celebrity style

Style Evolution of Carla Bruni

Ooh la la! Political spouses in the US are expected to keep a low profile and support their significant other, ideally in a red suit (or blue, depending on the affiliation. But over in France, things are a bit different. Their First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is a musician and a former supermodel who has been photographed wearing even less than this creation from Jean Paul Gaultier's 1997 Fringe Bikini collection.

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This week marks Bruni-Sarkozy's inaugural visit to the U.S. as First Lady of France. Since marrying French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February after a whirlwind romance, Madame Sarkozy has charmed diplomats, heads of state and even the notoriously critical French public.

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The First Lady and President Nicolas Sarkozy in New York on September 23, 2008. In town for the United Nations General Assembly, Sarkozy was given the "World Statesman Award."

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Keeping up with Carla: Bruni-Sarkozy puts her hubby through his paces on the streets of NYC on September 22, 2008. Later she joined U.S. First Lady Laura Bush for lunch at a museum.

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Madame Bruni-Sarkozy (in a purple Christian Dior suit) looks a bit shocked at a Bastille Day ceremony in July. Earlier that week, the singer/songwriter did the seemingly impossible and startled French sensibilities with her new album, on which she sings "You are my junk. More deadly than Afghan heroin. More dangerous than Colombian white (powder)," adding: "My guy, I roll him up and smoke him."

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On the same album Bruni-Sarkozy sings that "I am a child/ Despite my 40 years/ Despite my 30 lovers/ A child," which must have been a great conversation starter when she and her husband welcomed Pope Benedict XVI and a contingent of priests from the Vatican in early September.

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Earlier this summer, Bruni-Sarkozy played hostess to another religious leader. The Dalai Lama showed the retired super model the proper way to wear a Tibetan prayer shawl.

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Entertaining famous and powerful men is nothing new for Bruni, who was at one time better known for her boyfriends than her career. Past conquests include musicians Eric Clapton (her date at this 1992 party thrown by Sting) and Mick Jagger.

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The British papers went wild for Carla when she and her husband made a state visit to London in March. Columnists were torn: was she the new Jackie Kennedy or Diana, reborn? Fashion insiders were unanimous however, in heaping praise on the 40-year-old's wardrobe, which consisted of the best of the Paris couture houses.

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For her meeting with the Queen at the ceremonial welcome at Windsor, Bruni made the smart but safe fashion choice: Dior.

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