Carla Bruni

Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Beyonce less cool than Carla Bruni?

By Joffre Agnes
04/11/2008

Could you imagine even for a minute Bernadette Chirac or Sarah Brown being elected the coolest person of the year? I'm pretty sure you can't but that is the status that Carla Bruni, the French first lady has just achieved in Britain. Simply amazing! However let's remember that she is no ordinary first lady. That may be why she has been elected coolest personality of the year by British people outstripping Kate Bush, Paul Mc Cartney, Kylie Minogue, Robert Plant, Beyonce or Girls Aloud with 24 per cent of the recorded votes. She definitely seduced English people when she came to London with Nicolas Sarkozy a few months ago. La Carla-mania started then and is not yet about to stop.

Carla Bruni

Carla Bruni is not a typical first lady. Former model, singer and musician, Mick Jagger's ex girlfriend, Carla Bruni doesn't have the traditional CV of a first lady and doesn't act as can be expected of one either. She can fit in anywhere and in all circumstances.  She is a real cameleon. She can be performing with Metallica or posing in the nude or even staying over at Buckingham Palace when visiting the Queen with her husband Nicolas Sarkozy. Nothing is unusual and nothing too much or too little for her. She is a truly modern women who has had a career and can have her own opinions and voice them.

Carla Bruni

However the French are not as enthusiastic about her as the English public. In fact the first lady bothers and divides. Listed for a long time as one of the most beautiful women in the world, she was a part of the first generation of supermodels with the likes of Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.  She stopped modelling in her early 30s and turned out to be a successful popstar. As a star in the show business, rock and roll and left wing, Carla Bruni dated an unlikely crowd of rich and famous men before marrying Nicolas Sarkozy: Mick Jagger, Donald Trump, Kevin Costner, Eric Clapton, Laurent Fabius... 

Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy

Currently it is still quite annoying for French people to see their first lady appearing on TV shows and adverts. Even for her to have released  a third album was quite unusual. After all she had only married the French president a few months earlier. Carla Bruni is not regarded as "cool" in France. For instance, this month, during a concert there was booing at the mention of her name. This is why her popularity in the UK is really surprising.

Carla Bruni's latest album

  Will the French end up realising that one can be a cool first lady?