I've looked at a lot of photographs and it's my opinion that Republican candidates have a more uniform look than their opposition across the aisle. Black oxfords, blue suits with the sleeves cut too long to show shirt cuff, white shirts, red or blue ties and flag lapel pins appear to constitute the uniform of the Presidential candidate in 2008. And that's too bad because we've had some Republican Presidents these past fifty years who could teach these guys a thing or two. For example, here's Ronald Reagan wearing white tie a lot more elegantly than President Bush did recently.
I give Rudy Giuliani props for seeming more comfortable in black tie than the other candidates. At least, he's photographed in it more often, and in those photos he's put together reasonably well. But his day to day look is the same old same old. At least add a white pocket square!
Fred Dalton Thompson cuts a Presidential figure, but the clothes don't demonstrate much leadership. His sleeves need shortening and there's no pocket handkerchief.
Then there is Mitt Romney who, as a former governor of Massachusetts, has apparently been influenced to adopt John Kerry's style of dress. He spices up his otherwise boring look with Vineyard Vines style neckties and could take it up another notch with a touch of white at his breast pocket.
Finally, consider John McCain, another man we can respect for his accomplishments if not his dress. In this photo, the jacket body and sleeves are too long, the necktie is tied too long and the shirt collar does not stand high enough above his jacket.
Overall, the Republican Presidential candidates dress is undistinguished. We'll see how the Democrats fare in the next installment of this series.
Overall, the Republican Presidential candidates dress is undistinguished. We'll see how the Democrats fare in the next installment of this series.
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4 comments:
May I suggest rather than just criticize the candidates, you may want to suggest how each candidate could improve their look; you did it a little for Mccain but not for the other candidates. For example, what should Fred Thompson do to show some style while also allowing him to look presidential? What type or color of suit, tie or shirt should he wear?
It's remarkable how often each of these men is photographed wearing the same style clothing in the same colors and with the same flaws. I suspect there is a pollster somewhere who has established that long jacket sleeves are worth an additional 3 points in the polls, and that white linen pocket squares cost 2 percent of the vote.
Will: The wardrobe for a politican is unfortunately very plain & conservative. In fact, if you or I wanted to run for office all we would need to buy would be one navy & one charcoal suit, one white & one light blue shirt & one red tie & one blue tie.
Well dressed men find that level of conservatism boring as well as unnecessary. Some of the current candidates from the other party do a bit better. It would not be difficult to be well dressed without giving offense to the voters.
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