Tourist guides, fashion features, advertisements for perfumes or department stores extol the ineffable charm of Parisian women, a subtle alchemy of elegance, wit, “chien,” and that “je-ne-sais-quoi” that justifies her reputation.
Where does this representation come from? Why has it endured, hardened, and become canonized over the centuries? Is it nothing more than a lazy cliché, a duplicitous myth, a mystification produced by privileged elites and male domination? Or does it remain a living reference point, able to defend a “certain idea of womanhood” in an increasingly globalized world? La Parisienne is a myth, less frivolous and less smooth than it may appear. Built in the tensions between aristocracy and working-class women, between Paris and the provinces, between women’s emancipation and male domination, it has stood the test of time. Emmanuelle Retaillaud is a professor of contemporary history at the IEP de Lyon. Her work focuses on the history of women, gender, and sexualities in contemporary France. She published La Parisienne. Histoire d’un mythe. Du siècle des Lumières à nos jours (Seuil, 2020) and contributed to Histoire des sexualités en France. XIXe-XXe siècle (Armand Colin, 2024). Moderated by Manon Rolland, culture journalist.
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Source: paris.fr — photo: © Maurice-Louis Branger / BHVP / Roger-Viollet