American writer in Paris
Journalist with Air Mail: visit my leader page or see some summaries below
Stringer for the likes of Vanity Fair and Esquire: see some archives below
Author of two books: see here.
JOHN VON SOTHEN discovered when he married a French woman that a man’s visions of those sex filled, rosé saturated lazy European summer holidays are unfortunately dependent on one thing. You have to spend them with…..the French. THE DINNER PARTY One of the selling points my wife, Anaïs, pitched me before bundling me off to France to live the rest … Read more
Esquire. The Wizard of Oz is never who you think he (or she) is. And inside Paris, the emerald city of fashion, behind a curtain in a fitting room, on the third floor above the famed Hermès store on rue Faubourg St. Honoré and rue Boissy d’Anglas, stands a petite brunette with dark bangs who’s been driving men’s fashion for … Read more
“Not many people know this, but Humphrey Bogart never said the line ‘Play it again, Sam.’ He said, ‘You played it for her, you can play it for me,’ and Sam acquiesced.” That’s Harry talking, the piano player aboard the Seabourn Odyssey, a sleek iron-and-teak-railed ship heading to old-school Mediterranean ports like Barcelona and Tangier before moving into the Canary Islands, up to … Read more
Following Donald Trump’s stunning win, America’s knee jerk reaction has been to “find humour in it all,” which JOHN VON SOTHEN finds downright pathological, especially considering it was partly responsible for Trump’s victory in the first place. On the night of the election, I, like so many other American journalists in Paris, was running around the city, talking on panels, giving radio interviews, … Read more
Since the Trump election, living in Paris as an American is kind of like being a registered sex offender. People in my neighborhood are still polite. They greet me as they’ve always done with a bonjour smile as I walk my kid to school, but I can see on their faces they really don’t trust me anymore. And why should … Read more
With a shocking upset in Michigan, Bernie Sanders is proving he’s not dead yet. The only ones who aren’t surprised are the millions of millennials packing stadiums to see him. JOHN VON SOTHEN travels aboard Air Sanders to meet the improbable icon of the new American left. On March 1 at 6:30 AM on a typically Vermont frigid morning, I … Read more
Before she was the American ambassador to France, Pamela Harriman was either the wife, the mistress, or the political benefactor of some of the world’s most powerful men. JOHN VON SOTHEN retraces the life of a 20th century Leonard Zelig, whose life ended in the vaulted pool of the Hotel Ritz. When the Parisian headlines on Feb 5th, 1997 read that Pamela Harriman, … Read more
Vanity Fair – February 2015 JOHN VON SOTHEN travels to Palm Beach to find out how a depressed heiress and bored housewife without any experience, education, and fashion house backing her, not only built a major brand, but managed to transform the way American elites dress and live. There’s always that moment when you’re in the dentist chair or flying … Read more
Recently, I’ve been having a hard time convincing my seven-year-old daughter Santa exists. She just saw High School Musical 2 at a sleepover “pajama party” last weekend and usually, if you’re old enough to appreciate the works of Zak Efron, chances are you’re not buying the Santa Claus myth anymore. And honestly, how could she? Given what she sees in Paris nowadays, it’s … Read more