Karen Wheeler

Karen Wheeler is an award-winning fashion and beauty writer and former Fashion Editor of the Mail on Sunday newspaper. Born near Liverpool in the north of England, she studied Modern History at Kings College, London University and worked briefly at Sotheby's art auctioneers before embarking on a career in fashion journalism.

During her career she has interviewed many of fashion's top names including Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein and has written on a regular basis for many national newspapers and supplements including the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, the Sunday Times Style, The Mail on Sunday and ES magazine. She is also a three times winner of the Jasmine Literary award for writing about fragrance.

She moved to France in August 2005 thanks to several random twists of fate, initially planning to stay for a year. Five years and two books later, she is still enjoying 'la vie rurale' and fortunately, most of her neighbours - many of whom feature in Tout Sweet and Toute Allure - are still speaking to her. She is currently working on her third book.

More information about the author can be found on her blog, www.toutsweet.net, which charts her everyday life in France and at www.karenwheeler.co.uk. She also writes a regular column for Living France magazine, in which she shares more tales from the Poitou-Charentes.