In its header, the mail solemnly displays the tricolor logo of the National Assembly and the motto of the French Republic. The matter is serious: on July 21, 2022, the deputy Les Républicains (LR) Eric Ciotti wishes to draw the attention of the president of the Palais-Bourbon to a “matter of importance”. Since the beginning of the legislature, he is indignant, the “slackness of dress” of certain deputies “greatly amplified”. No one can, according to him, rejoice in this sorry sloppiness: by ignoring the tie and the suit, the deputies of La France insoumise (LFI) are seriously undermining the institution.
Barely launched, Eric Ciotti’s political and sartorial crusade inspires many “rebellious” elected officials. On behalf of “respect for the people”MP LFI Louis Boyard calls for a ban on outfits “expensive” et « arrogant » of his adversaries, while his female colleagues, as a snub, landed on July 26 at the Palais-Bourbon with colorful ties. To put an end to the quarrel, the Assembly decided, on November 9, 2022, to impose a uniform “neutral, proper, not relaxed nor, a fortiori, neglected” : wearing a jacket is now compulsory, wearing a tie is recommended.
A miserable case of rags? A ridiculous soap opera that evokes the court manners of the France of Louis XIV? Maybe not – or not only: from the Estates General, the controversy unfolds in a republican imagination peopled with great principles and revolutionary symbols – as if something profoundly political was at stake there. Wearing a suit is a ” Mark of respect “ towards institutions, says Eric Ciotti. MPs should look like the ” people “, retort the LFI deputies. THE “without ties” are the heirs of “sans culottes”proclaims Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Diversity of the social world
In Parliament, as in all spheres of social life, dress, it is true, is never neutral. “It is enough to read Roland Barthes to know that clothing is a sign, emphasizes Etienne Ollion, professor of sociology at the Ecole polytechnique. To dress better, to dress less, to dress differently, is to play with symbols – especially in a place like the National Assembly. » Political life, particularly in the “holy of holies” that is the hemicycle of the Palais-Bourbon, is marked by a “intense politicization of appearances”summarized in 2021 the historian Catherine Lanoë in the review Parliaments.
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