“We are the opposite of Nicolas Sarkozy’s Rolex or Manuel Valls’ beige suit.” The beautiful appearance of Gabriel Attal.

“Dear Gabriel, as I pass the baton to you, I am confident,” Elizabeth Bourne announced to Matignon on Tuesday, January 9. After being the prime minister for almost twenty months, the stateswoman leaves her place to Gabriel Attal. The former minister of national education and youth becomes the youngest prime minister of the fifth republic at only 34 years old. With a focused gaze, both hands clasped over his button-down mid-length black coat, Gabriel Atal pulls out the discretion card. “He goes into the official uniform,” explains Jamil Dakhlia, a media sociologist at the Sorbonne Nouvelle.

On the day after his appointment, during his first official visit to the Pas-de-Calais, Gabriel Attal presented himself again in this all-black guise. A sobering, almost reassuring outline, spreading across a region hit by flooding for the second time in as many weeks. “The combination of a black coat, a white shirt and a midnight blue tie allows for a certain solemnity in a serious context,” adds the author. People Politics (Ed. Bréal, 2015). This needs no further proof. to establish political status (as in many other spheres, by the way), clothing has a role to play. In Attal’s case, it should be synonymous with youth (age is his strength), but also with a certain authority (which he lacks a little more). It is not easy to get rid of the “first-class” image attached to him. “From him comes a very smooth, very wise youth. This character comes across in his physical appearance, which is quite frail and petite,” explains Jamil Dakhlia.

According to Pascal Montfort, head of trend marketing consultancy REC, Gabriel Attal’s style shows that “he is trying to overestimate the politician, he doesn’t accept the look of today’s overly polished businessmen”. The expert (even) draws a parallel with Mark Zuckerberg, 39, known for breaking dress codes in the world of busy men stuck in suits and ties.

Gabriel Attal, the eternally well-born teenager

Gabriel Attal may not be a child of politics, but he is a child of football. In this video, which is now making the rounds on the Internet, and which shows him at the age of 9 as a student at an Alsatian school. gave an interview to France 3, she’s wearing a black T-shirt by Zip It London, a brand that produces retro-print T-shirts. The phrase “I walked all over London” (“I walked all over London”, in French) is written on it, a little larger. “Dad works in the cinema,” he told the camera, “and he told me that if you want to be a famous actor, you should start from the theater,” he tells with rhetorical ease about his well-born child. .

In 2011, while a student at Sciences Po Paris, Gabriel Attal again participated in a TV show with his friends. This time the look is softer. The 22-year-old, who friends call “Gab’s President,” wears a casual black sweater with an open collar, skinny black pants and suede shoes. A look typical of the socialist air of the prime minister, who will pass through the office of the Minister of Health of Francois Hollande next year. Since 2014, he has been a city councilor in Vanves. When some students her age are already wearing three-piece suits, she prefers relaxed shirts and comfortable pants, always ready. “It’s the combination of this very youthful look and very smart outfit that easily makes him look like the best in class,” says Jamil Dakhlia. Or all the negative connotations of bright young people. Today, he tries to move towards a young serious, but also imposing, therefore more strict. We can list him in the role of the executioner, who gives himself power and shows that he imposes.

From the socialist era to the Macronist era

For a long time, Gabriel Attal’s style was casual. We remember his speeches when he joined Emmanuel Macron in 2016 in his “En Marche!” to the movement. The blazer jacket is navy blue but with a comfortable fit. The shirt is denim. The suit pants have been replaced with camel chinos. “But the look remains preppy, it represents a certain golden youth,” adds Jamil Dakhlia. As the years pass and one’s responsibilities evolve, colorful ties and loose shirts will be replaced by a well-tailored suit (most times navy, gray or black) and a sober tie. There is no longer a young politician with a “startup” spirit who makes rookie mistakes like in June 2017, when he came to the National Assembly in jeans and sneakers. “It was funny,” he admitted in an interview Point in March 2023.

Gabriel Atal knows this, the fact that clothing style is a silent word that we give to others.

Pascal Montfort, head of trend marketing consultancy REC

The trend expert adds that the lack of information about the brands adopted by Gabriel Attal speaks volumes. “Historically, prime ministers have been people who wore tailored suits, who wore Weston shoes, Charvet shirts, the lot. brands. Gabriel Atal knows this, the fact that clothing style is a silent word that we give to others. She will ensure that her clothing style is never associated with scandal. We are the opposite of Nicolas Sarkozy’s Rolex or Manuel Valls’ beige suit.” The idea is also to avoid this sequence from the summer of 2023, where the Prime Minister and Olivier Verand were photographed on holiday in Corsica… shirtless and in bathing suits. Attal’s fashion credo ever since, no ostentatiousness, no lack of taste.

Macron’s succession

In this clothing strategy, some see the new prime minister’s desire to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Emmanuel Macron. Like the President of the Republic, Gabriel Atal oscillates between relaxed and casual, depending on the platforms on which he intervenes. In an interview with the media’s TikTok account Fresh In November 2023, he appears sitting on the edge of a table, wearing a gray suit jacket, white shirt, skinny jeans, and a pair of red and white Amiri sneakers. The back is bent, the position is “cold”, the gestures are almost carefree. “He sends a message depending on who he’s talking to and the media he’s talking to,” says Jamil Dakhlia. On social networks, he will want to reflect his audience. It is a small sign that he sends to show that he is close to those he is talking to. He reproduces the same communication tactics as Emmanuel Macron, who also expressed himself with the shirt on social networks. Like today, when Gabriel Attal spoke in a white shirt alongside the influential Thibaut Inschep to communicate Universal National Service.

A strategy that the Prime Minister accepts, but tempers. “He will be careful not to be seen too much in sneakers because the shortcuts will be quick,” explains Pascal Montfort. And continue. “This absence of logos, this evolving but precise sobriety is controlled and observed. He is aware that it is bad form for the majority to show the show expenses. It must be remembered that fashion is a very popular topic among his generation, he grew up with the topic of clothing as a recurring theme. Besides, I’m not sure she needs a stylist, she gives me the impression she dresses herself.”

In addition to clothes, his gestures are also compared to those of Emmanuel Macron, as deciphered by the media. Everyday on December 8. In this sequence from Sept. 5, we see him reenacting the president’s gestures as he places his hands on his hips or crosses his arms. “I don’t know if this reproduction is scientific, it could be unconscious mimicry,” Jamil Dakhlia believes, adding, however. “He owes almost everything to Emmanuel Macron, so he is in line with him. His political challenge will be to show that he is not just a puppet of the president and that he is able to assert his individuality. While the benefit of effortlessly bypassing the obsolescence box. Thanks to his sleek and dynamic appearance, “he can wear it with a tie to a button-down shirt,” emphasizes Pascal Montfort. Through clothes or non-verbal communication, Gabriel Atal, chosen, let’s remember, the favorite political personality of the French, also symbolizes a new kind of ambition: sober, efficient.