I adore the iconic lingerie designer Chantal Thomass — even more so lensed by Ellen von Unwerth in Coke Light France’s latest collaboration. Previous campaigns have included Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, and Marc Jacobs.

Chantal Thomass designed this show opening ensemble for Naomi Campbell in the 1996 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, one of several projects that we collaborated on for Victoria’s Secret when I was the fashion director.

My record of holding French women in high regard is clear. (Read my 2008 Compared to American Women, French Women Don’t Get Fat and Have Hot Sex At Every Age and my 2010 Aging American Women Should Move to France. That’s for starters.

However, one little distress signal that went off in my mind reading about Coke Light France’s new campaign with the svelte Chantal Thomass is the growing body of scientific evidence that Diet Coke works against our having slim bodies. (Read last year’s Is Marc Jacobs Defying Obesity Science Promoting Diety Coke?)

A week ago America’s Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released new information about the expectation that drinking diet beverages will decrease calorie consumption.

“Although overweight and obese adults who drink diet soda eat a comparable amount of total calories as heavier adults who drink sugary beverages, they consume significantly more calories from solid food at both meals and snacks,” said Sara Bleich, PhD, associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health Policy and Management and lead author of the paper.

In reality, individuals who drink diet sodas typically have a higher BMI (Body Mass Index) while consuming more snack food than those who drink the sugary beverages.

Several studies referenced in last year’s Marc Jacobs for Diet Coke article explain that artificial sweeteners activate the reward centers of the brain.

In other words, among people who drink diet soda, the brain’s sweet sensors may no longer provide a reliable gauge of energy consumption because the artificial sweetener disrupts appetite control. As a result, consumption of diet drinks may result in increased food intake overall, writes Science Daily about the latest research.

Much has been said about the will power and self-discipline of French women on the subject of controlling their weight. And while the French with among Europe’s thinnest people still, a 2012 study of French 18 to 24-year-olds, confirmed that obesity levels have shot up by 35 percent in three years. Fact check, the study also confirms that those results weren’t found in Paris, the fashion capital of the world.

Bottom line I love Chantal Thomass, but raise my eyebrows over her statement about Coca-cola Light and sensuality, one that brings back a tirade I wrote a few years back, after Coke minis was all over my email account promising to deliver happiness in a can. It was read by the then Director of Innovation at Pepsi, who is now a buddy of mine. (Read Coca Cola Does Not Deliver Big O Happiness in a Can.)

“I feel very honored that I have commissioned art director for Coca -Cola Light for Spring 2014. I can think of no better way to celebrate the codes of feminine glamour and sensuality present in my designs corsetry and lingerie, than with this iconic drink “ Chantal Thomass has commented in a press release .

Oh come on, Chantal, we Smart Sensuality women prefer a good glass of health-enhancing, red wine and you know it! ~ Anne

via cof