Laetitia Casta: Marianne

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You can’t blame me for favoring the Europeans, when it comes to a focus on women who embody Smart Sensuality. There’s a reason why French women spend 20-25% of their clothing $ on lingerie, when American women spend 10%.

The French honor breasts, rather than targeting them as visible symbols of a national obsession with sex.

Simply stated, French women (and Italian and Brazilian) have a vastly different relationship with sexuality, physical appearance, brains and beauty … oh, and aging also … than American women.

In one word: positive.

You may remember the White House days of John Ashcroft. Bare bosoms weren’t allowed in Washington and curtains were ordered to cover the bare breast of Lady Justice. I can’t imagine the chin-wagging in French cafes over that debacle.

You see, the French honor bare-breasted women as the symbol of all that is right and good in the country. Mayors choose the naked bust that will be featured in their towns … Marianne, she is called.

Today, Laetitia Casta is the fairest Marianne of them all … a symbol of the 21st century. Laetitia is sensual … well because she is Marianne, a modern-day Nefertiti … a Yummy Mummy of two children, and originally married to neither father.

Casta did eventually marry Stefano Accorsi, father of her son Orlando. I’m not defending the French, just reminding us of how different we are.

The drop-dead gorgeous French national treasure, Marianne, has two children out of wedlock, and the only reason that Casta got in serious trouble with the media was her professional move to London.

The French are not amused by people who appear to be dodging the paying of taxes. THAT faux pas will get you in trouble. Bare breasts … the French worship them.

Casta’s (ahem) curvaceousness (not used as one might use the term at Lane Bryant) has been a subject of conversation in the world of fashion, where boyish, coathanger bodies are preferred on runway mannequins. Her voluptuous figure, especially her breasts, did not hurt her career as an official face for L’Oréal, Dior, and Chanel and top model for Victoria’s Secret.

What qualifies Laetitia Casta as being Sensible?

She is widely considered to be “miserly”, a big saver with perhaps even a stash of cash under the mattress. Perhaps when you love your body, you don’t spend as much money on clothes to cover it up. And the French Indy girls are known for buying a few good things, as opposed to filling endless shopping bags with loot.

Casta pursues a serious acting career. See her photo in today’s NY Times, the read that triggered my post.

Researching Casta, her Grade A Sensibility is tied to the fact that she has a brown belt in Judo. Our French Marianne believes that her martial arts experience has helped her gain international success by teaching her not to be aggressive and to think with her mind, not her emotions.

Enjoy the man who specializes in interviewing beautiful Supermodels: David Letterman, with Casta in 1999, before she became Marianne. The interview is absolutely charming and fabulous! References also to the Victoria’s Secret digital fashion show crash.

The sum total of the Laetitia Casta “brand” is a brand positioning every woman can learn from, even if Playtex (no offence to my friends at Hanes) is your favorite Saturday night bra. Actually, I think we used to make jokes about Playtex and Black Belts — not of the garter variety.

Who knew that at least “brown belts” came in such a sexy variety!

Love, Anne