Posted on 03/08/2008 10:19:05 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Outside Edge: Fashion’s black day
By Vanessa Friedman
Published: March 7 2008 18:36 | Last updated: March 7 2008 18:36
When history looks back on that strange phenomenon of the fin de siècle known as “business casual”, it may well cite last Monday as the day the movement died.
That was the moment when Vladimir Putin, the outgoing Russian president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his successor, made a surprise appearance in Red Square in Moscow at a rock concert sporting, respectively, zip-up black nylon and black leather jackets and matching zip-up black polo necks.
The outfits were, presumably, Mr Putin’s and Mr Medvedev’s effort to look like normal, rock concert-going everymen, but all they really looked like was Hollywood stereotypes of ex-KGB agents impersonating regular rock concert-going everymen (for this see David Cronenberg’s recent film, Eastern Promises, about Russian crime lords in London). Given that this was clearly a photo opportunity – private dressing for public consumption – you have to question the efficacy of the public relations gesture.
But then, state leaders’ attempts to show solidarity with their populace by dressing like the guy next door almost never work. Consider Tony Blair’s floral swimming trunks, Bill Clinton’s Hawaiian shirts, George W. Bush’s Crocs-with-socks and Silvio Berlusconi’s bandana, all of which resulted in mirth and derision. The truth is, these men are protected by the suit; it is their instrument for expressing power, achievement and access. It hides their embarrassing idiosyncracies as well as their physical shortcomings.
Anne Hollander, the historian of art and dress, theorises in her book, Sex And Suits, that the suit is actually the closest clothes can come to transforming the body into the Greek ideal, smoothing lines, widening shoulders, narrowing hips. It thus plays favourable sleight of hand with leaders’ figures, bestowing on them a physical stature befitting their position. Without it, their pot bellies and spare tyres are exposed for all to see (unless, of course, they are Nicolas Sarkozy and lucky enough to govern a country where magazines airbrush said tyres out).
But that is not even the biggest problem: taking off the suit also forces presidents and prime ministers into choosing another character to adopt. If they are not playing the “leader of the free world”, they might be playing the “middle-aged guy on the beach/at the rock concert/ on the sailing boat” in order to demonstrate understanding of the middle-aged guys who voted for them.
Hence the resort to clichés such as Hawaiian shirts, leather jackets and Crocs, just as television and film producers do when trying to communicate a socio-cultural type via costume department shorthand. You can imagine the conversation: “Bring on the regular-guy wardrobe!” or “Hey – I need to look cooler and more youthful! Chuck me that bomber jacket!”
Is it not time some spin master realised: yes, you can take the high-ranking politician out of the suit. But if you do, don’t let him out of the house.
The writer is FT fashion editor
 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Dmitry Medvedev make a surprise appearance at a rock concert near Moscow's Red Square on March 2. Western criticism and dozens of opposition arrests in Moscow have overshadowed Medvedev's presidential election triumph to replace Putin. |
Yeah they do all they need is Fedora and trenchcoats LOL!
Don't look it up---what's it mean?
Spooky!
Thanks. Wonder why that phrase wasn’t used? I guess “end of the century” is so yesterday.
More like the KGB guy dressing like one because he is, and doing so publicly because he wants everyone to understand that.
"I'm at a rock concert, I'm supposed to dress normal, but I'm going to dress like this, because I want you to know that, even though I say I'm normal, I want you to know it's just what I say. What I really am is KGB to the core. And it's good for you to know that, even though we are all supposed to pretend that it's really not that way.
“...and I want those idiot reporters to talk about it like it’s bad fashion.”
Hah! That’s too much!!!!
"President Vladimir V. Putin and Dmitri A. Medvedev at a concert in Moscow’s Red Square on election night"
GOD that big Russia vodka bottle Looter guy gave Vlady LOLOLOL!
MAN Looter guy look sharp LOL!
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