France

 

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Lori McNally
 
 
 
 

February Read: Lunch in Paris | February 5, 2010

February Read: Lunch in Paris

The book I am recommending to read this month is Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. Coming out this month in bookstores, Lunch in Paris sounds romantic and wonderful- just like the city where it’s set…Paris!!! I can’t wait to read this book and fall in love with Paris all over again…one of my favorite cities in the WORLD!!! (See pic below of us in Paris from 2007)

Below is a short book review from Barnes and Nobles:

Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak’spink juices puddling … Read More »

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Editor
 
 
 
 

Mannequins Photographed Through Glass | February 23, 2009

Mannequins Photographed Through Glass

David Law was born in Paris, France.  After graduating from college, he started advanced studies in movie-making, video and picture-related matters. He worked small jobs, such as being a coach in communication and marketing and sales assistant. However, music remains his passion and he plays guitar and sings in several bands. He has been hired to compose several movie soundtracks and has several albums out, either alone or with a band.

He has always been attracted to window mannequins and started shooting them in 1994. He has been showing and selling his work since 2006 via the internet. By selling his … Read More »

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French Photography Captures Feelings | January 19, 2009

French Photography Captures Feelings

As Editor-in-Chief of Chic Galleria, I have the pleasure of receiving emails from people all over the world.  I often come across extremely talented people with whom I can’t wait to share with you.  Nicholas Dhondt is one of those people. Nicholas lives in Dunkerque, France.  He worked very hard at translating his emails to me from French into English.  I have enjoyed corresponding with him and hope you all enjoy his photography as much as I do.

Through both formal and informal training, Nicholas has developed his photography skills using a keen eye and his passion for the art.  … Read More »

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Jamie Wheeler
 
 
 
 

Paris Envy: Christian Dior | December 17, 2008

Paris Envy: Christian Dior

It must be remembered that department store owners across the country were not working alone in keeping the myth of Paris alive for female American consumers.  The French continued to preach their superiority in all things aesthetic, but were especially vocal in advocating fashion.  It appears that many truly believed their rhetoric.  Designer Alexandre Arsène made no apologies for the expense of the clothing nor the grandiosity of the dream.  He declared, “Enfin, si Paris commençais à habiller moins bein la femme, il y aurait un peu moins de soliel d’amour sur la rest de la terre…nous avons fait dés … Read More »

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Jamie Wheeler
 
 
 
 

Paris Envy: Department Stores | December 10, 2008

Paris Envy: Department Stores

Drugstores were one important outlet for moving smaller French merchandise, such as rouge, hair tonic, and perfumes, but the biggest boost for its largest export, fashion, came from the advent of department stores.  Again, France was the forerunner, opening its first department stores in Paris in the 1830s. The first American department stores opened in the 1870s.    “Department stores,” argues historian William Leach, “pictured the desirable as did no other contemporary institution….They had little in common with the drab dry goods houses of the earlier period, which had been operated by pious Protestant merchant”.

Leach is emphatic in his claim … Read More »

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Jamie Wheeler
 
 
 
 

Paris Envy: Cosmetics and Perfumes | December 3, 2008

Paris Envy: Cosmetics and Perfumes

While it is true that the French have never shied away from wooing the upper class demographic, their real conquest of American women lies not in the winning over of the privileged few, but by seducing the general public.  Again, marketing and advertising helped the French attract female American consumers.

While women were studying the new fashion plates, dreaming about diamonds, or thinking about having some special chocolates delivered, they were also being courted into the new market of cosmetics, an affection which French women embraced but nineteenth century American women still had not accepted.

Before French advertising began to proliferate American … Read More »

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Jamie Wheeler
 
 
 
 

Paris Envy: Influential Marketing | November 26, 2008

Paris Envy: Influential Marketing

Perhaps part of the reason the French were so successful was their uncanny ability to market “image over substance”.  Photography, developed in France, went a long way in convincing modern women that images were powerful, that the “look” could convey wealth and status.  Roland Barthes has commented that clothing serves three functions:  “protection, purdeur, et parure,” (protection, decency, ornament) but that the third was taking over.   Writing in the mid-1940s, John Kenneth Galbraith agreed that fashion had become less about function and more about ornament.  He argues that, “For many women and some men, clothing has ceased to be related … Read More »

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Jamie Wheeler
 
 
 
 

Paris Envy: American Women and the Influence of French Marketing | November 20, 2008

Paris Envy: American Women and the Influence of French Marketing

“Avec notre goût, laissez-nous font la guerre sur l’Europe et par la mode conquérir le monde!” With our taste, let us make war on Europe and through fashion conquer the world!

Jean Baptiste Colbert, chief financial advisor to King Louis the XIV, made this emphatic declaration in the seventeenth century.  Little did he know how successful his proposition would be, nor how ubiquitous French marketing would become in the New World.  Today, the concepts and names associated with French products sold to American women are familiar parts of our everyday lives.

Almost everyone knows that “haute couture” means “high fashion,” and … Read More »

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