Bruni nails it

Fashion experts decode the French First Lady, Carla Bruni sartorial style

It is the season of hi-profile visits. Mumbai saw two first ladies visiting the city within a month of each other. While Carla Bruni, France's first lady is a style icon, Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States is known for making her own style statement. Bothu00a0 ladies grabbed headlines.

Former singer, model turned Sarkozy's wife definitely grabbed eyeballs. Michelle wonu00a0 hearts by her near perfect Koli contortions.


The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama with the First Lady of France, Carla Bruni

But Bruni managed to strike a chord with the Indians by her namaste greeting. She also visited the shrine of saint Sheikh Salim Chishti and prayed for a son, a personal revelation that resonated with Indians.

For several Mumbaikars it is Bruni who scores over Michelle in the style stakes.

"I think Carla Bruni's style is more feminine, more sensuous. Michelle's just really well-dressed and elegant. Personally, I think Bruni does it for me. She is suave and knows how to carry herself in almost anything," says 22-year-old Ambarin Afsar.

Maheka Mirpuri, fashion designer agrees.

"Carla definitely has a better fashion sense. Michelle has a lot of Indian element in her attire but Bruni is always simple and correct," she says.

Michelle boarded the flight from the US to India recently in a printed blue dress but changed mid flight and looked graceful in an elegant knee length grey tunic. Known to display stunning necklaces and cocktail gowns, Michelle tried her best to reach out to the host country with her sartorial sense.

Jaisa desh waisa bhesh seemed to be her mantra as she donned a sable Moroccan tunic with a dune velvet skirt designed by New York based designer Rachel Roy.

Bruni on the other hand is somebody who is considered effortlessly stylish.

The Italian-born singer and former model looked quite a sight for sore eyes as she alighted from the flight in a peach knee length dress with a half sleeve-matching cardigan and pointed black pumps.

Bruni, who has made it to Vanity Fair magazine's International Best Dressed List 2010 third year in a row, sported girlie bangs, with open hair, sporting a plum coloured handbag.


Nicolas Sarkozy with wife Carla Bruni

The first lady later changed her light travelling outfit for a more conservative black skirt suit when she accompanied her husband to the ISRO conference in Bangalore.

Avante garde Mumbai and Bangalore fashion designers decode the svelte couple's style code.

"Carla Bruni was the epitome of elegance in a peach oufit. It was an apt outfit for a day of travel. Nicolas Sarkozy's suave ensemble offsets Carla's style statement," says Rocky S, fashion designer.

(With inputs from Sudeshna Chowdhury)

STYLE STATEMENT

CONFIDENT
Sanchita Ajjampur
"The First Lady of France is confident and graceful, and in this look she perfectly reflects her sense of style coupling a nude dress and pea-jacket with a deep red structured bag to add a highlight and a hint of colour. She is respected in the fashion world for her off-late demure style and comparison to Jackie O and Lady Di have also come from specialised journals like Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Sarkozy has maintained his look -- smart and simple with a finely made dark suit and crisp white shirt and camera friendly dark tie. An appropriate look for a person of his designation and in the context of his trip to India."

UNINSPIRING
Ritu Pandey
"First of all, Carla does not live up to her reputation as a style icon as we spot her alighting the plane in a peach knee length dress. The neckline of the dress and the short jacket clash, the colour while classic is also uninspiring. On the plus side the dress length is perfect short enough to show off her beautiful legs and not too short to look unladylike. The bag and shoes are gorgeous and a lovely pop of colour. Sarkozy's suit is impeccably cut but again a bit sombre and the tie is just plain boring. On the other hand, he is not a style icon, she is. The suit needed a sharper shirt or tie to up the style stakes. They both look well matched if a little boring," says Pandey.

FLAWLESS
Prasad Bidapa
Fashion guru, Prasad Bidapa says that Bruni's dress sense is flawless. "As a couple I am not sure they work at all. She, of course is impeccable and as far as First Ladies go, she pretty much nails it. The less said about the man the better. He looks like a Corsican gangster but the macho strut is all in place and he looks made to have a beautiful woman on his arm. She is a beauty, through and through though," he elaborates.

NOT IMPRESSED
Amrita Gokani
"I am personally not impressed with the couple's history for being in the news for the wrong reasons. As for clothes, she could definitely dress in a more dignified manner as she sets an example to people who look up to her and as she was on an official visit for the first time here. One certainly has an image of a First Lady which she fails," she says.

CONTROVERSY'S CHILDREN
Just earlier this year, Paris was abuzz with rumours that Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni were going splitsville. Twitter and the blogosphere were rife with rumours about alleged infidelity and France was lovin' it. Bruni, the French-Italian singer-songwriter and ex-girlfriend of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, it was said became "close to" French singer Benjamin Biolay. Suggestion turned to something more when online news websites picked it up suggesting Thailand holidays and time together in a Paris flat.

With the First Lady allegedly frolicking what's a guy to do? It was then suggested thatu00a0 President Sarkozy sought "comfort" in the arms of his Secretary of State for Ecology, Chantal Jouanno, a 40-year old married karate champion, (ouch).

Reports then stated that her spokesperson would take legal action for slanderous comments. Now why would a karate champion need the courts when a kick would do? That's another matter altogether.


Carla Bruni shows off her toned body in a sizzling hot bikini

The rumours died down after a while, though.

Meanwhile, it was a sizzler of a summer when news websites exploded with reports that Carla Bruni had indulged in some girlie sex talk with Michelle Obama.u00a0

Reports said that according to a new book, Carla Bruni told the First Lady that she and President Sarkozy had made a head of state wait while they had sex.
u00a0
She had then asked Michelle if she had ever done the same. According to the book, Michelle had apparently laughed nervously and said no. Well, Carla is French after all.


IN INDIA AT A GLANCE

BILLION CLUB: It was Euro power in Delhi as France said it proposed to invest over 10 billion Euros into India in next two years if multi-brand retail and insurance sectors were liberalised even as New Delhi said they were, "very much" on the government's agenda.
u00a0
"The FDI cap on insurance and multi-brand retail is very much on the agenda," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had said in the presence of French Minister of Economy and Finance Christine Lagarde who is part of the delegation accompanying President Nicolas Sarkozy.

PARK HARK: India signed a 7 billion Euro agreement with French energy major Areva to purchase two 1,650 MW nuclear reactors which will be installed at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. The first reactor is scheduled to be operational by 2018.

GAY YEAH: Pink power got a fillip with the fashionable French first lady Carla Bruni making a case of global gay
rights and AIDS activism. Bruni met HIV positive mothers, children and activists. Bruni, lost her brother to HIV-related complications in 2006, so in a way she has a personal stake in the issues The model-turned activist later told waiting reporters that the, "prevention of transmission of AIDS is one of the most important fights that humanity has to face."u00a0

PAK TALK: France joined India in pressing Pakistan to actively prosecute the "authors" and their accomplices of Mumbai terror attacks expeditiously. Terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan was among the issues that were discussed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy with both expressing concern over the continuing existence of safe havens and sanctuaries for terror groups in these countries.

SEAT HEAT: Sarkozy also pitched for permanent seat for India in the expanded UN Security Council and other global bodies, terming it as important for equilibrium in the world. "India and France reiterated the need for in-depth reform of United Nations, including of its Security Council, to make it more representative of today's world," the statement said.