“Worldleaderwear” – a brief study

posted in: Style advice | 4

What is happening to our male leaders? Here are Cameron and Obama, together last week. Are they morphing into one and the same person? Their suits, shirts and ties are almost identical.(Thank you Karine, for bringing this to my attention). This dark navy suit seems to be only available in slim fit and slightly chunkier, to wear with a pure white cotton, classic collar shirt, and a mid blue tie will look nice (conservative, but caring). Americans have to wear lapel badges (which ruins the look if you ask me) but otherwise twins! They also have the same posture and facial expressions – firm and forward-looking (is that a mirror between them?)

Obama and Cameron (or Barak and David)
Obama and Cameron (or Barak and David)

I thought for a moment the uniform might be changing. Below is a delightful photograph from the G8 summit about six months ago. Nowadays it doesn’t matter if you are American, Russian, French, Japanese or even Belgian. You are obliged to take your tie off and go on a mass walk.  If you did not know what it was this is “relaxed business” wear. The trousers may be suit pants, but not from this suit. Two of these fellows have lighter trousers but all the others have the same clothes. Especially important is the fact that the  jacket must be very dark blue (Putin didn’t get the memo). The shirt must be white or very light pastel. Black leather shoes with a hint of informal.  Rimless glasses. And the pin badge.  There is one woman in the photograph, but sadly she is blending in with the green, green grass of home. (Can you spot Angela?) Obama leads. The Russian looks uncomfortable and is walking along like a reluctant child on a school outing.

World leaders in NI for g15 summit
World leaders in NI for g15 summit

Global power: (L-R) European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Barack Obama, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, France’s President Francois Hollande, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Italy’s Prime Minister Enrico Letta and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy at the G8 Summit at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland

Even if you wear “relaxed business” wear, it doesn’t mean you are actually relaxed, as this picture proves. Here we have two super powers negotiating. Is Mr Putin looking at his imaginary phone?

Putin and Obama
Obama and Putin

 

 

 

4 Responses

  1. Karine

    School uniforms.
    Or maybe we could compare this to sports. “Look, I’m dressed like you, we’re in the same team, aren’t we ?”
    Putin prefers to play solo.
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

  2. ejvc

    Your series on politicians and political wear is always entertaining. I like that you left Cameron out of your world leaders caption, too. He’ll soon be gone (at least I hope so). Shinzo Abe actually looks like he’s having fun, too.

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