Santoni - My Stylish French Girlfriends

My Stylish French Girlfriends

Sharon Santoni
Creator of My French Country Home

Photographs by Franck Schmitt

My Stylish French Girlfriends

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2015 Sharon Santoni

Photographs 2015 Franck Schmitt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-1-4236-3788-2

For my family, with love. Sharon Santoni

H aving lived in France for longer than I lived in my native England, I feel totally at home here. But while I may be fully settled, married to a Frenchman and with four Anglo-French children, I can still see France and the French from the outside. I enjoy taking a few steps back to appreciate the essential Frenchness of a beautiful building; of a long delicious meal; the charm of a farmers market or indeed the stylishness of my French girlfriends.

It is this insiders view, this private, discreet side to French living and to the French women I know that I wish to portray. Women who work every day, with passion, who love to take care of their homes, their families, themselves.

As I approached women I knowsome who live in grand chateaux, others in charming little country cottages, or Parisian apartmentsasking them to be part of the book, I was amazed and touched at the reception I received. Each girlfriend was immediately enthusiastic. And although none of them are particularly used to being photographed, they were all highly professional in the way they welcomed us for the photo shoots and interviews.

These portraits of women and homes show a side of France that visitors dont normally get to see. I deliberately sought out women from all over the country, reaching from Calais in the north to Provence in the south. Each girlfriend was chosen because she has a story to tell and a great lifestyle to portray. I picked friends of all ages, because it is through living our lives that our characters grow; some faces may have a few more lines, but that is only because they have smiled more. And with age comes a new self-confidence, a self-assuredness.

We often hear about how inspirational the French woman isstylish, confident, bien dans sa peau, (comfortable in her own skin). And this was certainly the case among the women in this book. For our photo shoots, none of the girlfriends asked for any special lighting or makeup; the beauty and character that you see here is how they really are.

There is an overriding creative theme amongst my girlfriends because I am fortunate to know many people who create on a daily basis. They paint, cook, sculpt, make couture gowns, restore breathtaking buildings, style stunning homes, and express themselves in many other ways.

Not surprisingly, considering that they are all women I know, some of the girls were already friends with each other. Fred rides with Cornlie; Alicia is a neighbor to Ccile; Nathalie and Sabine are sisters-in-law; Celestina and Clarisse are close friends and also work together.

There were also some amusing coincidences during the making of the book, like the delivery of Evelynes champagne to Claires chateau while we were taking our photos there. Nothing to do with us; the champagne was from an admiring art collector.

Or the surprise when we learned that Valries future daughter-in-law would be wearing a dress by Celestina for her wedding, or that one of Ysabels paintings was already hanging in Evelynes home.

All of this made for some lively conversation when nearly all the girlfriends got together for a group photo at the iconic Merci store in Paris. Merci welcomed us with open arms, proclaiming that they love strong women with great projects, and we had fun taking the photos at the entrance to the store and over a long lunch afterwards in their library restaurant.

With talented photographer Franck Schmitt, it took us six months to complete the photos for the book. We flew and drove all over France, staying in chateaux, beach houses, or wherever the girlfriends called home; we were made to feel welcome. Apart from fresh flowers, there was no staging or styling done for our pictures; the photos simply portray the way they live each day. They let us take photos in their homes, at their work, while they entertained and during their leisure time. Their generosity was boundless.

From a candlelit dinner with lobster and champagne, to a barbecue eaten beside a river, to picnics enjoyed on their property or on a mountainside, each girlfriend went out of her way to make us feel welcome.

From the moment I started working on the book, I dont think a day passed when I didnt pronounce the word privilege, for that, above all, is what making this book has truly been: the privilege of introducing you to my stylish French girlfriends.

T he antique fair at Chatou, on the outskirts of Paris, is absolutely one of my favorites. It is a concentration of the best French dealers all in one place for ten days at a time, an ideal place for meeting new antique dealers who come from all over France to show at the fair.

Discovering new sources is always fun: sometimes its a dealer from Brittany who specializes in paintings; other times itll be someone from the south who sells century-old dinner services and flatware. Even if you dont buy at each stand, the dealers are always glad to chat about their work. Thats how I first met Alicia.

My aunt had asked me to source an old French farm table for her kitchen. I promised to keep my eyes open and set off the next day for Chatou, her table added to my own wish list.

As I walked through the fair, buying here and there, Alicias stand caught my eye. It was beautifully staged, with a country feel to it, exactly the style I love. She had painted wooden furniture with real patina, some wonderful textiles, a few small paintings and a farm table that looked perfect for my aunt!

I introduced myself and chatted with Alicia. She was younger than me, but I quickly realized how knowledgeable she was. It was clear that each item she sold was important to her, and that she traveled all over France to find her treasures. Her bright blue eyes divulged the passion she feels for her work. Before I knew it, we had chatted for an hour and arranged to meet at her warehouse the following week.

For her, selling antiques is not about decoration, but about the beauty of an object and how it can fit into a home. Il faut que lobjet trouve sa place. She takes a poetic approach to her work: happy when she finds the right home for an object, happy when the new owner understands the beauty.

Alicia chooses not to have a store, as she is unwilling to be tied down to boutique hours. Instead she shows at fairs and occasionally receives clients in her warehouse on a neighboring farm. The first time I visited her storage, I took a friend with me. We drove into the farm courtyard and through a huge barn door, past tractors and combine harvesters, until at the far end of the barn, Alicias display opened up before us, all the more beautiful because of its unlikely setting.