Party Diary: What its like inside the French ambassadors new residence

The tête-à-tête was about nipples. Specifically whether or not the pair depicted in a modern photograph hanging among classic portraits in the Salon des Boiseries were, in fact, squeezable “but not in a good way.” It was decided — in English — that they were and then the couple moved out to the terrace.

That’s just a snippet of what one overhears (and actually understands) at the newly renovated French ambassador’s residence, one of Washington’s most sought-after diplomatic digs. Who’s to say what was discussed in French, spoken like it should be among mostly French guests, such as the Count and Countess Renaud de Viel Castel, during Wednesday night’s reception in honor of France-Amerique magazine.

From outside, the grey-brick Tudor manor house with the French flag billowing above its doors doesn’t look like the kind of place where private parts are discussed in polite company. The building appears — at first glance — conservative and maybe even a little bit bourgeois.

But once inside, the sumptuous fabrics (velvety hot pink, gold silk, crushed orange), and modern and classic art and furnishings reveal something different entirely. Like shedding a boring overcoat to reveal a bright party dress underneath.

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“It’s a lot to take in,” said one of a few non-French guests wandering through the main floor’s entertainment rooms.

There’s the mod “Mad Men” room with low slung couches that’d be just as comfortable in Palm Springs and Ambassador Gérard Araud’s personal coffee table book collection, the Empire Salon with Napoleon’s bees sprinkled throughout, and the Salon des Boiseries where a portrait of George Washington hangs not far from that thoroughly modern photograph which happens to be by Pascal Blondeau, Araud’s partner.

“There’s just so much,” continued the guest, champagne in hand.

So much and so French, which is precisely the point, although Araud joked on Wednesday that he didn’t quite get Francophiles.

“Francophiles in this country, there are a lot of them who don’t speak French, and we have to cater to this strange population,” said Araud from the residence’s grand staircase as he toasted the newly bilingual France-Amerique magazine.

“The weirdest element is that people could be Francophile. How can you stand us? We are unbearable?” he joked, eventually chalking up the one-way love affair to either fortitude or masochism.

One guest had a different take though, especially when it came to the new ambassador and the glamorous house in his charge: “This ambassador is particularly rich, and he has great taste.”

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