The ‘Fashion Victimisation’ of Zelenskyy

In January 1942 during WW2, when Winston Churchill visited Washington D.C to coordinate the war effort with President Roosevelt, he sported his boiler-suit, a one-piece manual worker style costume he called his ‘siren-suit’.  Afterwards the New York Times reported that Mrs. Roosevelt’s wanted to order such an outfit for the President.  Churchill also wore his siren-suit no less than twice in the presence of President Dwight Eisenhower.

Leaders who dress in their iconic way can honor their own country without insulting another.  Zelenskyy did exactly this.  He wore what he wears across the world, in parliaments and with royalty, and at home, as his wartime garb of choice.

By instructing him to wear a suit, the US Government has ‘fashion victimised’ President Zelenskyy.  It did so under the guise of the domestic dress standards of a country not at war, and undermined Zelenskyy’s freedom to present himself as the leader of a country at war. The President of Ukraine was in fact treated like a candidate in an old-fashioned job interview.

To add hypocrisy to insult, Trump recently hosted Oval Office and cabinet meetings with Elon Musk standing in casual wear while Musk presented significant policies to shake up the US government and its workforce.

Imagine if, in 1942, Roosevelt had mocked Churchill for dressing in his inimitable style, and then berated and bullied him in front of the media before throwing him out of the White House. Imagine if Roosevelt had demanded Churchill’s thanks, accused him of starting WW2, and said Britain would be defeated without American help. 

If the United States had behaved then as it behaved on Friday, perhaps today Trump would be speaking German and Musk would feel more free with his salutes.

About the author. Mark Dixon, Founder of the Moral Rating Agency, the goal of which is to keep companies out of Russia, to get Russia out of Ukraine, Putin out of Russia, and dictatorships out of the world.  Currently, it achieves this by measuring companies’ involvement with Russia under a uniform rating system and then naming and shaming them till they leave.

The editorial team does not always share opinions expressed by the blog authors.