Life

Charlotte Gainsbourg, Reluctant Icon Of Frenchwoman Chic

Charlotte Gainsbourg with “Norman” castmates. Image by Getty Images

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy April 19, 2017

Charlotte Gainsbourg — daughter of French-Jewish singer Serge Gainsbourg and English actress (and handbag namesake) Jane Birkin — continues the family tradition of combining artistic excellence with Parisian glamorousness. Gainsbourg plays an important role in Joseph Cedar’s new film, “Norman”, and is also (oh to be so chic and part-French!) promoting a makeup line with Nars. And like any self-respecting representative of Frenchwoman style, Gainsbourg shares some beauty rituals but pushes back against the whole French beauty thing.

(No word on Lior Ashkenazi’s beauty routine.)

I want to be immune to the breathless (heh) items about how to look like a Parisienne, but I click, I always click. Even if the answer — as per Gainsbourg, and as per all ten trillion articles of this type — is to wear less foundation if you wish to look more French. Well, not exactly — it’s that French ladies supposedly wear less foundation than their American equivalents. Which may well be, but I have it on good authority (the mirror) that an American woman can eschew foundation and not look even the least bit French.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. She is the author of “The Perils Of ‘Privilege’”, from St. Martin’s Press. Follow her on Twitter, @tweetertation

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO