Bad timing. Because considering the bombardment of splendid photos of Françoise Hardy following her death on Tuesday 11 June, in the next few days there will be a surge in requests for French bangs in all hairdressers in the world, and there is no worse decision, for a woman with not perfectly straight hair, to get bangs at the beginning of summer. Better to just look at the photographs and listen to her songs again: “Tous les garçons et les filles”, “Comment te dire adieu”, “Le temps de l’amour” and “Message Personnel”, to name the most famous. Her music has always enjoyed the love of the public but also of critics, and she continues to do so: in the ranking of the 200 best singers in history drawn up by Rolling Stone in 2023, Françoise Hardy was the sole representative of France.
Remembering his aesthetic, musical, cinematographic and style legacy (summarized very well in this interview by Guardiandated 2018, when she was 74 years old), Dazed she recalled that, in addition to being one of the icons of the “French girl” style (along with Jane Birkin and Anna Karina, the other two patient zeros of the fringe epidemic), Françoise Hardy even inspired Comme des Garçons. A perfect example to understand the dimensions of the influence of the singer and style icon, considering that Rei Kawakubo’s sculptural and conceptual brand is certainly not what comes to mind when we think of the very simple and chic looks of the French singer, on the contrary: on the fashion spectrum, they are polar opposites. And instead the name of the brand, Comme des Garçons, is taken from a song, the Sixties hit “Tous les Garçons et les Filles”, revealing that even her almost contemporary Rei Kawakubo (82 years old on 11 October) is a fan of his. And how not to be? If musically Hardy inspired people like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger, who helped her write the lyrics of the songs was none other than the writer and screenwriter Patrick Modiano, Nobel Prize winner for literature in 2014.
On Getty there is a photo dated February 2, 1967: it is the front row of the Yves Saint-Laurent Spring/Summer fashion show. There are Elsa Martinelli, Françoise Hardy, Catherine Deneuve and the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire. Even if Deneuve is the only one looking into the camera, in terms of her charisma the protagonist of the shot is unequivocally Hardy, all in black with a leather jacket, sunglasses and crazy hair. For years Hardy was the favorite muse of Yves Saint Laurent, who loved dressing her in suits and men’s clothing.
The singer has left a legacy of a unique and, at the same time, seemingly (apparently) simple and highly imitable style. On this blog we found an excellent study that lists the basics, to “reproduce it in 2023”: ranging from total white looks, to the miniskirt + boots combo (strictly bare-legged), from the aforementioned masculine looks to the statement jackets/coats for match with a neutral outfit, from the surprising Paco Rabanne mini-dresses (among the few super eccentric exceptions in her minimal wardrobe) to the very simple makeup that included only a thin line of eye liner on the eyes.
