Are French women perfect? Judging by the piles of books attempting to nail their je ne sais quoi, it would appear that the rest of us are filled with a mix of envy and insecurity when contemplating France's glamorous fair sex.
The way they walk, the way they dress, the
way they do their hair, and the way they raise their families. It has all been put under the microscope in books ranging from French Women don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano to Pamela Druckerman's Bringing up bébé. Le Figaro decided to get to the bottom of the French feminine mystique and came up with a startling conclusion - it's all a lie. Or "an American dream".
The journalist Peggy Frey set about exploding the myths, one by one, starting with the "natural beauty" of the French woman.
Her trim figure? Don't believe the myth that French women never diet, says Le Figaro. It's true that they never talk about dieting, just "being careful". If you consider that almost half of French women smoke it's hardly surprising that their appetites are suppressed.
Her sexy appearance? The paper quotes from a recent study showing that French women spend €97 on lingerie - or only a fifth of what American women spend. As for her "natural" blonde highlights, they come straight out of a bottle, except that the French woman is likely to have spent months finding the right hairdresser and will never give you the address.
