Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl - Paperback

by Debra Ollivier (Author), Elizabeth Beier (Editor)

French women's secrets to being self-possessed, self-satisfied and fully self-expressed.

Provocative and practical, lively and intelligent, Entre Nous unlocks the mystery of the French girl and the secrets of her self-possession. Why do French women always look inimitably stylish? How do they manage to sit in a caf for a three-course lunch and a glass of wine...by themselves? What gives them the certainty that allows them to refuse anything--whether a man, a job, or a little black dress--that doesn't suit them perfectly?

More than just a book on fashion, Entre Nous is about the essence of French living--its observations about French women and their ways will help you take the best of all pages from the French girl's book: the page that reveals how to really enjoy life.

Ollivier spent a decade in France and learned a thing or two about how French women cultivate that sense of being easy in one's skin...(she) helps us bridge the cultural gap.
- Seattle Times

Front Jacket

What makes French girls as serenely self-satisfied as purring cats...and catnip to the men who admire them?

We'd all be as free as the French girl if we looked like her, right? The stereotypical French girl is often insolently thin, casually chic, and fashionable despite a simple wardrobe. With or without makeup she is always put together and utterly self-confident, imbued with natural elegance and an elusive distance that is particularly, maddeningly French.

But this stereotype obscures delicious pardoxes about the French girl and her body. Yes, she does have an exasperating tendency to be thin. Reams have been written trying to decode the mystery of a people who smoke, drink, eat goose fat, and still look fabulous. But in reality, the French girl comes in a multitude of styles and body shapes, and whatever her figure, she looks remarkable and just plain sexy.

The French girl understands that sexy is a state of mind. Her relationship to food and her body is sensual, not tyrannical, and she takes pleasure in both.

Entre Nous copyright 2004 Debra Ollivier

Back Jacket

What makes French girls as serenely self-satisfied as purring cats...and catnip to the men who admire them?

We'd all be as free as the French girl if we looked like her, right? The stereotypical French girl is often insolently thin, casually chic, and fashionable despite a simple wardrobe. With or without makeup she is always put together and utterly self-confident, imbued with natural elegance and an elusive distance that is particularly, maddeningly French.

But this stereotype obscures delicious pardoxes about the French girl and her body. Yes, she does have an exasperating tendency to be thin. Reams have been written trying to decode the mystery of a people who smoke, drink, eat goose fat, and still look fabulous. But in reality, the French girl comes in a multitude of styles and body shapes, and whatever her figure, she looks remarkable and just plain sexy.

The French girl understands that sexy is a state of mind. Her relationship to food and her body is sensual, not tyrannical, and she takes pleasure in both.

Entre Nous copyright 2004 Debra Ollivier

Author Biography

Debra Ollivier has written for Salon, Harpers, Playboy, Le Monde, and a variety of other publications. She's a California girl who married a Frenchman and lived in France, where her children were born, for a decade. She now lives in Los Angeles.