Paris in the Movies

Maybe this is just a case of wishful thinking, but you don’t need to have a Parisian address to be a Parisienne. Parisian can be as much a state of mind, and style of dress, as it is a status of residence. It’s partly because the concept is so demystified these days. Ever since the […]

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In 1560, a certain Jean Nicot introduced tobacco to Catherine de Medici, raving about its various healing powers. The queen and her court were soon hooked — and the ambassador would go on to be immortalised in the word nicotine. The backstory of tobacco in France has long infused smoking with an air of nobility; […]

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Paris is the capital of the fashion industry, so it’s no wonder that movies set in this city celebrate all things sartorial so well. Here are twelve to add to your viewing (and dream-wardrobe) wishlist … Gigi (1958) Leslie Caron plays an adorable Belle Époque courtesan-in-training; the frilly, feathery finery was confectioned by legendary photographer […]

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‘If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.’ So proclaimed the author, whose years in Paris during the 1920s, those années folles, influenced his life-long appetite for the good […]

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