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Arguments raged in France over who had "won" the war of words in the presidential TV debate. There can be no question who won the style war.
Segolene Royal wore a dark blue skirt and jacket, and a white blouse with high white collar. She looked stunning: part headmistress, part barrister, part mother-of-the bride.
Nicolas Sarkozy wore a dark suit blue shirt and stripey tie. He looked like the manager of a provincial shipping company.
Royal's "look" was something of a surprise. In recent days she has appeared in beautifully tailored, all-white suits, like a vision of purity and toughness; like a Joan of Arc, re-styled for the 21st century.
One of France's foremost style gurus, Vincent Gregoire, said: "During the first round campaign, Mme Royal went through a brief stage of wearing different colours and styles, a black leather jacket, or a bright red suit. But she realised that didn't work for her. She has mostly gone back to her characteristic white." "She's now using it to demonise Sarkozy. It's like she's saying 'I am the light, I am an angel, a pure and fragile woman. He wears black. He is always dark. I am the future'."
It may seem sexist to dwell on the clothes of a woman politician but Segolene Royal has consciously used style as a political weapon. And why not? Female politicians need all the weapons they can find.
Fashion gurus say Royal has compensated for her often plodding campaign by creating a brilliantly balanced visual image: part mumsy, part brisk business woman, part no-nonsense, part chic.
Could these subliminal messages make a difference in the final days? Royal's presidential rival Sarkozy often wears very dark suits and ties, which make him look like a high-class waiter or a pocket-sized Count Dracula. Since many French people are already worried that there might be "something of the night" about Sarkozy, these are puzzling choices.
Royal, 53, used to disguise her femininity behind large glasses and bossy, bright red jackets. In the last two or three years, she has deliberately transformed her appearance She had some work done on her once-prominent teeth. Her stunningly youthful appearance owes a little to mild cosmetic surgery - but only a little. Style gurus and commentators in France say that her greatest triumph has been her choice of wardrobe.
Royal mostly wears "pret-a-porter" clothes from quality high-street. She usually avoids haute couture.
The critics have been impressed by the way that she has danced elegantly through the fashion minefield. She has, they say, created a perfect image for herself as at once modern and stylish and feminine and serious and thrifty.
Vincent Gregoire is manager of "lifestyle trends" for the Nelly Rodi "TrendLab" in Paris, a company that studies social and political changes and advises the fashion industry on the likely tastes of the near future.
He believes Royal has perfectly captured the elusive mood, of the early 21st century.
"She's created a look for herself, a silhouette. It's something she's worked very hard on and yet manages to appear quite natural. She comes over as serious, but also very feminine. Someone who cares for the way she looks, but is not too fussy and buys her clothes within a budget. Someone who is ambitious, but at the same time ordinary," he said.
"It is this 'doubleness', this ambiguity, which I have been watching in Segolene for several years. She has caught exactly what we are telling our clients is the new spirit of the times.
"The 1990s was about ambition, success, hard-things, masculine things. Now the mood has shifted to something softer, more human. People are still ambitious. They still want to get things done. They want to be successful. But they are also more caring. They worry about family things and they worry about the environment. It is this doubleness which Segolene's look captures so well."
The subliminal power of Royal's "silhouette" may not, however, be enough. The polls suggest the decision will go to the managerial Count Dracula rather than the Woman in White.
- INDEPENDENT
