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You can take the Montrealer to Ottawa, you can lead her to a big red velvet chair. But you can't take the cool out of the woman.

When Governor-General Michaëlle Jean ascended to office last September, her bio pics from her days as a CBC television journalist were at odds with the suddenly formal new Queen's representative. The chic, bohemian, boot-wearing, sexy, wild-afro dynamo was suddenly strapped into prim skirtsuits, a mumsy hairdo and little hats, hands folded demurely in lap.

Of course, that big red chair in the Senate Chambers on Parliament Hill would whup the rebellious strain out of the most gregarious personality. But fear not, the woman is fighting back.

Indeed, Michaëlle Jean may be the most exciting style news in deadly dull, buckled-up Ottawa since Trudeau last flashed his cape.

The fashion corps was duly excited that a hot young black woman, a journalist and a yummy mum (Jean is 48, and married to provocateur/documentary filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond; they have a seven-year-old daughter, Marie-Eden) was being appointed G-G.

I always thought Adrienne Clarkson styled up the office nicely in her avant-garde confections. But here was Jean, a live one, ready to crank up the fashion factor at Canada's official functions. Aren't we at a point in the evolution of the professional female that a woman can bridge authority and propriety with a touch of sex appeal?

And we're happy to report, that gusto is breaking through, more so when Jean is among the people than when presiding over official duties. Just this week, she rocked a slim, fitted griege military-style suit while inspecting The Ceremonial Guard on Parliament Hill. The ensemble was prepared specially for her by Marie Doodle (we are not making this up), a Quebec City-based designer.

Rudyard Griffiths is executive director of the Dominion Institute in Toronto, an organization devoted to bigging up Canada. Though the dapper Griffiths is often described as a young fogey himself, he's had an up-close view of the recent run of style-forward female G-Gs.

"Michaëlle Jean is a Cinderella story. The Governor-General's office is the ultimate official avatar of federal and constitutional process. It's like Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Ms. Jean goes to Ottawa. Except she has a much better sense of style than Jimmy Stewart."

Unlike Clarkson, who, Griffiths points out, had served as Consul-General in Paris among her big-gun résumé items, "Jean has never had to work her way around officialdom."

Jean, he says, "is less comfortable public speaking, taking on the formal persona. When she gets into crowds, though, she has this innate ability to connect." After all, style requires substance underneath the seams.

The G-G loves clothes, and has taken her role as ambassador of Canadian, and particularly Québécois design talent, very seriously. She has a natural grace, height and a trim figure to work with. The Globe's senior political writer in Ottawa, Jane Taber, observes that Jean "walks like someone who has studied ballet."

Randy Mylyk, Jean's senior communications advisor, has to remind himself to figure out what his boss is wearing to any given event. Such is the new world of tabloid-driven fascination with labels.

"She is a woman of slim silhouette," he allows. "And showing her femininity is also important to her." That said, Mylyk observes that the G-G tailors her clothing choices to each occasion. "She is especially relaxed in her look when she hosts events with children."

But kids are not reviewing photo ops. Jean has taken a few hits for her early misses. She apparently patronizes Maxime of Ottawa for her millinery needs. The Toronto Star's fashion editor, Bernadette Morra, wrote that a hat she wore home to Haiti to attend the inauguration of the new president made her look "like Mother Goose at Easter mass."

A bit harsh, given that she looked great for a lot of the rest of that trip, working a soft floral dress that made her glow on the podium. But point taken: The wrong hat is the worst sartorial fault one can commit. And as David Clemmer, the host of Canada's Style by Jury television show points out, "Does she need the hat? It's so Queen. It's aging A more sleek, un-hat look gets my vote. She is already balancing those medals, and the big red chair, she has to tone down the accessories"

And we agree that there seems to be a number of personalities fighting in her closet. She is known to wear Quebec designers Michel Desjardins, Marie Saint Pierre, Philippe Dubuc, Yves Jean Lacasse, Marissa Minicucci, Zenobia, Nadya Toto and Mariouche Gagné, who does the Harricana recycled-fur line. She has also worn Jefferson Sukhoo (which has the dubious honour of dressing Marlen Cowpland).

There have been rumours in the past that designers who spoke to the media about the G-G would be dropped from her list of warrants. But since the G-G was formerly a journalist, we just can't believe that.

Nonetheless, her favourites had no juice to share. They all report that she does not see dressing as a chore. She "loves clothes, loves shopping," says Dubuc. In fact, she found Gagné while at a log cabin spa in the woods north of Montreal. "She saw my clothes on a friend of mine, got my cell number and called me directly," says Gagné.

The Harricana showroom sent a big box of the current season to her on vacation, for her to select items she wanted to buy. She reportedly liked the recycled fur sweaters, the recycled silks (from coat linings) and the scarves.

Dubuc has known her longer, and he likes her in the more tailored pieces. In fact, one of Jean's big fashion winners was the day suit she wore Oct. 1, when she ascended to office: a black raw-edged jacket and a long skirt with deep slits front and back, so narrow it looked like pants, with a crisp white shirt underneath.

Another shop she has frequented since before she became a big shot is Marie Saint Pierre on Montreal's Mountain Street. "She comes right to the shop," says manager Sylvie Jarry. "She likes the dresses. And the crinkle. I think she looks beautiful in orange, it's particularly good for her skin tone. And red. She chooses gala pieces with us."

Saint Pierre, Dubuc and Gagné all serve up a certain avant-garde but simple style. It is when Jean gets into official, chair-sitting mode that she gets into trouble.

"It's an accessory she doesn't wear. But a big red chair is very restrictive" says Clemmer. Too many different designers mean too many versions of Jean for the public to process. "It's a bit of a patchwork quilt. Each square may be beautiful individually, but together, the images are fighting each other. Who does she want to be?"

And as for that hair? Hmmm, we'd say dump Merio Lunardi, the Ottawa tresser. She still looks pretty, but we think the straighter look adds years to her age. Toronto's black hair celebrity dresser, Adrian Carew of Hair 2 on Scollard, agrees. "She's gone for the appropriate look. I'd love to change that up a lot. A little sleeker. I'd add more curl to soften it, make it less madame. And I'd deepen the brown, with a semi-permanent rinse, to make it look fuller, richer."

"She's young and gorgeous and she's got a great job," Clemmer sums up. "Why can't there be a little Sex and the City chic in the Governor-General's office? It's 2006"

Happy Canada Day.