It is one of those controversies which agitate the Assembly from time to time.

In the summer of 2017, the "rebellious" deputies arrived at the first session without a tie.

While their then leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon recalls that "sans-culottes" sat in the Assembly, his opponents are annoyed by a "political coup".

But in a Palais Bourbon made up of rites and conventions, the initiative of the "rebellious" borders on the crime of lèse-majesté.

For men, a suit and tie is required.

What to do?

LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on June 28, 2017 at the National Assembly in Paris Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

The deputy LREM François de Rugy, not yet elected to the perch, chooses to authorize the "without tie" to participate in the session.

A tie was not going to derail the entry into the "new world".

The claim is not new.

In 2008, Mr. de Rugy had himself pleaded but without success to put an end to the wearing of the tie.

A few weeks after the LFI episode, the Office of the National Assembly, a sort of administrative council of the lower house, endorsed the right for deputies to sit without a jacket or tie because "no regulatory provision fixes the Members' dress code".

So goodbye "simple", "Prince Albert" or "Windsor" knots?

The wearing of the tie has already seriously declined in the world of work and the Assembly is in unison.

Edouard Philippe (G), then Prime Minister, adjusts his tie on October 24, 2017 at the National Assembly in Paris Eric FEFERBERG AFP / Archives

It is all the easier since its members have been renewed at 75% against the backdrop of the Macronist wave and feminization has progressed a lot (39%).

This renewal therefore also involves clothing.

With more or less happiness.

The Bureau of the Assembly will feel obliged to remind all deputies "of the need hitherto observed to have respectful attire in all circumstances".

"loosening"

This upheaval of dress codes ulcerates the veterans of the Palais Bourbon.

They see in it the illustration of a downgrading of Parliament.

And also a new offense of the "new world" to the old.

Their.

LR deputy Marc Le Fur on January 30, 2018 in Paris Ludovic MARIN AFP / Archives

"I consider that, when you are in Parliament, you should be dressed like everyone else on big days", explains Marc Le Fur (LR).

The absence of a tie, "it's a symptom of relaxation, some did not understand where they were", declares the Breton deputy who chairs the sessions.

"I never entered the hemicycle without a tie or in jeans," recalls socialist David Habib.

"In the hemicycle, I am the deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques. If I do not want to align myself with a code, I do something else".

An LREM deputy pouts: "that's not what has degraded the image of deputies".

Follower of the "suit" jacket and white sneakers combo, Matthieu Orphelin, ex-"walker" who went to the ecologists, judges that "clothing does not make respectability".

Deputy Matthieu Orphelin (2nd G) speaks with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg (C) visiting the National Assembly on June 23, 2019 Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP / Archives

However, he remembers having received angry letters after taking part in his first ceremonies on November 11 without a tie.

The member then understands that this is an important attribute of the panoply of elected officials.

And will now be tie for each ceremony.

The new clothing freedoms irritate even the Elysée.

To the deputies, the President of the Republic let it be known that he wanted to see deputies wearing ties.

Especially when he travels riding.

While the legislature is spinning and a "normalization" of new deputies is beginning, the wearing of a tie is regaining market share.

At the National Assembly in Paris on June 27, 2017 GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP / Archives

"It's an honor to dress up. It's a respect for the institution", pleads Sacha Houlié (LREM).

"And then I imagine my mother's face if I went into the hemicycle in shirt sleeves..."

"Locking people in these codes is trying to keep a presence in the National Assembly that does not come from there," retorts LFI leader Mathilde Panot.

She also judges severely the dress code imposed consciously or not on women politicians: "I realize that I put on a jacket more often so that people can think that I am a deputy".

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