Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

Hanging out at the French National Day reception are (from left) Satya Nandan, Carla Seaga, Edward Seaga, Michelle Bovell and Bertrand Bainvel. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

My dears, there is so much for which to admire the French.

Theirs is the language of love, they are the leading denizens in international style and haute mode, their cuisine is to die for, and there is no denying their sense of historical reference and import. Now, me daahlings, here in Kingston, the first love of the well-heeled is most definitely all things British. Then second on that pecking order would be all things Frawaanch!As indeed, my dears, French couture, style and cuisine are always vogue.

And so each July, the French National Day reception hosted by the French Ambassador is a prized invite.

Well, on Saturday, July 14, Bastille Day – the day the French rose up in opposition against the self-indulgence of the ruling royals and courtiers, for a more egalitarian republic! The revolution that followed bequeathed the famous near last words of Queen Marie Antoinette, ‘Let them eat cake’, to the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeois, the world over, who have quoted her incessantly at their own soirees and fab dinner parties, in mock horror. Or worse yet, in vain attempts at affecting sophisticated poise and manner!

Such is the influence and social by-product of the French revolution.

Well, my dears, the poor French Queen might have lost her head for suggesting her starving people in search of bread should eat cake, but cake it has been since the revolution, as the French people fought for and won the right to be their own masters, and so cake it is!

Well, there’s nothing like Bastille Day celebrations to bring out the absolute best of things French! And my dears, at the official residence of the French Ambassador HE Francis Hurtut, as he and his embassy staff hosted what was undoubtedly one of the finest diplomatic receptions of the season.

Fine property

Luvs, the French Embassy estate is simply one of the finest properties there is to be found in the nation’s capital. We are talking marvellous rolling grounds, housing some stately buildings that serve as the embassy in the first instance, and the official residence of the ambassador. It presents an unquestionable statement of understated grandeur, but an imposing estate nonetheless.

Now, imagine this already fabulous property, decorated to reflect the French national colours through strobe lighting strategically placed to create the master effect. And if the lighting and French colours were not enough to put guests in a festive but reflective mood, my daahlings, the air-conditioned marquees, decked with the best of French cuisine, plus oodles upon oodles of crisply chilled champagne flowing like the Rio Cobre when in spate, made for a most welcoming atmosphere!

The dress code did advise those guesting to do so ‘casually elegant’, and as this here is still a very nebulous concept, guests took no chances and so the mode was really regal, and then some! Doves, we are talking nothing but couture for the ladies; the gentlemen in attendance opting for shirt sleeves and/or smoking jackets. And with a selection of some of Kingston’s finest independent waiters in attendance, y’all know we are talking a fab-like-that, and a red-hot do.

Here style and substance were the very essence of the celebration, made that much more so by the very brief interlude for the playing of the Jamaican and French national anthems, plus greetings and well-wishes from the host Ambassador Francis Hurtut, and Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Anthony Hylton.

There was also a bevy of beautiful and leggy models from Saint International. Strutting some of the latest French fashion, via Guadaloupe, it made for a jazzy interlude.

Guests

Among the notables out were: Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies; former Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition JLP, The Most Hon. Edward Seaga and wife Carla; former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador David Coore; Senator Anthony Johnson; MP Mike Henry and his fabulous wife Dawn Chambers Henry; Ambassador Douglas Saunders and his betrothed Angela Robertson; Archbishop of Kingston, The Most Rev’d. Lawrence Burke; Monsignor Ken Mock Yen; DPP Kent Pantry; head of Immigration Services Carol Charlton; Professor Sir Roy Augier; Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Brazilian Ambassador HE Cezar Amaral; head of the EU Delegation, HE Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni and his lovely wife Fiela Alemanni; Russian Ambassador HE Viktor Zotin; outgoing (retiring) Indian High Commissioner HE Kailash Agrawal; Chilean Ambassador HE Alfonso Silva; Argentinean Ambassador HE Mario Jose Pino and wife Fanny Pino.

Mexican Ambassador HE Leonora Rueda; Venezuelan Ambassador HE Noel Enrique Martinez-Ochoa; Colombian Ambassador HE Dr. Ventura Diaz; Panamanian Ambassador HE Ricardo Moreno Flores; HE High Commissioner Cedric Harper and Barbara Harper of St. Kitts and Nevis; acting head of mission in the British High Commission Paul Nicolopulo and his charming wife Kareen Nicolopulo; HE Ambassador Satya Nandan, International Seabed Authority Secretary General; UNICEF’s Bertrand Bainvel; former head of Protocol Ambassador Madge Barrett and hubby Tunty Barrett; the Honorary Consul of Bangladesh Hon. Desmond Blades and Peggy Blades; Honorary Consul of Dominica Emile George, QC, and his wife, Dr. Barbara George; Honorary Consul of Iceland Robert MacMillan and Lisa Marzouca; Honorary Consul of Korea Yvon Desulme and his fabulous wife Cynthia Desulme; Honorary Consul of Ecuador Clelia de Barretto Hunter; Honorary Consul of Italy Tarquinio Caldarelli and his elegant companion the lovely Gloria Palomino; Honorary Consul of Lithuania Lois Lake Sherwood.

The Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Thailand Thalia Lyn and her hubby Capt. Michael Lyn; Honorary Consul of Poland Irena Cousins; Chris Bovell and his belissima grande fashion diva of a wife Michelle Bovell; Joe Matalon and wife Bernadette; socialite extraordinaire Beverly Junor Levy; Peter and Beverly Rousseau; the lovely Joy Mahfood; Dr. Oswald and Marigold Harding; Hon. Barbara Gloudon; Dr. Cezley Sampson and his daughter; Scotiabank’s William Clarke.

Dr. Wesley Hughes; Norman Wright and his wife, the lovely Jean Mignon Anderson Wright; Aubyn and Tamara Hill; Vivian Crawford; the beautiful Jennifer Stannigar; Pierre and Karlene Lemaire; Paul Hansworth; Marilyn Bennett, looking her fabulous self; Horace and Josephine Bogues; Ashman and Pat Samuels; the engaging Andrea Bickhoff-Benjamin; Phillip and Claudie Warner; Nicola Hoo-Fatt; John Paul and his family; Sill and Errolee Powell; Deiwight Peters, CEO of Saint International; Dexter Pottinger, plus a number of others.