France politics
fromwww.thelocal.fr
7 hours agoInside France: French elegance, flying bells and Swedish snuff fury
French church bells are said to fly to Rome on Good Friday, returning with chocolate eggs for children on Easter Sunday.
Glass demands immediacy. Working at temperatures above 2,000°F leaves little room for overthinking, so the process becomes a kind of live dialogue between material, colour and chance. That same immediacy informs what I'm drawn to as a collector: works that carry a decisive gesture, a tactile presence, and the feeling that they could only exist in one form.
Quality chocolate delivers better flavor, texture, and overall experience. Higher-quality cacao has more complexity, with notes that can be fruity, nutty, floral, or earthy instead of simply sweet or bitter. It also melts more cleanly because it relies on cocoa butter rather than cheaper fats.
Stephan Hohmann articulates, "As a traditional brand with a strong identity, we are constantly navigating between authenticity and relevance. We seek dialogue with individuals who share our values to reinterpret them in innovative ways."
The question of how fashion is archived - what enters the museum; what is deemed worthy of preservation; whose clothes are considered culturally significant enough to outlast the bodies that wore them - has long sat uneasily at the centre of fashion history itself. Institutions have tended to answer it, or ignore it, in much the same way: couture gowns under glass, luxury garments mounted on conservation-grade mannequins in blockbuster exhibitions - an implicit hierarchy of the designed over the worn, the authored over the anonymous.
Burberry's Hero eau de toilette is a great pick for a classic, everyday cologne. It's masculine and woody, with base notes of cedarwood. Add a burst of freshness at the top from bergamot and juniper, and the result is crisp, deep, and a little spicy. Fragrance Family Woody, spicy Notes Bergamot, juniper, black pepper, Atlas cedar, Virginia cedar, Himalayan cedar Sizes 1.6 oz, 3.3 oz, 5 oz
Being an incense obsessive myself, it's important to note that while there's a loose parallel with the sticks you light at home, incense colognes are far more malleable and dimensional. On the skin, incense becomes an atmosphere built from resins and woods that shifts and evolves with your chemistry as it diffuses throughout the day.
In Auvergne, France, some 200 volcanoes have shaped the landscape into rolling hills, meadows, lakes, and waterfalls. Though dormant, volcanic energy still pulses through the region, and mineral-rich springs have created one of Europe's most distinctive-though overlooked- wellness destinations. France's tradition of thermalism dates back to Roman times, but its tradition of hydrotherapy, known as les cures thermales, is not simply about soaking to relax.
Kim Donggyu Text description provided by the architects. Defining the spatial identity of an overseas brand that deals with delicate fragrances is a profound challenge. In this project, we turned to the philosophy of 'Daegang ()'. While often used in modern Korean to mean 'roughly' or 'in general,' the Chinese characters tell a deeper story: (Great) and (The Main Stay/Head-rope of a Net).
Country of origin labeling became mandatory on all international products entering the United States in 2009. The goal was to ensure American consumers knew where the products they were buying came from, enabling shoppers to make informed buying decisions. These products include everything from Mexican avocados to French wine to pasta from Italy, with the latter thankfully safe from recent U.S. tariffs. However, does the location a product comes from actually matter?
Paris didn't invent shopping (even if it sometimes feels that way), but it arguably invented the specialty shop as we understand it today. Long before concept stores, lifestyle retail, or anything resembling "curation" entered the vocabulary, Paris was already organized around doing one thing extremely well -and it still is. From cheesemongers to winemakers and beyond, specialization remains the point.
Green Irish Tweed opens with a lot of iris and violet, but it settles into a lovely ambergris. It's masculine and musky without being stuffy. It's fresh and spring-y without being reserved for warm months. The sillage is hefty, especially with that floral opening, so be careful.
Fragrance is far from a universal language, and what smells bright or delicious to you can be overwhelming, or even nauseating, for those nearby. That's why experts recommend avoiding strong, projecting notes such as heavy florals, hyper-sugary gourmands and rich woods like oud. Extraits de parfum and intense EDPs should also be worn with extreme caution in professional settings.
It's long had a reputation as the city of romance, but now the French capital is supporting a growing number of businesses that will arrange an extravagant marriage proposal in a landmark setting - for a hefty fee, of course. The luxury marriage proposal business is booming in Paris with agencies charging international clients thousands of euros to pop the question in a 'romantic' setting in the City of Love.
Founded in 1992 by Miguel Torres and Robert Drouhin to promote the exchange of ideas, its members include Domaine Clarence Dillon (Château Haut-Brion), Famille Perrin (Chateau de Beaucastel) and Alsace's Famille Hugel, as well as Sassicaia makers Tenuta San Guido, the Douro's Symington family, Riesling specialists Egon Müller and Tuscany's 26 th-generation winemakers Marchesi Antinori. Earlier this week, all 12 descended on the Paris's Grand Palais for the launch of the PFV Generations Case, an ultra-limited-edition case of 12 wines - one from each family. Treats in the coffret include a 2016 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, a 2004 Vega Sicilia Unico, and a Champagne Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2002 (which the house's 6 th-generation ambassador Bastien Collard de Billy was pouring on the night, and I can report tasted absolutely stellar). To sweeten the deal, each case also includes a VIP visit to every estate, some of which aren't open to the public. The case is priced at €32,000 and only a dozen have been created.
Furniture made from mycelium or algae can decompose in five years, sure, but a well-made antique armoire outlives empires because no one throws it away. Columns takes that logic seriously. Handcrafted in solid oak, natural leather, and horsehair, the pieces are built to last a thousand years, which sounds like marketing hyperbole until you look at the joinery, the hand stitching, and the material choices. This is furniture designed to be inherited, repaired, and remembered.
Arles-born artist Sarah Espeute learned embroidery as a child but did not return to the practice until decades later. After studying graphic design in Paris, working in Riso printing, founding a publishing house, and painting, she took up embroidery again for a one-off exhibition. The response was immediate. She went on to found Œuvres Sensibles and relocated her studio to Marseille, where she now works from a made-to-measure atelier alongside a team of trained embroiderers and artists.
The best woody colognes are a very broad umbrella. With notes including sandalwood, crisp cedarwood, resinous guaiac wood, coniferous, earthy oak, heady oud and trending (and fantastic) hinoki, it's a canopy out there, each with its own distinct aromatic profile. Most fragrances contain some wood note(s) in their scent pyramid, usually in the base or middle, as it adds depth, warmth and longevity, anchoring or grounding lighter top and heart notes.
If you visit the Hermès website in search of a scarf or a handbag, you'll be greeted by a collection of whimsical sea creatures swimming across the screen. To navigate to the watch section, you'll click on an image of a watch flanked by an eel. To locate shoes, you'll click on a loafer with a pelican sitting inside it as if it were riding a boat.
Fulton & Roark's Calle Ocho extrait de parfum is our final pick here; it's perfect if you want something musky, warm, and woody with tonka bean kept firmly at the center. It opens with a rich, spiced kick of cinnamon and rum, then gets darker and smoother with bitter chocolate and a touch of jasmine before settling into a deep, resinous base of labdanum, tobacco leaf, tonka bean, sandalwood, and musk.
When it comes to your wardrobe, it can be easy to define "bougie" as a piece of clothing that looks or feels expensive - and while the items on this list check those boxes, they're also so clever, you'll wonder how you ever did without them. Scroll on to shop for chic loungewear with extra functional features; trendy and practical fits for both day and night; and accessories that solve all sorts of fashion-related dilemmas.