Ségolène Royal - a French fashion icon!

Is that the gnashing of teeth that can be heard at the Elysée palace?

No not from the French president, François Hollande, over the admission by former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac on his blog - of all things - that he had lied about having squirrelled money away in a foreign bank account (and a tidy little sum it was too - €600,000).

http://www.jerome-cahuzac.com/

That would be far too a serious political issue upon which to focus.

Besides it has been covered extensively elsewhere.

As has the fact that Cahuzac apparently informed Hollande of his decision to come clean by SMS (how very 21st century) and speculation over the repercussions for a party seemingly as clueless about a high-ranking member's financial shenanigans as it was when it came to the "trysts" of a certain DSK.

Rather the chopper grinding is probably being emitted from the other half of the first couple, Valérie Trierweiler (who incidentally is still exorcising - sic -  her chosen profession as a "journalist" over at the pages of the weekly (cough, cough) "news"  magazine Paris Match).

What exactly might be "sticking in her craw" (just to go full pelt, idiomatically speaking) you might be wondering.

Well of course it all has to be the latest news from her predecessor as Hollande's Better Half.

You see, that well-informed and cutting edge daily The Guardian has just released a totally objective and thoroughly-researched "Top 50 of the best-dressed over 50s".

And guess who makes it in at number 29...

Ségolène Royal!

"Shoulder-length hair that is youthful, not helmet-like. A jacket and dress in contrast colours. A white shirt with a silk scarf. How do the French make this style look so easy?" is how a svelte Seggers is described to readers of the UK national daily.

All right so Royal might not be up there with the likes of Helen Mirren ("numéro un" or rather "une" apparently) but she's only one of three French women to rank: the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, Carine Roitfeld (who might not appreciate being described as "The only woman on Earth who looks a bit like Iggy Pop, but in a good way") is at number three, Catherine Deneuve at number 12, and Emmanuelle Riva at number 14.

But there she is in all her not-so batty Socialist glory ranking alongside He of the big lips and wiggly hips, Mick Jagger.

Way to go Seggers.

Thank goodness the editors didn't see her in her heyday 2008 One Woman Bercy show perhaps. Not her greatest fashion success.


Ségolène Royal au Zénith : Extraits par segolene-royal-videos

Given her newly-acquired trend-setting fashion status, perhaps Royal could help out a floundering government when Hollande decides to have a proper reshuffle.

She could maybe start with a few tips on appropriate hair colouration tips.

After all that excitement, how about some music.

Here's Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera with "Moves like Jagger".



Or Key of Awesome's parody.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy becomes comic book heroine

France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is the heroine of a new comic book.

Screenshot of Bluewater publisher's Female Force - Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Published by Bluewater productions, the 40-page book is described as "an unauthorized political biography with a difference" and is part of the publisher's "Female Force" series aimed at "female empowerment".

It was perhaps only a matter of time before Bruni-Sarkozy, the missus of "Hollywood's senior representative in France" as the online news website p2pnet rather tongue-in-cheek describes her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, trod another path in her rich and varied life.

The former model - sorry Supermodel - turned singer, some time actress and now first lady has long been considered one of the world’s most beautiful women – the kind who would make wearing a tea cosy not only fashionable but probably also sexy.

The daughter of a wealthy Italian industrialist and composer, Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, and the Italian concert pianist, Marisa Borini, Bruni-Sarkozy was born in Turin, moved to France with her family when she was just five and was “discovered” by the world of catwalks at 19.

Over the years she has acquired the reputation as something of a “man eater”, not an image she has been eager to play down, even apparently going as far as to say once that, “I am monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry.”

In her 20s she had a much publicised on-off affair with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger – and in her time has also dated a long and eclectic list of A-listers including US billionaire Donald Trump, British rock star Eric Clapton, Hollywood actor Kevin Costner and even former French Socialist prime minister, Laurent Fabius.

And how’s this for a one-woman double act so to speak. Seven years ago, while living with the French journalist and critic, Jean-Paul Enthoven, she met and fell in love with his philosopher son, Raphael, with whom she had a child, Aurélien, in 2001.

Phew.

No wonder the blurb for the new book describes her as being "driven by determination and by the music in her blood to become successful in many walks of life."

But a comic book? And one with only 40 pages?

"When girls read this they're going to see they can do anything, and be what they want to be," Bluewater's Darren Davis told Agence France Presse.

"It is unbiased, so we do talk about things in there... but the struggles that she had make her a stronger person."

Bruni-Sarkozy now joins the ranks of other women such as her counterpart from across the Pond Michelle Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Pain, Harry Potter author J K Rowling, Australian singer Olivia Newton John, and a host of others whose lives have been told in the pages of the Female Force comic book format.

Written by David McIntee and Heath Foley "Female Force, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy" is published by Bluewater productions and undoubtedly presents a role model any parent would wish for their daughter.

Sadly it has yet to find a publisher in France.