Finally communicated to the press after five years of arm wrestling, the expense reports of the mayor of Paris mention in particular more than 8800 euros spent on branded clothing between January and September 2017.
“The clothing you wear, especially when you are a woman in political life, is undoubtedly the first message you send to people who meet you, even before they hear you speak. It’s what you stand for, what you give off“: the author of this sentence, daughter of a Spanish seamstress, is none other than the mayor of Paris – who spoke about his relationship to fashion, when lending a few pieces from her wardrobe to the Women Fashion Power exhibition in London. But if Anne Hidalgo’s wardrobe is back in the news, it’s because the mayor of Paris has made public the amount of some of her acquisitions, financed by the budget it receives for its representation costs. In 2017, almost half of this annual envelope paid to him by the City of Paris was devoted to the purchase of clothing from major brands, for an amount of more than 8800 euros.
The communication of Anne Hidalgo’s expense reports and those of her firm was conceded with bad grace by the town hall after a legal battle lasting more than five years, initiated by the journalist Stefan de Vries. To carry out an investigation into obtaining the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in 2017, this independent journalist had asked the City of Paris that these expense reports be communicated to him, considering that these are administrative documents falling under the scope of the law of 1978 obliging the administrations to communicate them to whoever requests them. His first request dates back to January 2018, following which, with the exception of a laconic email, the journalist had no longer received a response from the town hall. The latter then engaged in a legal standoff with him, which was resolved on February 8, 2023, by a decision of the Council of State ordering the municipality to grant his request within one month. It was only at the end of this period that the cabinet of Anne Hidalgo then offered an appointment to the journalist.
The details of the documents communicated, also consulted by the JDD covers train and plane tickets, hotel and restaurant bills relating to Anne Hidalgo’s travels, as well as expense reports covering expenses incurred by the mayor of Paris for her “entertainment expenses“, covered by an annual envelope of 19,720 euros (which is therefore added to other expenses). In 2017, the mayor of Paris used almost all of this amount, and reimbursed the City for the unspent 34.53 euros.
Read alsoWith bad grace, Anne Hidalgo complies with a decision of the Council of State on her expense reports
Dior dresses and Monoprix tights
In detail, between January and September 2017, the mayor of Paris made 17 trips financed by this envelope, for example to Barcelona, Rome, Tokyo… for varying amounts. It was above all the trip to Lima, where the attribution of the Olympic Games to the French capital in 2024 was formalized, which proved to be the most expensive: 10,945.37 euros in total.
Finally, the detail of the mayor’s expense reports mentions the purchase, thanks to the envelope of allowances for representation expenses, of several clothes from major brands, for an amount of more than 8800 euros between January and September 2017. JDD mentions the inventory:the purchase of three Dior dresses (1188, 1840 and 1440 euros), a black Courrèges dress (720 euros), two Diane Von Fürstenberg dresses and their accessories (1660 and 895 euros), or boots from the BHV (320 euros ), red Minelli shoes (109 euros), a navy blue Apostrophe coat (650 euros), sweaters, pants and other blouses. We even find in this inventory tights bought at the Monoprix“.
“The mayor of Paris embodies France abroad, argues his cabinet. She must represent French culture and haute couture, like the first lady or the ministers. But these are not 10,000 euro dresses. In addition, she reuses them“, we want to clarify.
