He really looks cool in sports clothes, and he’d be cooler still with his hair a bit longer. Why shouldn’t this young and handsome president be cool?
In short, think more Savile Row than Seventh Avenue. The president is the president of the world and has the right to dress internationally—as does the first lady. So why not throw in a bit of Kiton, Zegna, Paul Smith, Anderson & Sheppard or Richard James?
Face it, first ladies aren’t the only ones who can have fashion allure. Think of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who even sitting down looked like a grand monsieur, with his cigarette holder or a scarf wrapped around his neck. Or John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, with their sportif American elegance as they played touch football in Hyannis Port. And we should be proud that America has the icon of all icons—the cowboy. Think of Ronald Reagan on horseback with his cowboy hat, or in his brown suit, dashing in that Hollywood way.
Mark Twain once said: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” In most cases, that holds true (and, frankly, there are no politicians of any party I want to see naked). But it’s a new day and these are desperate times, and in le Président Barack Obama’s case, he should make the clothes and not let the clothes make him. Enough of doomsday: We need him to cheer us up.
