Au revoir, Carla!
Carla Bruni surrendered her (proverbial) First Lady of France crown today and handed it to Valerie Trierweiler, the girlfriend of Francois Hollande, at Hollande's inauguration as president of France.
It was a historic changing of the guards at Élysée Palace as outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy and Bruni greeted Hollande and Trierweiler and metaphotically turned in their keys to the presidential home. After Hollande, France's first socialist president since 1995, was sworn in, he made his way to Berlin for debt talks, his jet was struck by lightning. (No one was injured.)
As exciting as the day was, we were a bit let down by the visuals (alas, there was no green Isabel Toledo frock in sight). Trierweiler opted for a dark dress and heels with a white jacket, while Carla stuck to her recently developed signature style of loose-fitting, solid-colored pants and jackets. Le sigh.
And there may be more basics where that came from. Trierweiler is known for her down-to-earth, everywoman style, telling The Times recently, "For the moment I dress in prêt-à-porter... I have never worn dresses by grands couturiers."
What will France look like with a new First Couple in power? How will Trierweiler compare to our dearly departed Bruni? And what the heck do you think they talked about at today's inauguration?
We also couldn't help but notice that while Carla Bruni loved her famous flats and kitten heels, France's new lady has a taste for towering high heels, especially ones in classic black. Take a look at both women's eclectic footwear below!
