Sn the images of the time, he does not lack pace, the General, when he descends the Champs-Elysées in August 1944. The slow step, the slender silhouette and the meter ninety-four of Charles de Gaulle strapped in his uniform marked the memories.
Fourteen years later, as he prepares to take up the presidency of the Republic, the man of Free France is no longer really slender. He is 67 years old, has had some health problems and his contours are frankly coated. Her plumpness obviously did not escape the cartoonists, particularly those of the chained duckwhose pencil stroke likes to underline the august paunch of the future head of state.
Moreover, for some time now, the General has allowed himself certain liberties with the wearing of the belt which general officers are nevertheless supposed to wear when they appear in public. “He’s put on a lot of weight and he understands that wearing a belt over his uniform is just not going to be possible anymore,” tells the historian Eric Roussel, author of a biography of the founder of the Ve Republic (Charles de Gaulle, Gallimard, 2002).
De Gaulle confined, De Gaulle freed
Also, in order not to risk finding oneself at odds with the military regulations – that would be a shame – de Gaulle inspired a circular from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Published in January 1959, when he was about to take up his duties at the Elysée, it established that henceforth the outing dress of general officers would not include a belt. No more question, also, of these inelegant bellows pockets which weigh down the profile of the high ranking officer. For good measure, this same text replaces the second-class soldier’s greatcoat with a more modern raincoat and authorizes him, in the summer, to swap his boots for low shoes. “Revolution in uniforms”, titre The world of January 16, 1959.
Freed from an accessory that did him little good, the new head of state brigadier general could thus regularize his situation and bring his dress practices into line with the canons of military elegance. During his appearances in army chief’s uniform, on the occasion of the celebration of July 14th or November 11th or the funerals of Churchill (1965) and Eisenhower (1969), he will let his large body float under the uniform without his corpulence being underlined with too much evidence.
“De Gaulle had a real attention to detail and cared a lot about his appearance. The exercise of power requires you to be concerned about the image that you send back and he knew it very well”, emphasizes Eric Roussel. Even if it means making a point of honor to wear, during certain official evenings, the spencer in military navy blue in which he was visibly a little cramped.
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