La Seduction (paperback)

Gateau Chocolat, watercolor, 9" x 11"

La Seduction is out in paperback if you didn't catch it 1st time out

An American friend, who worked at Restaurant Guy Savoy for 3 years, made an observation I've never forgotten - 'Everything in France is layered'. I think of this each time I cut into a piece of French pastry.Elaine Sciolino's La Seduction, cuts through the complexity of French culture, politics, mores and most of all the layers of 'La seduction'. My copy is a mess of yellow markings. You won't be able to put it down.

You can 'bite' a chunk at Amazon

Sciolino mentions those petite details of seduction in an interview with lingerie queen Chantal Thomass. As New York Times Paris bureau chief for 5+ years, no one is out of her reach including a gastronomic 3-star chef Guy Savoy - she even gets to have a meal with his mother in the country

This little blurb in an old Elle magazine sums up the books premise, 'Sexy, mais pas trop' (Sexy, but not too much) Suggestion in seduction is everything. Elaine's book came out in France too. Who doesn't need to know more about seduction?

Wear something you can take off. You can take a class on exactly how to take it off seductively in France.

Perfume is an essential in the game of French seduction - but all the senses come into play.

Obvious makeup is a non, non.

But traitment/skin treatment of the peau?
Absolutement oui

Much is summed up at a dinner soiree given by a French friend, so Sciolino can ask questions (with the essential politesse) of French experts in all arenas of the arts of seduction.
You'll be enthralled.

Sciolino dissects the French seduction the way I cut into a piece of cake to know it and paint it, layer by layer. And her bibliography is a goldmine on essential Frenchness. Many books we've discussed here like: Deluxe, The Perfect Scent, What French Women Know, French Women Don't get Fat, Almost French, The Essence of Style.

The only oversight was the seductive powers of the French dog.
woof

BONJOUR LA SEDUCTION!

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A Red Shoe In

 Red Repettos, watercolor, 9" x 11"

 Yesterday's picture of the red shoes + red bag got me thinking. You can't go wrong wearing red shoes in Paris with an accompanying red accessory.

 Wearing red in Paris is 'a shoe in' or 'a shoo in'

 "a shoe in" means you have one foot in the door...he's a shoe in for the job...meaning he has a good chance of the getting the job.

"shoo in" is a racetrack term applied to a horse that is expected to win a race'.

 

 So if you want to win the fashion race in Paris get out your red shoes + something else red.

 Brigitte did it.

 This French women may be a bit OTT...de trop don't you think? Btw thanks for letting me know you want Parisbreakfast 5X a week and even more yesterday.

 On the other hand red nails + red ballerinas = perfection.

 It's my belief little French girls get plenty of 'red' indoctrination with multiple rereadings of Little Red Riding Hood/Le Petit Chaperon Rouge.

 They start right off dolling up in total red outfits. This is not a Halloween trick or treat walk.

 Grown up French girls get in touch with their inner Red Riding Hood easily.

 N2 makes loads of goofy red riding hood jewelry for just this purpose. I got a red riding hood ring. I'm never without mine.

Here's little French girl in her all-red summer outfit.

Practice practice practice!

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De Trop?

 Which would you rather have? Fraise tagada from Haribo? Strawberry candies...

 Or real fraises/strawberries in a Dalloyau mini charlotte? OK, that's an easy choice.

 Did you know the French have several cookbooks devoted to their beloved penny candy de mon enfance? Oui, c'est vrai. De trop non?/It's too much

 Too many Pizza Hut motorcycles lined up on bd de Richard Lenoir?

De trop?

 Just the right amount of red/rouge in the Metro - parfait!

 Big red bow on wedge baskets/sneakers?

De trop!

 Kasia Dietz red toenails?

C'est parfait

 Plenty of red shoes on sale at Repetto during the soldes...

But just -20%?

Pas trop :(

 Red shoes in the Metro...let me look again at Repetto

 Mini red expresso take-away cup with silhouettes...

Parfait

 Can you hever have too much French red fruit jams/confitures?

JAMAIS!

 Have you tasted the red old-fashioned hard candies, coquelicot made from poppy flowers of Nemours? You'll find them in many fine Paris patisseries like Sebastien Gaudard et La Mere de Famille etc.

Red bag + red shoes

De trop?

Do you think Parisbreakfast should post just 3 days a week?

Is 5 days de trop?

Do tell all PBers svp

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What Parisians are Wearing

 Petticoats on the outside is one of the hot looks this summer in Paris

 The lacier the better

 Seen from the #61 bus

 The lacy jupe/skirt is usually worn over leggings

 Are these take-offs on traditional French boy's school smocks?

 Certainly Le Bon Marche is taking a page out of the school smock look plus a generous helping of writer Colette's Claudine at School.

Side note- I always wished my mother had named me 'Claudine' instead of after a visitor to her hospital room since I didn't turn out to be a 'Charles'

c'est la vie

 Guerlain showed a frou-frou jupe for their new perfume, La Petit Robe Noire promotion coming at last to the US this Fall. Hooray

 Another reference for the frilly, lacy short jupe could be Repetto's enticing windows - letting us relive our ballerina dreams over and over

 A rufflied Carmen Miranda version in Galeries Lafayette

 Au Moulin Rose would like you to go ruffly all the way...

 One of Paris' best loved pink ruffles sits on the divine Ispahan by Pierre Herme, copied many times over but never the same.

 An inedible ruffle on Christine Ferber's confiture at Pierre Herme, just as delicious no?

 Totally edible, these ruffles made of macarons at Angelina

Me, I'm happy to keep my petticoats well-hidden while getting my toes wet preferably at Nice or Antibes s'il vous plait...

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