Charming the ladies, with your chapeau to hand by NiceLife
Nice is much favoured by French ladies of a certain age who still have some oomph in them, and appreciate the better things in life. Like a man with panache (that's panache, not panaché. which is a shandy) And charm: a little bit of Maurice Chevalier, a touch of Alain Delon. The French do it well. He holds court to the ladies sitting out beneath the art deco arches of the Promenade, enjoying the Winter sun.Three to one is about the ratio of older women to men in Nice. These comfortably-off retirees have probably buried their civil servant dear husband in Paris and headed off south to the sun, with the generous retirement benefits of the public sector that are bankrupting the economy. Company nowadays tends to be a little dog, and grown up children visiting maman on Sundays, so a single man over sixty still vertical is good news.
Everybody is smartly tailored, and his blue suit cuts a fine dash. But its the hat that finishes the ensemble. It allows him to tip the hat as a gallant flourish that simple can't be replicated with a baseball cap worn backwards.
Every French town boasts several chapelleries. If you want to get ahead, get a hat. Not just to cover up an absence of hair, or to keep your head warm,or shaded, but to add a little swagger - hat-titude.