Brigitte Bardot is an icon and is the subject of the new book, Brigitte Bardot: My Life in Fashion by Henry-Jean Savat. Below is Harriet Posnak Lesser‘s review of this beautiful book.
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Looking for the perfect holiday gift — something special to delight every film and fashion fan on your list? Relax, your search is over, thanks to the extraordinary talent of French journalist Henry-Jean Servat. His newly released book Brigitte Bardot: My Life in Fashion is a tribute to the legendary French actress and fashion aficionada who set the standards for beauty and style from the 1950s through the early 1970s – and beyond. An international icon, envied and admired throughout the world, Bardot retired from show business in 1973 to champion animal rights, a cause she pursues to this day at the age of 82.
Servat has been a journalist for a quarter of a century, contributing to major French newspapers including Paris Match and Liberation. Thanks to his expertise as an author, glamour and history are combined in a literary oeuvre as mesmerizing as Bardot herself. The life and times of Brigitte Bardot – or BB—as she is known to her devoted followers, are presented through pictures and prose resulting in a coffee table book to be treasured forever. It is a diverse work of art, filled with stunning fashion photos and rarely seen pictures of the actress in breathtaking outfits, as fashionable today as they were so many years ago. Noted international coutouriers including Pierre Cardin, Hubert de Givenchy, Paco Rabanne and Sylvie Vartan are among those represented through their original designs.
Already a successful model at the age of 14, Bardot’s big screen career was launched in 1956 with a low budget film that initially received little attention in France. Titled And God Created Woman, the movie was shipped overseas to the U.S. where it earned a much warmer reception despite, or perhaps because of, demands by women’s groups that it be banned from theaters. The unexpected overseas reaction revived interest in the film. The French movie-going public took note and decided that the film was worth a second look. As a result, And God Created Woman became an international hit and a star was born – a star with a baby face, pouty lips and the body of a fertility goddess. The worldwide adulation continued until Bardot decided to call an end to her remarkable show business career.
Henry-Jean Servat is among the few writers who have maintained a close rapport with Brigitte Bardot. The relationship is reflected throughout his book and especially in this charming excerpt:
“Lifting her large eyes to the sky, arranging the tangle of her long locks and patting the many dogs at her feet, Bardot likes to sum up her personal history, now part of the history of France, saying ‘But no, nothing, really nothing. I didn’t do any of it on purpose. I didn’t prepare or plan anything, I was just myself, that’s all. Myself. The real me. Doing things my way!…’”
And that explains the enduring and magical charm of Brigitte Bardot.
Brigitte Bardot: My Life in Fashion is currently available at booksellers or, get it below:
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Harriet Posnak Lesser is an award-winning journalist and social satirist whose articles have appeared in Long Island’s The South Shore Record and Nassau Herald, The New York Times, Cracked Magazine and others.