First there was Carla the supermodel, then the singer, then the first lady. Now, coming soon: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy the statue.
Following in the immortalised footsteps of Joan of Arc, General de Gaulle and Marianne – the full-figured, flowing-haired female symbol of the French republic who graces Gallic public buildings – the president's wife is being cast as a 6ft bronze statue.
But the €80,000 effigy, part funded by taxpayers' money, has caused outrage in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, population 30,000.
The idea of putting Bruni-Sarkozy on a pedestal comes courtesy of Jacques JP Martin, the local mayor and a member of Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling right-of-centre UMP party.
Martin says he came up with the idea of Bruni-Sarkozy symbolising a "plumassière" – a female worker from one of the area's former feather factories – to pay tribute to the local Italian community. Bruni-Sarkozy was born in Italy.
More than half the cost is being met out of public funds. A property company is paying the rest.
William Geib, of the opposition Socialist party, told Le Parisien the statue was inappropriate. "It's sad for the women who were employed in this job. Carla Bruni must have seen more ostrich features on the catwalks than in a factory."
Marc Arias, an independent councillor, claimed the council was not told the statue would be modelled on Bruni-Sarkozy. "This small detail was not specified during the budget vote," he said.
A spokesperson for the first lady said suggestions of a personality cult were rubbish. "Carla isn't Joan of Arc or General de Gaulle," she said. "Carla is a former model … she receives numerous artistic requests."
Bruni-Sarkozy has met the sculptor Elisabeth Cibot, whose last major work was a giant figure of Pope Jean-Paul II in Lyon, and authorised her to use her face as a model for the new work.
However, the statue may be out of date even before it is installed. It is due to be unveiled in May around the time of the presidential second-round runoff in which, polls suggest, Nicolas Sarkozy is heading for defeat.
