C'est Bastille Day (le 14 Juillet)! In honor of one our favorite holidays where we get to celebrate all things French, we've rounded up our most loved parts of French life. Call us francophiles, but it was tough - between charcuterie, Paris, croissants, a perfect red lip, French cinema, museums, late-night dinners and traffic (and French fries?), how do you choose the très best? Like everything we do, it came down to curation, so we had to pick our absolute faves. Read on...
Beaches
Oh-so-many to choose from
Sure there's the Côte d'Azur with hot spots like St Tropez, Nice, and Monaco, but don't assume they're the only turquoise waters to visit when planning your summer getaway. In the south, we love the Mediterranean fishing port of Cassis - a popular destination for visitors hoping to avoid summer crowds. And if you're up to heading even further south to the island of Corsica, Plage de Palombaggia is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Back on the mainland, there are gorgeous spots along the Bay of Biscay on the western coast - from wild and windy surfing beaches to pebbly and sandy options for those who like to unwind. Biarritz is an obvious favorite. Further north, the chic seaside town of Deauville on the Normandy region offers beautiful beaches and a picturesque boardwalk lined with boutiques and cafes. So yes, we love French beaches.
Nudity
We love les boobs
Tan lines are offensive, and the French know it. They've been freeing the nipple way before it became an Instagram movement and we're ok with this. Whether it's at beaches, on film or in magazines, the country has a relaxed and blasé attitude towards nudity, to which we say oui!
Maybe exposed flesh is synonymous with freedom, maybe it's more comfortable to bare all. Or maybe, like us, they just hate tan lines. Skinny-dipping is our favorite way to enjoy the ocean and if you disagree, you haven't swam nude at sunset.
Rosé
Our favorite way to hydrate
If summer is a state of mind, rosé is the one slice of summer you can enjoy all year round. To us, the best and most special moments in life usually involve sunshine, a gathering with friends or family, and bottomless rosé. We almost always pair it with a charcuterie board.
While we love it the traditional way, we also like to get creative and think outside the bottle (sorry). This beautiful pink summer water can be enjoyed in ice-cube form, as a slushie or frozé, in sangria or a margarita, and as cotton candy. We also like to dip popsicles in it. It's mouthwatering, fresh, and always photogenic.
Email us for our favorite recipes!
Basket Bags
Gimmie gimmie!
If you know anything about us by now, you know we have an unhealthy obsession with woven treasures. A long staple of les femmes françaises, basket bags first made their rounds in the 50s and have become synonymous with effortless French style: think icons such as Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot. In recent years, modern-day it girls like Sabina Socol, Anne-Laure Mais and Jeanne Damas adopted the trend, carrying teeny basket bags everywhere they went and making us dream of warmer weather all year round. We just hope they never stop wearing them.
We love that they're practical and oh-so-easy to wear. Our current favorites? The Rosebell, Mucura and Cayana bags. We also adore searching for unique vintage finds at markets and during our travels.
Sunflower Fields
And it was all yellow
They just make us happy. Is there anything that screams summer more than sunflowers? Or as the French call them, which sounds way more sexy, tournesol. They literally lean into the sun and their vibrant yellow color projects optimism and happiness. Hell, they even inspired Van Gogh! Sure, sunflowers are not exclusive to France, but there's something magical about the fields in Provence. If you want to see them in action dancing under the sunlight, the best time to visit is July.
Sunflower seeds have incredible health benefits and make for a delicious snack (there are up to 2,000 seeds per flower!). Given how many we've consumed throughout our lifetime, we're pretty sure there's a little sunflower in us.
