Fashion is, in large part, an art of trompe l’oeil: it can make people look thinner (head-to-toe black); more powerful (shoulder pads); and more prominent (red). So it is no wonder that when Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s pint-sized president, made ex-supermodel Carla Bruni his second wife, he was made aware of the transformative power of her former milieu.

Though this has been most obvious in the case of Mr Sarkozy’s footwear, which has ranged from high-heeled boots to brogues with an extra lift, the news that a number of the shortest employees of the car parts maker Faurecia had been shipped in for a presidential photo-op indicates that the Elysée’s approach may be getting subtler.