Femme Fatale:
– a lover, schemer, manipulator, and fatal seductress. In other words, very french.
Our brief for this project was to create a publication that embodied and portrayed a word from another language that has been borrowed and embraced in the English vocabulary. Through research and development, I landed on the term 'Femme Fatale', which is commonly used as jargon in The Arts.
Through typography, I explored the shape of the word, its sensuality, and the beauty that comes from lists, scripts and literature, all surrounding the origins of the use of the phrase 'Femme Fatale'.
This publication narrates the journey of the french name ‘femme fatale’ – its travel from the romantic French language, into the common vocabulary of literary English. As French began it’s integration into the English language through the Norman Conquest in 1066, this is where the story starts. Travelling through time to the present, the femme fatale survived and thrived through word, art and film.
Narratively, the story folds throughout time, and the popular appearance of the femme fatale throughout language, art and film. It also highlights the fact that we ultimately embezzled the phrase into our language – the phrase didn’t exist before English decided it should.
The book is for those who are interested in literature, art and film noir – which is where the femme fatale is commonly found. The origins of the name are often unknown, and fans of the dangerous woman should be aware of her narrative; the french want her back.
