Gateau Chocolat, watercolor, 9" x 11"
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 new book (out today), 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 either...
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.
Wear something you can take off. And take a class on exactly how to take it off seductively!
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, plus I've added others into the sidebar...
