Ma Petite France

I just finished the book Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier. Ollivier tells women of the world how to acquire a certain “Frenchness” in many facets of life: family, fashion, love, interior design etc. I love that Ollivier explains the fallacy of certain French stereotypes. She also validates others. As an American woman the main lessons that I learned from this book were:

1.     1.  Less is more; from clothes and décor to close friends and gossip.

2.     2.  Stop the rush. Enjoy your time and make it worthwhile.

“When it comes to the French girl herself, we often fixate on the stereotype (you know her: the svelte Euro goddess in high heels.) The archetypal French girl is not the woman you see on the cover of fashion magazines or on the big screen. She is an essence, a way of being, a mindset-and she exists in us all. She is that part of us that is free-and not bound up by the joyless strings of Puritan morality or guilt. She’s that part of us that has a sense of continuity in life, that doesn’t rush, that feels sexy for no apparent reason. She is, more fundamentally, that part of us that does not want to live according to what others think she should be. She is her own woman. Entirely.”