Martine Gasquet’s career has not been easy—and for a good reason. “At the time, only 6% of National Assembly members were women,” recalls the first woman elected as a deputy in Nice in 1988. Trained as a historian and former director of Culture de la Ville de Nice, she lectured for a long time before turning to writing. A way to fight against the invisibilisation of women in our memories. “I became interested in them through history, and unlike my book on empresses, artists, and cocottes, I had enormous difficulty finding sources to write The Flapper Era, reveals this author, who now awakens the names of those who launched the Côte d’Azur in summer. Among them were American women who fled Prohibition, sporty and unafraid of sunburn. Sara Murphy sunbathed in a bikini here, the dancer Isadora Duncan influenced and inspired Cocteau, and the Goulds built the Palais de la Méditerranée. “There’s also Zelda Fitzgerald. When she wanted to publish, Scott objected, saying that if he put his name to the story for her, it would sell for more money,” says Martine Gasquet, appalled. Not to mention motorsports enthusiasts such as Hellé Nice, queen of the Bugatti, and Marie-Laure de Noailles, who had her villa built in Hyeres with Charles.
Le Temps des Garçonnes,
la Côte d’Azur des Années folles, 2022, Editions Gilletta
By Tanja Stojanov
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice