My father is French, and I lived in France, so I feel I am pretty familiar with the ways of the French. I also feel that as I am half French I am allowed to point out their many faults.
But today isn’t about the bad qualities of the French, as I’d need several hours to write that post, and I’m too tired. Instead, I’d like to talk about a few things that I love about the French.
I received this e-card today from someone I worked with in France. Guillaume was in charge of lifestyle trends when I did a project at Nelly Rodi a few years ago (Nelly Rodi is a big fashion forecasting agency based in Paris.) We have kept in touch since, and this e-card arrived in my inbox today, it is a Happy New Year greeting from Guillaume and his new trend consultancy, LaB.
One of the great things about the French is that they don’t bother with sending out Chrtismas cards during the busiest time of year, when the postman are bogged down with delivering cards and presents, and everyone is busy buying gifts and cooking and celebrating the holidays. Instead they do it in January. I remember when I worked on the design team at Sonia Rykiel, I received a pile of holiday cards to send out to all my contacts, about five days before Christmas. I freaked out, but was reassured that you actually have until the 31st of January to wish people “Bonne Annee.” That is a pretty good idea, removing the stress of mialing Christmas cards before Christmas. It also means that if you forgot to send cards out before Christmas, you can do them in January without offending anyone. Let’s just say…I’ll be sending out some cards this week.
A couple of other things the French do well:
- Holidays: they know how to take them, and they take at least six weeks worth a year. That is the right amount of holidays to take in the year.
- Heathcare: We’ve all seen Sicko, we know the French do healthcare better than anyone else in world.
- Food: well, to be honest, they are old school, and they need to modernize things to keep up with the rest of the world. But French food is the foundation to most good food.
- Bakeries. I guess that fits into food.
- Eclairs. See above.
- Fashion: Paris is the fashion capital, no contest.
- Etiquette. Everyone says the French are rude, but they are usually only rude to tourists. People call each other Madame and Monsieur, and they are very formal in their communications. And when you meet someone in a social environment, you kiss them on each cheek. You do this with EVERYONE there (unless you walk into a house party with hundreds of people.) It means you are forced to meet everyone, and there is no awkward “Do I hug? Do I handshake? Do I kiss?…” It is the done thing. (the further south you go, the more kisses you give, for example two on each side in the South of France, three in French Switzerland)
- Wine and Champagne. Probably also the best in the world.
Time for a trip to France!
