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If you ate up French Women Don't Get Fat, you'll gobble down The Price of Illusion, a new memoir by Joan Juliet Buck, the former editor-in-chief of the French edition of Vogue. Buck, 68, is American but moved with her parents to France when she was only 4 years old, so she speaks fluent French.
Buck's ease with the language came in handy in 1994, when she set out to rebrand the bible of Paris fashion with an edgier, American attitude and newsier reporting.
Last week the opinionated Francophile and I had a long talk about beauty, style and aging. As Buck sees it, here's what we stand to learn from our French sisters.
Adjust your style speed. "I think many American women tend to get locked in a sort of 'time rut,'" Buck told me during her recent book tour. "They hang on to how they looked, and what they wore, when they were at their most fashionable.
"Frenchwomen, by contrast, acknowledge that your body, your hair and your face all change after age 50 — especially your face, and especially between 50 and 60. Rather than trying to look young, they simply play up the good, camouflage the bad and emphasize the here and now with a consistent, signature look that expresses their taste. Carolina Herrera. 78, and Charlotte Rampling, 71, are perfect examples of this approach."
Ditch what doesn't work. "Frenchwomen pare down their accessories, their clothes and their makeup to only the items that flatter them. They don't hoard. In my own case, for example, wearing earrings, printed scarves, jackets, high heels and smoky eye makeup makes me look and feel older now, so they're off the list.
"I prefer very simple clothes — almost like a soldier's uniform — in shades of navy blue rather than black (which is draining to mature skin). Tunics, pants and sweaters (in navy, of course!) are my staples. So are long-sleeve T-shirts from Uniqlo, a classic trench coat and my bold black or tortoiseshell eyeglasses. Some might call the look androgynous, but it suits me now.
"What I can't ever seem to find are size 7 shoes wide enough for my feet, which have gotten broader and bonier with age. That's why I'm never without good insole pads."
Compensate with a coif. Frenchwomen find a perfect haircut, according to Buck, then tweak it for a contemporary edge. "After a certain age," she observed, "long hair thins out, or it requires being wrestled into submission as its texture changes. I gradually cropped mine short, and now it feels modern, sexy and powerful."
