(The Sartorialist)
Throw everything you’ve ever heard about the beautiful figures of French women out the window. It’s a fallacy. If I have learned anything from my Parisian life it is that “French Women Don’t Get Fat” is misleading and puts French women on a diet pedestal.
Despite what you may think, each morning does not begin with a croissant or pain au chocolat in one hand and an espresso in the other, on the terrace of a café where Simone de Beauvoir philosophized with Sartre, while pausing between bites to puff from a cigarette. They may have a genetic predisposition to a slim frame but don’t be mistaken – most of them can’t get away with eating the way that the rest of the world thinks they eat. The preponderance of eating disorders, diet pills and legal addictive stimulants tells me that maybe American women shouldn’t be looking at Parisian women (because I get myself in trouble when I generalize and say French women) as models of healthy behaviors. They do use Diet Coke, coffee and cigarettes as a non-fat method of suppressing their appetites and they do talk about their bodies and weight with just as much compulsion and attention…
