Helena Frith Powell

This was a fast, easy read. I enjoyed some of the peeks into French culture, and I even picked up a few tips and things I intend to try out. But some parts of the book made me uncomfortable - like the author's brief flirtation with a married man while she's married herself, and the fact that she toyed with the idea of an adulterous relationship. Yes, I realize this is very "French" of her, but it still didn't sit well with my (very Canadian) morals. Aside from that, I found the book pretty show more fluffy - which I guess it was meant to be. I would have liked to learn more about the women she interviewed, what they really thought about the pressure to be perfect all the time and the incessant competition with other women. show less

Orientalism for fashion victims

If you spend half a day on Paris’ Avenue Montaigne you may seen one or two of them: those elegant French women, looking glamorous in anything like a T-shirt and jeans or a designer dress. How they do this is the burning question that Englishwoman Helena Frith Powell tries to answer in this book.

Ms. Frith Powell checks with her friends from the fashion world and explains in the cheerful tone of a leading fashion magazine that the difference between a British show more ladette and a Frenchwoman is not just a working knowledge of Elle Magazine and the books of George Sand and Colette, but also lots of body creams, good food in reasonable portions, no miniskirts if you are a certain age, regular but not extreme exercise, and, very importantly, matching bras and knickers of high quality. And lots of smoking. This mixture will keep you seductive any time, which you have to, because it is a competitive world in Paris.

Mais si vous avez du chien, vous pouvez jouir le cinq à sept! show less

I really liked this little volume. It's written by an English lady who moves to France with her husband and children and sets out to find out what makes the French women so chic. She seeks opinions of men and women from both sides of the English Channel on the subjects of style, diet, fitness, lingerie, friends, plastic surgery, children, role models culture and even affairs and relays her finds in an amusing way that left me chuckling on a number of occasions.
This is a good read for those show more of us who are asking the same question the author did when she began her quest and who want to develop some of the same allure in ourselves. Some of the traits weren't all that flattering but just like Ms. Frith-Powell we don't have to adopt them all, just the ones we like. show less

Many of us across the Atlantic find the French woman and her lifestyle to be so ideal. We want to be everything they are. Can this be done, or is there a clue in the title of the book ".All You Need to Be Impossibly French"? Although the book follows the basic format of others of the same genre, Powell's approach is more practical. Her own delightful British humor keeps everything refreshed and lighthanded, and finishes with the suggestion that although French is Fabulous, it is not without show more flaws and just maybe, the rest of us have our own special uniqueness as well. Kudos on that one.
I found the last two chapters a bit of a downer...not being overly interested in infidelity and sex toys, but I will admit they are written with delicacy and propriety. I realized I don't want to be so completely French after all....but, well, maybe, just have drawers of matching lingerie and be very intellectual, and thinner, and always beautiful, and an awesome mother, and have lots of beautiful shoes, and .....oui.. oh, don't forget the cheeses. show less