EDITORIAL GUIDE

Live like a shabby aristocrat ... If you’re a quelqu’un comme il faut, Balzac’s enduring moniker for a proper bourgeois, you may well understand the stress of keeping up with the La Rochefoucalds—especially on a budget. Thankfully, the French have perfected the art of impecunious chic over several centuries: a caving chateau roof lends the proprietor a measure of authenticity. Oh, and these tattered threads? Speaks to well-placed priorities, of course.

So polish up on your baisemain and mine your family tree; here’s our guide to the living like a Count, on a cadger’s income.