Who, do you think, may be the first Lady Chic in Paris? I’m almost sure most of you will say that this is Carla Bruni. But that is no longer true. The former model, Inès de la Fressange, is the woman who has recently knocked Carla Bruni Sarkozy from the Paris stylish list.
Ines, 52 years old, has just taken the title as the ‘Most Chic woman in Paris’. She represents “ultimate chic, urban classiness, and unflappable elegance” of the Parisian woman.
A former Chanel model and muse, a designer and socialist, Ines de la Fressange is a well known figure in the Paris fashion.
Her roots are at the same time aristocratic and exotic, with a Marquis/stockbroker as a father (André de Seignard de La Fressange), and an Argentine model for a mother (Cecilia Sanchez-Cirez). Her grandmother was Madame Simone Jacquinot, heiress to the Lazard banking fortune.
Born in 1957, Gassin, she grew up with her three brothers in an 18th century mill outside Paris.
Her modelling career began in 1975. In the 1980th she became the face for ‘Coco’. She had a strong working relationship with Karl Lagerfeld.
In 1990, she married Luigi d’ Urso, an Italian businessman, with whom she has two daughters.
Her style is the epitome of the anonymous, but full of impeccable Parisian sense. She usualy wears mainly muted colours and classic cuts; clothes with no readily identifiable designer labels. Jeans, a tweed jacket and flat pumps are a preferred ‘uniform’. That means to look perfect without any effort.
Earlier in 2009 she made a comeback on the catwalk, after an absence of more than a decade, modelling for Jean Paul Gaultier. She is still perfect!