jane birkin

It's like Jane Birkin was cloned.

The story behind why everyone is doing their best Jane Birkin impression, and how you can too.

And Ashley Benson wears a bow as a bandeau.

It's always exciting when there's some Mossy news -- add in Emmy Rossum's boobs and Cate Blanchett waxing on about suits and you have yourself a perfect Thursday.

Lancôme has announced Audrey Hepburn doppelganger Lily Collins as its latest face, joining fellow Brits Emma Watson and Kate Winslet as a brand ambassador for the French cosmetics house. {Telegraph} New York-based designer Jen Kao is closing her six-year-old namesake label due to health issues. Her standout leather pieces, trademark cut-outs, and downtown bad-girl style will truly be missed. {WWD} Jerome Dreyfuss, Isabel Marant's handbag designer husband, told H&M that he wasn't interested in designing the bags for his wife's much obsessed over upcoming collection with the retail mega-giant. Turns out he likes to keep business and pleasure separate--smart man! {Vogue UK}

"Style icon" is one of those overused fashion phrases we've come to loathe but when it's used to describe Jane Birkin (which it often does) we can't protest. She's kinda the ultimate style icon, having inspired everyone from next-gen style icons like Alexa Chung to designers like Jason Wu. She even has her own iconic bag: the Hermès Birkin (which she's rather unfussed about, frankly). But even an icon like Birkin has stuff she wants to change about herself.

What is it about the French? Or French women to be exact? No matter what they're wearing--whether it be a t-shirt or a ballgown--they always manage to exude that certain...je ne sais quoi. And it's precisely that je ne sais quoi that has inspired designers (and our wardrobes) for generations. So in honor of Bastille Day, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite french style icons--from those of the past like Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot, all the way up to the new guard, like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lea Seydoux. Click through to see them all.