Lauren Bastide

È possibile essere sole senza sentirsi sole? Lauren Bastide non ha dubbi: lei stessa lo ha sperimentato, scoprendo con gioia «né esuberante né effimera» di stare, da sola, profondamente bene.

Sylvia Whitman is radiant, bubbly and approachable when she greets us at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop on the banks of the Seine. It’s an autumn day and Paris is gilded in shades of red and orange. The Seine riverboats ripple the water below Notre-Dame Cathedral as we sit down at a table in the little café adjoining the bookshop and prepare to indulge in apple and pear smoothies and avocado toast.

A window on the world's most stylish city, with profiles of 20 diverse and inspiring Parisian women accompanied by gorgeous full-colour photographs by model and fashion designer Jeanne Damas, and Lauren Bastide, former editor-in-chief of French Elle. "We've always been crazy in love with this city. . . We love its arrogance, its clumsiness, its simplicity.