You Don't Have to Be French to Be Sexy
LatestPop quiz: If a woman looks old + sexy and no one is around to
validate her, does she still emit a breathy whimper? No really, in order to be
sexy, who has to “agree” that you’re sexy? Any passing stranger? A panel of Russian judges? The answer is one person,
and one person only: You. The rest is sexy magic. And you don’t have to be French.
First: I like a broad generalization as much as the next gal. I also like French culture. Like anyone, I swoon for existentialists in berets smoking cigs and reading. But I get tired of hearing reflexive French superiority theories. You know, French women don’t get fat, and are cooler, and wear scarves better, and are instinctively better parents because they ignore their children, yadda yadda. They are also “allowed” to be sexier for longer, whereas American cooch dries up at 29.
The piece is called “Why Are French Women Allowed to Age and Still Be Sexy?” and it says:
The latest Louis Vuitton campaign features two iconic French women: actress Catherine Deneuve and It-girl/model Caroline de Maigret. The former is 70-years-old and the latter is reaching a sudden peak as she is about to turn 39. Both share the same sultry eyes, bed hair, and undeniable sex appeal.
Although in fashion, youth never gets old, French luxury brands have tend to choose models that are a tad more mature. Recent examples include 47-year-old actress Sophie Marceau wearing nothing but bed sheets and a Chaumet watch for the brand’s campaign or a seemingly topless 46-year-old former French first lady Carla Bruni for Bulgari.
Not only are these women closer to the customers’ age, they also mirror the local belief that seductiveness and sexuality don’t go down the drain after the age of 40. In fact, Gallic culture is peppered with post-menopausal bombshells. Take fashion: 59-year-old Carine Roitfeld (no need to introduce her) stills rock her stilettos and slit skirts; former model and Schiaparelli ambassador Farida Khelfa (51 years old) continues to close Jean Paul Gaultier shows.
The same goes for many actresses who still appeal to the entire nation as the years go by. Isabelle Huppert, age 60, specialized in provocative, controversial roles in The Piano Teacher and Ma Mère, where she played a mother that introduces her own son to S&M sex. As for Catherine Deneuve, she has a raunchy lesbian encounter with her maid in Eight Women.
All the women mentioned here look terrific and that’s great. But even French sexiness is defined in a pretty monolithic way. These are older women, yes, but they are mostly white, thin women rocking a pretty conventional version of sexy (skirts + stilettos + come hither + few or no wrinkles). That’s great! It’s fun! It’s one kind of sexiness. Again, all these women look fantastic, no doubt. And while I agree America has a lot to learn about what sexiness is in terms of media depictions, I think it’s important to remember that you don’t need a media depiction to give you “permission” to be sexy. And it’s not a competition among nations. And comparing one nation’s ladies to another in terms of who gets to be more sexy just frames the whole issue to sound like it’s simply a matter of getting the green light from…a magazine? Movies? American women WOULD be so sexy if our menfolk and leaders would JUST notice, and JUST let us…emanate.