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Francois Hollande, who unveiled his Cabinet led by a bevy of young and stylish Mademoiselles, is threatening to make the French former first lady Carla Bruni a distant memory. Bruni has only been out of the Elysee presidential Palace for a matter of days, the Daily Mail reported. The newly sworn in French President might have been left feeling a little bit overshadowed as many of his new female political colleagues towered over him in high heels. The appointment of nubile young ministers to the cabinet has traditionally been left to the Italians. Not since Berlusconi’s showgirls has a more glamorous group of women been seen in politics. Green party leader Cecile Duflot, now Housing Minister, Aurelie Filipetti, Culture Minister, and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, as Women’s Rights Minister, walked a catwalk of marble steps as they arrived for the first meeting of the new government. Film director Yamina Benguigui, who was named Junior Minister for Francophony and French Living Abroad, arrived in six-inch heels and dark glasses. Moroccan-born Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, in a navy blue trouser suit with black accessories, is seen as one of the up-and-coming stars of the party. Minister for Equality of Territories and Housing, Cecile Duflott, casually dressed in a trench coat with flared jeans, is the only Green leader to have served two consecutive terms and had lobbied to be named as Environment Minister. The new cabinet has 17 female ministers, just as many as there are men, in line with a campaign promise by Hollande. It is the first time that there are as many women as men in a French prime minister’s cabinet. However, only one heavy ministerial portfolio – the justice ministry – went to a woman, Christiane Taubira, a 60-year-old MP from French Guiana . More than 80 percent of French MPs are men, meaning there is only a small pool of experienced women from which Hollande can choose. The new line-up, which could change again after parliamentary elections come to a close on June 17, met for the first time yesterday as Hollande prepared to depart for summits of the G8 group of wealthy countries, and another for NATO, in the United States . The new president's wife Valerie Trierweiler has also brought new glamour to the French political summit. She arrived to see her husband sworn in wearing a black chiffon dress, high heels and white coat.

Carla is history, new Cabinet has a bevy of beauties