Carla bruni
Jackie’s pillbox hats and Michelle’s belted cardigans will forever be referenced as standout examples of political chic, but as far as the first lady-as-fashion icon thing goes, no one can compete with Carla Bruni. Hell, the model-turned-singer-turned– Mrs. Nicolas Sarkozy even holds the title with her clothes off: in March 2008, just one month after marrying the president of France, Bruni’s 1993 nude photograph sold at Christies for $91,000—twenty times its estimated value. (Speaking of nude photos, we found this one in our archives: a portrait of Bruni shot by Karl Lagerfeld over a decade ago for Visionaire 23 The Emperor’s New Clothes, which featured 50 of the world’s most beautiful people in the buff.) Good luck, good looks, good PR—whatever it is, Bruni’s got it. An heiress to the fortune created by her grandfather’s CEAT tire company (now owned by Pirelli), Bruni was born in Italy, raised in France, and educated at finishing schools in Switzerland. After a brief stint studying art at the University of Paris, the waiflike 19-year-old dropped out to pursue modeling and was handpicked by Guess CEO Paul Marciano shortly thereafter to appear in a campaign for the brand. By the mid 1990s she was one of the world’s highest-paid supermodels. As a singer/ songwriter, Bruni’s first three solo albums have sold over two million copies. Bruni’s often notorious private life—her “Terminator smile” has allegedly ruined marriages and racked up a list of ex-lovers rumored to include Eric Clapton, Donald Trump, and Mick Jagger—never managed to derail her career as a model, a singer, or (most impressively) a first lady. Her marriage to the French president has become her most public relationship yet, and for the infamous man-eater who has openly claimed to be “monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy,” it’s going well. Martha Glass Carla Bruni, Visionaire 23 The Emperor’s New Clothes, 1997 Photography Karl Lagerfeld