The world’s first influencers were French and they emerged after the Revolution

<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/747485/original/file-20260713-71-wfub3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;rect=0%2C31%2C1499%2C1000&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1050&amp;h=700&amp;fit=crop" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A painting by Jacques-Louis David of French socialite and Neoclassical icon Madame Récamier whose salon in Paris attracted leading literary and political circles in the early 19th-century.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madame_R%C3%A9camier_painted_by_Jacques-Louis_David_in_1800.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1806, the Parisian gastronome Grimod de la Reynière launched a new periodical, the <em>Journal des Gourmands et des Belles</em> in post-revolutionary France. From the first issue, it set out to provide readers with advice on food, fashion, and theatrical life, all in one publication. Almost entirely forgotten today, the Journal was perhaps the first of it