Even though more French women have started looking American around the middle, pressure to stay slim in Paris is as heavy as a six-egg chocolate mousse with extra crème fraîche and butter. Curvy just doesn't spell chic here (except maybe to Vincent Cassel).
But instead of reaching for running shoes and nonfat yogurt to stave off unwanted kilos, chic Parisiennes manage to eat what they please and rarely break a sweat. How do they do it? Cigarettes.
Unlike in America, where chain-smoking went from glamorous to trashy last century, in France, spewing lung-poisoning fumes in front of others is still considered perfectly acceptable behavior for an upstanding citizen. Which means that most days, you'll find yourself sputtering your way through a labyrinth of smoke emerging from the unabashed mouths of well-dressed businesswomen, friends gossiping in sidewalk cafés, and young mothers pushing (with one-hand) smart Maclaren strollers.
It’s enough to make you want to return to the land of Botox and celebrity diets, where even the head of state has the decency to smoke in private.
Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen. [Online image].
