AFrenchwomen: so soignée, so C’est si bon, so clicky as they walk by. Everything about them—their poise, their refinement, their cool dispatch, their trim, tidy figures, their yachty scarves, their precision manners, their purposeful glances, their insinuating silences, their hair, their skin, their scent, the invisible caress of their lingerie, their avoidance of circus tattoos and purple henna—inspires marvel and envy. Although world-class cities from Rome to Barcelona, Buenos Aires to Singapore, New York to Dubai, can pride themselves on being lustrous strongholds of exalted femininity, it is the Frenchwoman—in particular the Parisian Woman—to whom homage is paid and of whom study is made. In the historical imagination the Frenchwoman has held a monopoly on mystique à la mode ever since Louis XIV made Paris the fashion and coiffure capital…
