Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Image source The Official White House Photostream via Flickr.com.

On April 22, 2012, French citizens will elect a new president, and at the same time, a new First Lady. Nicolas Sarkozy, defending champion, and his supermodel-cum-singer-cum-First-Lady wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, have undergone a conjugal “make-under” in hopes of appearing less “bling” and more “blah” to secure their place at the Élysée Palace once again. Bruni-Sarkozy, as reported in UK’s The Daily Mail, has become unrecognisable, trading her Christian Dior skirt suits for swathes of chunky knits, leggings, incognito wigs and Uggs, drawing attention to the somewhat illusory dichotomy of fashion and politics in the dress code of a First Lady.

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*Article originally posted in The Genteel, April 13, 2012.