Coco Chanel was born on August 19, although I suspect she would have preferred to have been born on May 5. The number 5 was of great importance to her, and as for the creation of her signature perfume, Chanel No.5, she was presented a number of samples and ultimately chose the fifth sample. As [...]

Ah, August, traditionally the last month of vacation (les grandes vacances) in France. Since French workers are permitted five weeks of vacation (and civil servants seven weeks), many choose to vacation the entire month of August. There used to be a time when Paris practically shut down in August; these days it’s not so extreme, [...]