… was my immediate reaction when a promotion for this book, by Mylène Desclaux, caught my attention.
I decided to find out some more. Through the power of the internet, it is now possible to dip inside a book and read a sample before you buy! There has also been a fairly widespread reaction to the book across the media; articles, reviews etc which I have been reading with some interest, cynicism and amusement, depending on who has written them.
However, I must confess that I haven’t read the whole book and it’s unlikely that I will.
In the last few years, we have been told that ‘French women don’t get fat’ and ‘French women don’t get facelifts’ and that’s just for starters.
Here are some of Mylène’s suggestions for feeling young at 50:
- never have a birthday party – you don’t want to risk people finding out your real age
- never wear reading glasses on a date
- never keep a first name name that reflects your true age
Mylène (and I quote here) writes: ‘My experience has taught me that you should never, EVER, tell people your age… Being however old you are is nothing to be particularly proud of…’
WHAT? I am very proud and glad to be sixty-five. I know (knew) people who are no longer with us and would give anything, I’m sure to be fifty, sixty or just here. Thankfully, there are many writers and bloggers who celebrate age.
I’m afraid this post has turned into a bit of a rant but if you read my blog fairly regularly, you know my opinion of the stereotypical, chic French woman with which we are constantly being presented. I am a Francophile and have some wonderful French women friends who do not all conform to the image with which we are so often presented.
You may be interested in reading the most popular post I have ever written on this topic:
https://fancyingfrance.com/2017/09/26/cest-chic/
Thanks for reading and I’d love to know what you think.
Have you read the reviews in French? They are so different from the English ones. It is taken as a humor book, not an advice book. Clever publisher–any “French women” advice book sells in English, but no French woman would buy it, at least not as an advice book. In fact, the French title is quite different: Les Jeunes Femmes de Cinquante Ans. Nothing about how to.
That said, there are plenty of French movies about Parisian society, with unfaithful husbands looking for younger partners to ward off their own aging, while the wives stay thin and go to huge efforts to maintain their beauty and fight aging. That kind of thing happens everywhere, but more, I think, in the big cities than in the rest of the country, and isn’t pretty universal? It certainly is the case in NY and LA.
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Yes, I have read some of the reviews that say the book is very ‘tongue in cheek’. I think the marketing of the book, outside of France, is quite clever! We can also read ‘ French children don’t throw food’ and ‘French Parents don’t give in’..! All of these appeal to my British sense of humour. I think what you say about the big cities is accurate and I’m sure applies to London, too.
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I used to get angry about the ‘French children don’t have ADHD or autism’ brigade, as my son was diagnosed when he was 4. Whether the book is marketed as serious or not I always find it hilarious when I see women in tiny mini skirts and stilhettos doing their shopping when I’ve likely got my dog walking trousers on.
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Any labels or stereotypes can be carelessly applied, I think. In ‘my’ little French town, I’m always on the hunt for chic women to photograph for the blog! There really isn’t the money around here. One of my French students said I looked ‘très class’; whatever that means! I thought it was hilarious 🤣
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I am not embarrassed to be 62. In fact, I think I look better than some women I know in their fifties (I’m not bragging here – just pointing out that some women make no effort and I find that a shame). I remember reading many years ago that there is only one alternative to getting older. I’m glad that I have the opportunity to do so. More humorously, I remember also reading that someone (Joan Collins maybe) said that you should ADD 10 years to your age because then everyone thinks you look amazing!
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Yes, exactly. There is only one alternative to getting older. The Joan Collins comment (I can imagine that she would say something like that!) made me smile and I know one or two women who do exactly that. I think, in many ways, women in their sixties are so fortunate these days, as the old rule book about how one should look and what one should wear has been thrown out – generally!
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We 60s women today are SO lucky, June. No pressure to be old ladies or even to conform to be he said xpect end morms in terms of the way we act, dress or generally present ourselves.
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Goodness, I have no idea how I managed that garbge! ‘Conform to the expected norms’ is what it should have said!
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Made me smile!
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Absolutely! But…???
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