Rachida’s Reckless Riches
France’s Minister of Culture, is embroiled in a fresh scandal, €400K worth of undisclosed luxury jewelry. But, as ever, this isn’t her first run-in with controversy over her lavish lifestyle
Rachida Dati is many things: France’s former Minister of Justice, current Minister of Culture, daughter of immigrants, bling connoisseur, and now, once again, France’s most couture catastrophe. The woman has long been at the center of every fashion-related political firestorm since the Hermès scarf affair of 2015. This time however we’re not talking silk. We’re talking stones. And gold. And watches that cost more than your rent for the next five years.
Let’s not be coy: according to Libération, Madame Dati forgot to declare €420,000 worth of jewelry to the HATVP, France’s High Authority for Transparency in Public Life. That’s not a typo. That’s nearly half a million euros in bling conveniently missing from her mandatory financial disclosure.
Rachida’s Registry (as curated by Libé):
Chopard Watch – €32,000
Cartier Bracelet – €19,800
Buccellati Ring – €11,600
Assorted baubles “below the €10K threshold” – €80,000+
Discretion – Not included
Subtotal: Half a million euros of “oops, I forgot.”
But long before she was accessorizing her financial disclosures with Chopard, Dati had already mastered the art of now you see it, now you don't with jewelry, that is. Flashback to November 2008: Le Figaro runs a front-page photo of then Justice Minister Dati. All is business as usual until the fashion girlies (and a few very online magistrates) clock that something’s… off. Specifically, her finger. Specifically, what’s not on it.
The image had been digitally retouched to erase a Chaumet “Liens” ring, white gold, diamonds, retailing for €15,600 at the time. The newspaper later admitted it didn’t want the glint of high jewelry to distract from the real story: a wave of magistrate protests. (Because nothing says “justice reform” like erasing a five-figure accessory to keep the narrative tidy.)
And yet, Dati’s lawyers claim she’s in “perfectly good standing” with her reporting obligations. Perfectly! As if the mere existence of a literal dragon’s hoard of high jewelry under her roof is somehow a private matter, not worth bothering the democratic public with. Who among us hasn’t forgotten about a few dozen items from Place Vendôme that just happen to exceed the GDP of a small nation?
But what makes this whole thing chef’s kiss is that this isn’t Dati’s first pas de deux with financial scandal dressed in French finery. She’s practically a veteran in the art of luxury-induced political whiplash. Let’s take it back to 2015, when the Le Point accused her of billing nearly €9,000 in Hermès scarves and luxury clothing to the Ministry of Justice. She defended herself with the fervor of a woman scorned on Real Housewives of Neuilly-sur-Seine, railing against a system that — according to her — would never treat a left-wing woman of color the same way. “If I were called Christiane Taubira or Najat Vallaud-Belkacem and on the left, I’d be defended,” she tweeted, defiantly.
Was her name actually in the Court of Auditors’ report? No. Did the public care? Also no. Because nothing screams Marie Antoinette energy quite like charging Hermès scarves to the Ministry of Justice and then getting righteously indignant when someone calls you out.
Fast forward to today, and Rachida has simply swapped her silk accessories for diamonds. Elevated the drama. Evolved the scandal. Like a Pokémon, but in Louboutin.
This is also not the only legal heat she’s catching. Dati is currently under indictment for corruption over a cozy little arrangement with RNBV, a Renault-Nissan subsidiary, from which she allegedly received €900,000 between 2010 and 2012 while simultaneously serving as a Member of the European Parliament. That’s €300K a year for “consulting work” which prosecutors allege was more about backdoor lobbying than legal expertise. Dati insists she did nothing wrong. But the timing, the money, the company…it’s all so… Château Dati-core.
Now let’s zoom out. What does it say about a government that the person in charge of France’s cultural legacy, the museums, the art, the patrimoine, is casually hoarding luxury jewelry like Smaug in Saint-Germain-des-Prés? France is in the middle of a cultural funding crisis. Museum staff are striking, small arts organizations are gasping for air, and regional theaters are being gutted. Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture is out here gliding into the Élysée Palace dripped down in Chopard.
You could say she is culture. She embodies luxury. But there’s a fine line between representing France’s legacy of elegance and embodying the exact kind of Versailles-core excess that sparked a revolution.
Let’s not forget the optics. While many politicians aim for understated elegance, Macron and his signature navy suits, Anne Hidalgo in her perfectly boring blazers , Dati is performing politics like it’s Paris Fashion Week. Which, to be fair, is one of her passions. Her Ministry’s rolling out fashion initiatives like a Villa Médicis residency (10K for a young designer with Institut Français de la Mode backing), a 20K Stage Costume Scholarship with Théâtre national de Chaillot, a 10K/year Fashion Heritage Scholarship for researchers, a 10K/year fashion innovation scholarship, and a 200K “fashion” call to boost young French talent internationally.
So, where do we go from here? Will the HATVP press charges? Will Dati tweet another firestorm blaming it all on sexism and racism? Will she flash her Buccellati ring to the paparazzi on the way to work with a knowing smirk? All of the above feel possible.
And yet, maybe this is exactly the kind of Minister of Culture France deserves in 2025: not a steward of heritage, but a main character, full of contradiction, glitz, controversy, and pure social media spectacle. A woman who thinks that the ultimate act of defiance is not voting against austerity, but wearing €500K worth of undeclared jewelry on the steps of the Assemblée Nationale.
The question is: will the fashion victim survive her latest fashion crime?
Or, as she might put it:
“If they want to describe me as a chicken thief, an Arab, a zoubida… fine. But at least I’m a zoubida in custom Chopard.”
Touché.
I support women’s wrongs