“French women are lazy,” says Terry de Gunzburg. “We like to be efficient. And we don’t follow the rules.”

She would know. The 68-year-old founder of By Terry is perhaps the most French of French women, with a pedigree in beauty (she created makeup for Yves Saint Laurent before launching her own company), an insouciant attitude to business and a zeal for fashion and art that has afforded her some of the most enviable wardrobes and homes in the world.