Vanessa Paradis is a stylish girl. Her kind of personality, gifted with allure, seems to have the capacity to transcend any clothing. All the other girls, justly, want a peek inside her closet. Good news: through the camera of Dominique Issermann, Vanessa has accepted to play this game, for the fall-winter 2003 catalogue of La Redoute. Here, making a pretty demonstration of fashion, mixing designers from the likes of Vanessa Bruno to Antik Batik, Paul & Joe to Corelone, passing by Michel Vivien and Alexandra Neel. "I had fun," she says.

Regarding fashion, the young lady has very clear ideas. It has become clearer and clearer through the years. The nymphet in miniskirts and leather jackets that breathily sang "Joe le Taxi" is far gone. "Inevitably, I matured. I became a mom, I turned 30. I can no longer wear what I wore at 18, I don't assume that I could anymore!" she notes while laughing.

Understand: Vanessa has given up the outfits of a too-young girl and the short, skintight T-shirts. Today, what she likes is comfortable clothing. "I would never wear a piece of clothing that obstructs me. The best kind of clothes, for me, are the ones that are ample and fluid, that exploit the suggestion. And which, incidentally, makes it possible to be preoccupied with two children that require constant attention!"

Immediately, you visualize her in her legendary Levi jeans, in T-shirts and square-heeled boots, her "basic outfit." Like an eternal teenager... who would have succeeded, without betraying itself, its passage to adulthood. But the Vanessa style cannot be summarized with this extreme "coolitude." The beautiful woman can also do ultra-feminine, respecting the classic codes of femininity. "Nothing is like a light robe close to your body, with thin heels." Thin? "Yes, I want to be able to walk, run, dance!"

Vanessa's golden rule: always preserve this sacred, holy freedom, which has defined her life so far. Moreover, she loves designers with the same attitude, who are also inventive, also surprising. Among her personal favorites, there are all the designers she chose to showcase in the pages of La Redoute. Vanessa Bruno, for example, has literally charmed her. "She is so true, sweet. I adore what she does and I melt for her shoes." Antik Batik, "for the ethnic quality," remains her favorite for bringing out her hippie side.

And then, there are the rest, the designers that make her vibrate [gosh!]. The young woman admires Marc Jacobs without fail. Because he likes fashion, because everything he makes is ravishing. And that "he makes things for small sizes like me, size 3 rather than 6!" Another reference: Chanel. "You can never go wrong," explains the former face of the Coco perfume. "The Chanel jacket goes with everything: a skirt if you want to be sophisticated, jeans if you want simply to be chic."

Finally, Vanessa's only problem is that she's too sentimental. "I can't throw things away! I think that every piece of clothing has a soul, has a history: it reminds me of a trip, a party, a friend. And I don't know where to put everything," she sighs, even though she admits that, since becoming a mom, the shopping trips are almost entirely dedicated to her children, "an inexhaustible source of satisfaction."

With all that, you can get lost trying to reconstitute "Vanessa's lesson in fashion," since she seems capable of combining everything and is contrary to trends. Always with the same grace, but without a priori. The key, is that she'll finally deliver... "sexy with sophistication. For me, the mix would be a girl who, early in the morning, puts on a pretty babydoll with straps and a little bit of ruffles, with her feet naked in her boots. I hate those who spend 3 hours in front of the mirror. I like the allure that emanates from an outfit put together without deep thought." Vanessa has just painted her self-portrait.