From the frustrated computer scientist's shirt to the Goncourt parka: these looks that made Michel Houellebecq a rock star
data-modal-image-caption=Michel Houellebecq, after winning the Prix Goncourt, for The Map and the Territory , in 2010. data-modal-image-credit=Gorassini Giancarlo/ABACA> 
Depressed ace of spades or postmodern dandy? Often criticized, the French writer's deceptively banal attire nevertheless contributed to his status.
" Michel Houellebecq, you've made the back-to-school season glassy, you're now at 265,000 copies. You've made money, that's why you have a new look... Now you have the François Valéry look," says a hilarious Thierry Ardisson to the author who had become a star since the release of The Elementary Particles a year earlier. It's true that on June 22, 1999, on the set of "Rive droite/Rive gauche," the daily cultural program on Paris Première, his hair blondened by chamomile shampoo, his tanned complexion, his blue gingham shirt matching the color of his eyes, and the collar wide open on the lapel of his light gray cotton jacket give Houellebecq the air of a crooner. " I did think of François Valéry , I decided to try to sound old-fashioned pop to discredit myself ," admits the writer in great shape. From there to imagine that the cult hit Let's love ourselves alive ( "Let's not wait for death to find us…
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