall back on. Less evident to the foreign eye is the degree of classism that is baked into Parisian style. “They have a really good education, they've been to school,” he says. “Most of them come from ‘300d families, so they were very well brought up. Because they know all the good behaviors, then they can break from them.” Ifyou've got a great haircut, you can leave your hair a mess, Ifyou've gota fabulous dermatologist, of course you don’t have to wear much makeup. “To me, what makes all the difference about New York, and maybe the rst of the United Stats, but particularly New York, is that you're not judged on what your name is or who your parents are or which school you've gone to,” Pilippon says, “You're really judged on the job, how you can get it done. You're given more chances, I think, in America.” Pinel now finds Paris sartorial demands limiting. When she moved to Washington, DC for college, she was met by a fashion scene that was outgoing and fun, Her peers were shopping at Urban Outfitters, wearing highlighter-hued American Apparel hoodies, and listening to M.LA, a patron saint of bold, colorful dressing. hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly m3m012017 How to Sella Billion-Dollar Myth Like a French Git - Racked 1's funn because I fee! lke my personality he s changed from the moment Ieft France," Pinel says, “Telt more free and authoritative as a woman when T was given the permission to wear louder clothing.” French brands with French-sounding names, a trend that Fashionista documented in 2015 | nevitably, foreigners took matters into their own hands, We're now facing a host of non- ina story titled “Why Are There So Many Fake French Brands in Fashion?” The list includes Glossier, La Gargonne, Agent Provocateur, and Journelle, and their founders’ reasons for doing so range from feeling inspired by French style to seeking legitimacy through the country’ history asa fashio 1e words sound, n powerhouse to simply liking how tl Of them, Btre Cécile is perhaps the most flagrant about tapping into the French Girl eraze, and the most attuned to how silly it alli. Its ag line, “presque Parisienne,” translates to “almost Parisian.” ‘The brand, which caters tothe rarified segment of women looking for low-key tees and ‘sweatshirts to pair with their Céline skirts, was founded in 2012 by former Style.com fashion director Yasmin Sewell and Kyle Robinson, director of the fashion PR and sales agency Paper Mache Tiger. They're Australian, and the company is based in London, ‘The women pictured on the design team's mood boards often aren't irkins or Bardots, but Woody len heroines like Annie Hall, Still, red, white, and blue stripes abound on Etre Cécile's website, and every season begins with imagining its patron saint — a 1960s Parisienne with a fondness for animal prints — traveling to a new locale, hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly anamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked “Right now she's in California," says Lara Bayliss, the brand's general manager. You can buy a top that says "Venice Peaches" or a Breton-stripe shirt that reads “La Vie Los Angeles.” ‘The French theme sometimes reaches comical, albeit self-aware, heights, A classie nayy-and- \hite-striped marinidre has the word “Stéréotype” in red across the chest, and a collaboration with Man Repeller resulted in a tank that says, “Am I French Yet?" The team goes out ofits way {to misspell words to play up its tongue-in-cheek atitude, writing “Champ Flysées Paris” rather than Champs-Elysées, or “Je Parle Francais,” skipping the eile under the e “We have had emails from French women who've corrected us,” Baylis says, ‘We've been told to get a French dictionary.” ‘No contemporary French brand reinforces its own stereotypes quite as thoroughly as Rouje, ‘Which launched lest year and trades in ‘70s Birkin nostalgia. I sels floral dresses with short sleeves and deep V-necks, high-waisted blue jeans, and crocheted tops. Sweet, sexy, and easygoing, its collection begs to be paired witha straw bag and a trip tothe Cote d'Azur. Rouje isthe ereation of Jesnne Damas, a sometime-actress with a fondness for red lipstick and a ‘haircut that falls in perfect disorder. When you ask people to name contemporary French It girl, she is usually on the list, “The real intention behind the brand was to create my perfect wardrobe every season through pieces the reflect my ovn personal syle: effortless and chi,” explains Damas in an email She also draws inspiration from women in her own life, like her mother, sister, aunts, and friends, and, of course, from Birkin. Damas may be a French Girl for our Instagram era, but she stil takes notes from her predecessors. Damas declined to share Rouje’s sales figures, joking thatthe French don't lke to talk about ‘money, but said that revenue projections for the brand’s second year are roughly twice that of the first France represents a quarter ofits business at this point, but the US ists fastest-growing market, Bre Cécile, meanwhile, hit £15 million in revenue for 2016 (about $1.94 million). For both brands, the US is bg focus in the coming year Im recent years, American shoppers may have noticed the ereep of modern French brands like Sandro, Maje, and the Kooples, Sandro and Maje’s storefronts tend to arrive side by side — their respective founders are sisters — with the former hiting the sleek, streetwise side ofthe Parisian fashion equation and the latter delivering a more bohemian, feminine look. Sandro has b business since 1984 and Maj since 1998, but neither expanded to the States until 2018. The US is, stil parent company SMCP's smallest region by retail footprint, though it’s catching up: At the end of 2016, SMCP had 140 points of sale in the US, compared with 479 in France, “We have had emails from French women who've corrected us. We've been told to get a French dictionary. ‘The Kooples is a family business too, run by Alexandre, Laurent, and Raphael Elicha, Long before they launched the brand in 2008, they watched their parents distil easygoing French style at Comptoir des Cotonniers, which they founded in 1995 and sold to Fast Retailing, Uniqlo's parent company, in 2005. Comptoir des Cotonniers did make a run at winning over American shoppers, but exited the US in 2036. “The younger Elichas now have six standalone stores inthe US in addition to concessions in department stores like Saks, Bloomingdale's, and Nordstrom. The Kooples, which finished 2016 hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly artam012017 How to Sella Billion-Dollar Myth Like a French Git - Racked ‘with €227 million in sales (alittle over $250 million), stakes its image on super-slim silhouettes ‘and a rock'n'roll attitude. Its ad campaigns feature attractive real-life couples (*kooples") who might make the viewer feel somewhat lonely or inadequate, whether or not she’s in a relationship. Te brothers, however, are warm and talkative. Their style skews as far from any Parisian archetype as you could imagine, On a recent trip to New York to promote their summer capsule collection, they were decked out lke flamboyant warlocks in layers of black heavily uecessorized with ig silver rings, necklaces, scarves, and brimmed hats, They all have beards and glasses. To see one on the street, you might think, “That guy has style.” To catchall three, you assume they must be famous. The Elichas say they always dressed differently from their peers, and have at various times drawn ‘on punk culture and Japanese street style. Despite its eountry of origin, the Kooples has an international flavor, The staf at its headquarters represents over 3o different nationalities. More to the point, its rebellious look has been inspired by London's music and fashion scene since the beginning, “English people thought we were a French brand, and the French thought we were an English brand,” Alexandre Elicha says of the Kooples’ early days Bloomingdale's was the first US department store to carry the Kooples, Sandro, and Maje, and it often works with their design teams to develop exclusive pieces for its stores and website under its “100% Bloomingdale's initiative, That doesn’t just involve asking for sole access to particular pieces in the brands’ collections, but telling the designers which trends Bloomingdale's is chasing fora particular season and asking them to ereate pieces that fit the bill — items that stay true to the brand's DNA but are engineered to win with Bloomingdale's customers, For foreign brands stil establishing themselves in the US, that means deliberately becoming alittle more American, hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow:-te-french-git-siyle-beauly 10113mo1017 How to Sela Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked Inclusive ofthe US, the Kooples isin 36 countries now and maintains a remarkable consistency in ts approach to international expansion. It begins with pushing out a ton of marketing imagery, says CEO Nicolas Dreyfus ike plastering the streets with photos of those beautiful couples. The brand then moves into department stores, launches 2 loeal e-commerce site, and eventually opens its ovin stores. Forall its worldliness, the Kooples does throw off distinetly Parisian vibes (it sells a lot of floral scarves and breezy blouses with its studded sandals and destroyed jeans), and the standardized ‘way in which it enters new countries speaks tothe global appeal of French style, the idealization of which isnot a singularly American pastime. In 1986, a psychiatrist coined the term “Paris syndrome" to deseribe the stress that some Japanese tourists experience when they discover that Paris isn't the charming paradise it looks like in films and the pages of magazines. Consumers around the world have a lot in common these days anyway, thanks to the world- shrinking magic ofthe internet and global expansion of mega-retailers like H&M and Zara, French customers tend to style their Kooples looks more simply than Londoners or New Yorkers, Dbut the best-selling pieces in one city are almost always the best-selling pieces in every other city. Shoppers behave pretty muck the same wherever you go hae great irony ofthe French Girl craze is thatthe literature acknowledges that Parisian T ‘women conceal thei efforts to look effortless, “The truth is out: Parisiennes aren't privy to. secret ‘skinny’ gone, they aren't always easy to be with, and aren't all perfect ‘mothers,” reads the introduction ofthe 2014 book How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, ‘Style, and Bad Habits, which revels in the fallacies ofthe stereotype over 246 generously spaced pages. “The book's Parisian co-authors — Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, and Sophie ‘Mas — deconstruct topics like haircare (“She cultivates, depending om her age, a type of capillary blur, to varying degrees oftidiness. But make no mistake, this is very earefully organized chaos") and aging (Parisiennes do not have plastic surgery, because they believe you need to know how ‘to-accept the body your mother created with such attention and care... Of course, this is what they'll have you—as wel as their men — believe, But it’s not true"), They find humor in insufferability with a list of "Parisian Snobbisms” that includes the following advice: "Ne control. (But make sure you have a steamy past.” Yet by undercutting the fantasy, How to Be Parisian makes it seem ever more attainable. You ‘might suppose that if French women have to try, foreigners might as well, too, with the help of a $25 book. How to Be Parisian romanticizes even as it cheekily exposes, mingling text with black-and-white photographs of messy white bed sheets and Sunday recipes for baked apples and pea-and-carrot soup, Ultimately, the idea of becoming French comes out on top. A month after its release, the book reached No, 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for fashion and manners, The blockbuster French Women Don't Get Fat followed a similar trajectory in early 2005, popping up ‘on the New York Times best-seller lst a month after it debuted, above He's Just Not That Into You and The South Beach Diet. You might suppose that if French women have to try, foreigners might as well, too, with the help of a $25 book. hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly stamo1017 How to Se Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked “The term ‘French woman’ epitomizes everything women want tobe: sexy, stylish, thin, great conversationalist, slightly maverick, very seductive, very badly behaved. It's all quite glamorous and appealing,” says Helena Frith Powel, the British author of All You Need to Be Impossibly French: A Witty Investigation Into the Lives, Lusts, and Little Seerets of Prench Women, Cf the 12 novels and advice books she's written, Frith Powell says All You Need to Be Impossibly French is her most successful, having sold 250,000 copies globally. (It was originally published in the UK under the title Two Lipsticks and a Lover in 2005.) She has lived in France with her family on and off since 2000, and in her early years there wrote a column for the Sunday Times about French culture. ‘Where How to Be Parisian is authoritative but scattered — the work of actual Parisians who avoid commits ing too heavily to stereotypes and err on the side of a loose, playful sketch — Frith Powells investigation is earnestly reported, based on her own observations and interviews with dozens of real-life French women. It struck a chord with readers. Frith Powell still receives several emails @ month from women who felt encouraged to make small changes to their lives, like wearing matching lingerie, regularly getting manicures, and remembering to moisturize their feet. (Ona good day, self-care, an old concept that's currently of great interest to millennial is exactly ‘what the myth of the French Giel promotes. Cheese is delicious. Its nice tobe given permission not to feel bad about eating it. ‘Yavari feels that living in Pars freed her ofthe pressure to dress up in heels and full makeup ‘whem it just wasn't warranted, like on a6 a.m. ight, "I's a philosophical thing, not giving a fuck,” she says. Women everywhere are under & metre ton of pressure to look a certain way. It's nice to be encouraged to not try so hard ifyou don’t feel ike it But the French Girl myth can also reinforce the belief that there is, and always will be, a more perfect form of womanhood than whatever you have going on. You could be thinner. You could be otter. But please, while you get there, make it look easy. No, unintentional ‘The self-help book industry might help readers, but it's definitely going to help itself. The same goes for the women's magazines and websites that publish French Girl stories with frankly impressive frequeney. They've found an unthinkable number of ways to repackage the same concept because it drives a ton of trafic and keeps them in business. Ifa story elicits a flood of attention, you replicate it until it doesn’t anymore. The French Girl has been here for decades, but thanks to the online media's amplifieation system, i’ like she's stepped into a Yayoi Kusama, infinity room. Sill, you elick, because you never know. That article could contain the pivee of advice that finally ‘turns your life into the breezy, rose-scented, romantic, confident masterpiece you always knew it could be, And ifyou don’t make that happen, who wil? = liza Brooke is a senior reporter at Racked, Raditor: Julia Rubin Copy editor: Heather Schwedel America’s Massive Retail Workforce Is Tired of Being Ignored hips:hww racked, com/2017/715/15880175Ihow-te-french-git-siyle-beauly sanamo1017 How to Sela Bilion-Dallar Myth Like a French Git - Racked Weddings of the 0.01 Percent Is British Fast Fashion Too Fast? View all stories in Longform sana