Ever wished you could have an Hermès bag? You can. For free! Choose from 9 models of the Kelly bag and build your own: The Clémence, The Fleur, The Nathalie, The Marine, The François, The Capucine, The Papier, The Laura. Enjoy your Hermès bags, les filles !
To find what other goodies they might be giving away, go to the Hermès site, click Travel the world of Hermès, and choose Surprises from the menu (vertical orange bar, top left).
(Update February 2010: No longer available online, but we have the PDFs! You can get them here.)
(Update February 2012: Also at that link are the versions that were on the Spanish site in 2010!)
Published on April 27, 2009
Filed under Fashion & Beauty, Fun
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The new socialist president of France and his prime minister create a lefty government with plenty of estrogen and a dash of crunchy granola. Yes! See the full-size infographic.
via @pascalcardonna
Published on May 17, 2012
Filed under Society
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Published on May 11, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
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A couple years after his album Préliminaires, featuring some French classics (which we covered here), Iggy Pop is about to release Après, a collection of classic torch songs, ballads and French variété. We just love the way he wraps his destroyed voice around those French songs. Seems somehow appropriate.
Read the complete song selection and more at Rock Cellar Magazine. You can buy the albums at our Amazon store! Après / Préliminaires
Published on May 10, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
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Perry Taylor captures the spirit of South West France in his humorous drawings of the locals, their lifestyle, culture, heritage, animals and sports.
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the Jazz in Marciac festival, he’ll have a gallery there (Galerie rue des cinq parts), and he’ll be at other events in the region as well. Visit Perry Taylor Art for all event dates and his online gallery and shop, where you can order original ink drawings or giclée prints on A4 and A3 art paper, signed by the artist!
Published on May 4, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
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An 18th-century portrait sold in New York to a British gallery as a “woman in a feathered hat” turns out to actually portray a man dressed as a woman, becoming the earliest known painting of a transvestite. (Read how they figured it out…)
The portrait is of Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Éon de Beaumont, a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason whose first 49 years were spent as a man, and whose last 33 years were spent as a woman.
Seems the makers of the 24-episode Japanese animé series, Le Chevalier d’Eon, took a lot of liberties with the Chevalier’s history! And his appearance… Watch the trailer.
Published on May 2, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, History
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Meet Nénette who, at 40, is the oldest resident of the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The Parisians love her. See the trailer of the award-winning documentary about her made by French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert.
Poaching and palm oil plantations are killing off the orangutans. If you care about them, there are several ways you can help through Orangutan Outreach.
Published on April 19, 2012
Filed under Siteseeing
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We had the pleasure to meet Ms. Kawamura when she was showing her lovely watercolors of Paris in our neighborhood, and thought we’d share her work with you. She lives in Paris and you can reach her through her Contact page.
Published on April 16, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
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When confined to his bed, Matisse would sketch on the ceiling by attaching brushes and charcoal to a long pole. As painting became more difficult, he focused intently on the sleek, stylized paper cutouts he had first started experimenting with in the 1930s, using scissors to create the sinewy shapes and swaths of color that he could no longer render directly on canvas.
This is currently being exhibited in Pittsburgh. Read about the work and the exhibit here: Matisse’s The Thousand and One Nights in Pittsburgh – WSJ.com.
Published on April 8, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
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If you’d like to sleep inside a fairy tale, you might want to pay a visit to La Balade des Gnômes, a quiet bed and breakfast where you can live out your fairy tale dreams, including one inside the belly of a wooden bull.
Details and pictures of interiors at io9.
Published on April 3, 2012
Filed under Travel
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Save the date for the Acadian World Congress 2014! Details: Congrès mondial acadien 2014.
Published on March 26, 2012
Filed under Siteseeing
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As part of a vigorous publicity campaign, the American Committee for Devastated France, a civilian relief organization, commissioned photographs and films designed to foster a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees during and after the First World War. Full-page images ran in American newspapers and sets of prints were sold for three dollars a dozen. Among the most affecting images were portraits featuring the craggy faces of the proud, elderly farmers of Picardy and the beautiful faces of French children—some posed in shabby clothing; others neatly dressed as they engaged in volunteer-sponsored activities.
See photos, videos and more at The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions. If you live in Palm Beach FL, the photos are on exhibit till March 31 at the Wally Findlay Gallery.
Published on March 23, 2012
Filed under History
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It’s always fun to see the icons and concepts people choose to represent France (the usual clichés, but we love them anyway). But we’re sharing this mostly because the Quasimodo cracked us up…
See more francophile design inspirations at CreativeRoots.
Published on March 23, 2012
Filed under Siteseeing
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Striking vintage illustrations from a 1959 book by (evidently not French — see the comments) illustrator Maurice Laban. See more at My Vintage Avenue.
Published on March 20, 2012
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In this poster (De Gaulle, 1965), la République (incarnated by a little girl version of Marianne) asks to be allowed to grow up. De Gaulle is represented by the starry cuff of his sleeve.
See the rest at Affiches électorales : la bataille de limage 1965-2012.
Published on March 12, 2012
Filed under History
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For a project named La Campagne à vélo, two journalists, Raphael Krafft and Alexis Monchovet, are biking around France in order to meet French voters directly in their workplaces and homes until the end of the French presidential campaign in May.
Their Facebook page is the main portal: the two journalists post pictures of their trip, updates on their latest video, radio or written productions and ask for help or tips on their journey (the two bikers have to find a place to sleep every night!).
Read the rest and learn how you can keep up with Ralph and Alexis at Geeking the Elysée.
Published on March 8, 2012
Filed under Society, Sports
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