Cherchez La Femme.(on Nicolas Sarkozy's next wife)

Byline: EDITOR: ALEXANDRA KOTUR

FOR THE UNATTACHED PRESIDENT OF FRANCE, WILLIAM NORWICH RECRUITS SOCIAL MANHATTAN TO PLAY MATCHMAKER

In social life there are always a few timely, but safe, conversational gambits that will get people going. Know what they are, and you can dine anywhere. Among the latest is guessing who could, or should, become French president Nicolas Sarkozy' s next first lady. The fearless leader, sans ex-wife Cecilia, had to take his mother to Beijing on a trade-mission trip not long ago!

My first exposure to this hot topic happened while I was attending the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute Gold Medal Gala. Watching Penelope Cruz meet and greet New York society, a friend, rather out of the blue--same blue as the color of Penelope's Oscar de la Renta dress, I imagine--proposed that La Cruz could launch a few thousand ships for Sarkozy.

"That's all anyone or any magazine talks about in Paris now," my friend explained, "the future bride for the president." Although under the impression that a certain, alas married, acquaintance of mine was next in line, and mindful of the public displays of affection between Sarkozy and the model Carla Bruni, never mind. . . . Talk, also known as gossip, is cheap, and cheap is very chic these days, as well as relatively carbon-imprint safe, so let the chattering roll on. Besides, the speculation plays on two levels. When people talk about who could marry Sarkozy, what they are really talking about is who are the most eligible women today, useful information, especially just in time for Valentine's Day.

"He likes tall and leggy, he likes America, so why not an American?" said Michael Kors, preparing for the opening of his new accessories store in SoHo. (The designer recommends his crocodile clutch bags in cheerful anti-winter colors such as pink or green for Valentine's presents.) "How about Zani Gugelmann ?" the designer exclaimed. "She is Swiss and Peruvian, smart, educated in America, and I don't know if she speaks political French, but she certainly speaks shopping French."

Onward to parties for the opening of the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the New York Botanical Garden's Winter Wonderland Ball benefit. Here are some nominees culled along the way, and my apologies if any are otherwise engaged, which reminds me: The artist Cecily Brown, on a list floated at a dinner party given by arts patrons Douglas Cramer and Hugh Bush for Mica Ertegun, recently became engaged to New York ...