And the living is easy
What is it about French houses and apartments? A new book attempts to capture the seemingly effortless, inimitable quality of their approach to design.
It is near impossible to talk about French style without descending into cliché. Just ask Australian interior designer Lauren Li, who has written and curated the book The New French Look dedicated to that very thing. It is the Sisällä studio founder’s first foray into publishing, with a second in the series already on the way. And during our discussion, we are trying – and failing – to define what it is so eternal and alluring about Gallic style.
“I really tried not to use too many French phrases … but it is je ne sais quoi …” Li says with a laugh. “It’s like they don’t look like they are trying too hard, which is something really appealing. It’s a relaxed lifestyle. So even if it’s the most grandiose château or palatial Parisian apartment, it just looks lived in.”
All of this goes a long way to explaining why the idea of the “chic French woman” – from her hair and make-up to her wardrobe and interior design choices – is so enduring, and why shows such as Netflix’s Emily in Paris, while widely derided, are bona fide streaming hits.
It also explains why Gallic style is universally copied. “The French pull it off so effortlessly,” Li says. In other words, what comes across as unstudied is actually far more cultivated and thought out.
It is a chilly winter’s morning when WISH catches up with the Melbourne-based interior designer at home, children running around in the background. It must seem a world away from the Paris that Li first encountered in her twenties, originally as a backpacker and then during the regular visits she enjoyed after moving to the UK.
“You have that proximity to Paris when you’re living in London. It is so amazing to go after work on a Friday, and you’re not trying to cram in all the museums in one go. I used to stay with a friend who was living in an amazing apartment, so it felt really authentic; a real glimpse of how French people live,” she recalls. “The oak floors are old and dry and imperfect. The books on the shelf are arranged in a way that’s not uptight, it has that relaxed look that’s still very sophisticated.”
Despite her own experience and interest in French style making her a natural candidate for writing such a book, Li didn’t seek out the opportunity. The New French Look stemmed from a series of articles she wrote for The Design Files back in 2018. She then spent a year writing and researching the title, which afforded her the opportunity to reach out to some of her favourite French designers, many of them superstars in their field, including Pierre Yovanovitch, Armel Soyer and Sarah Poniatowski. “It’s really wonderful to talk to designers all around the world, to connect with these people that you put on a pedestal, and they’re so lovely, and so excited about the book,” she says.
The New French Look’s original approach to structure is one of the book’s highlights, with various French styles broken down by region, covering everything from the rugged west coast to the “shiny and luxurious” south. There’s la ville (the city), la plage (the beach), la campagne (the country) and les montagnes (the mountains), as well as a final chapter prompting readers to discover their own French aesthetic type. It‘s a practical format that speaks to Li’s interior design background, and her skill at drawing out a clients’ tastes. “I think people like to put a name to what they like,” she says. “I wanted the book to feel aspirational with beautiful images, but there’s something that you can learn and take away.”
Her advice to anyone wanting to emulate the famously French insouciant attitude? “Don’t always buy new, that’s what the French do really effortlessly. If you’ve got a new house, find antiques or old pieces that tell a story.”
Li also encourages risk taking and the breaking of so-called design “rules”, whether its embracing bold colour in the manner of Pierre Yovanovitch or pairing super contemporary furniture with heritage details, a hallmark of Paris-based designer Sophie Dries, whose work features on the book’s cover. “I love the way they mix different design styles and eras together in a really unexpected way. They don’t put things in categories.”
While every region has its design aesthetic and sense of materiality, Li argues there is one overarching thread in the many French houses she studied. “They have artwork in the whole house,” she says. “It’s not just reserved for above the mantel. It’s in
the bathroom, the kitchen, the hallway. In a bedroom there will be a sculpture or in
a study there are vintage photographs. It’s not on a pedestal, it’s part of life.”
This story appears in the September issue of Wish magazine.
