Presidential Editorials - Vanity Fair Gets Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (GALLERY)

The first lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is featured in a cover story in the coveted September 2008 ‘Style Issue’ of Vanity Fair. Carla was beautifully captured by Annie Leibovitz at the Élysée Palace.

Well known for her love of Chanel and elegant style, the cover asks the question, “Carla Bruni, The New Jackie O?”

The Italian heiress, ex-model, and singer has earned her place in the heart of a French president who is referred to by his people as, “le Président Bling-Bling.”

Even though the French make fun of their president’s ‘unpresidential’ style, they are obsessed with his lifestyle and new wife. Vanity Fair shares that 76 books were written about Sarkozy, Carla, and his ex-wife Cécilia in the first year of his presidency alone. Marrying someone as captivating as Carla only fueled this fascination.

“Carla has led many lives,” the noted journalist Christine Ockrent tells Vanity Fair. “She’s a kind of alpha female. She was never a courtesan like Pamela Harriman—she was more like a female Don Juan.”

“She was full of life and wit. She was beyond polite.” Karl Lagerfeld says of Carla during her modeling days. “So many, like Linda and Christy, had periods of being moody and difficult. She was always perfect.”

Hit the gallery below for five pictures from the new Vanity Fair editorial and five more from Carla’s modeling past in 1990s for the likes of Chanel, Versace, and Dior haute couture.