NEW YORK:

Nicolas Sarkozy, the newly elected president of France, is now rubbing well-tailored shoulders with Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney, at least among this year’s Vanity Fair

best-dressed list.

“Nicolas Sarkozy is a world-class dresser. He’s dashing, manly and romantic, with a very appealing sense of humour and ease,” the magazine’s special correspondent, Amy Fine-Collins, says in the September issue.

“We like the Prada suit he wore to his inauguration, and we wouldn’t change a thing about his wardrobe — not even his jogging attire.”

The magazine’s 68th annual list also sees retired star Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, American rocker Lenny Kravitz and filmmaker Sofia Coppola honoured for their sartorial elegance.

Among the couples on the 2007 International Best-Dressed List were Hollywood leading couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who featured along with former England captain David Beckham and his pop star wife Victoria, aka Posh Spice. While Beckham has appeared on the list before, it was the first time the pair had appeared as a couple.

“Beckham, like his wife, has a body made for clothes, and of course looks wonderful even dressed in nothing but his tattoos. Posh and Becks are each other’s best accessories,” Fine-Collins said.

Other notables include actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic Party presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and Bee Shaffer, daughter of Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Another second-generation celebrity — Ivanka Trump, daughter of real-estate mogul Donald Trump — made the list along with US actress Renee Zellweger and British actor Richard Grant.

The list appears in the magazine’s latest issue, due out on August 1. — AFP