THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France's finance minister, Christine Lagarde, had her pearl earrings, bracelet and ring airbrushed out of a local publication in an apparent attempt to look more austere in the wake of protests against reforms to make the French work longer.
Mrs Lagarde appears on the front cover of Nouvelles du 12 – a local newsletter in Paris' 12th arrondissement where she is a councillor – smiling and standing in front of a viaduct in a red scarf but 'sans' jewellery.
However, it transpires that the cover is a Photoshop montage of a picture of her on a walkabout with journalists in which she is clearly adorned with bulky earrings and other jangly jewellery.
Jacques Kalifa, the editor of the local publication, said he had requested the photo from Mrs Lagarde's office for the cover of the magazine.
Mr Kalifa said: "Rather than take a photo ourselves, we asked for one from her private office then did a montage of her with the viaduct in the background." At first he said the ministry had sent the photo with the jewellery already removed. "Perhaps she wanted to have a softer image, to be seen without her jewellery," he told the Le Poste website. But he later claimed the newsletter's picture editor had taken the initiative to remove the lavish objects himself.
The photo edit was spotted by Le Canard Enchaîné, the satirical weekly, which said the jewels were no doubt viewed as too "bling-bling". >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, November 03, 2010
