Cecile Duflot in 2015. Photo: Lemouton Stephane/PA Images. All rights reserved.Almost five years ago, on 17 July 2012, Cécile Duflot approached the microphone inside France’s assemblee nationale – the lower house of parliament. At the time, the Green Party politician was minister of territorial equality and housing and she was about to respond to a question on the urban development of greater Paris.
But, before she could open her mouth, a cacophony of jeering and whistling erupted – not in response to the question, but to the blue-and-white summer dress she was wearing which was knee-length and with sleeves. It was cinched at the waist and lifted ever so slightly – like a salsa dancer’s dress during a tame spin manoeuvre – as she turned to face her colleagues.
“One of [the deputies] even shouted ‘go on, unbutton the dress!’” Duflot says in a new video made as part of the #OpérationRobe ("Operation Dress") campaign launched last week. In 2012, the speaker of the assembly had intervened and demanded his colleagues calm down. But the dress was not forgotten.
