Unveiling the Shocking Secrets: City Dress Codes Expose the Untold Story of Culture and Politics!

I remember when I moved from New York to London in the late 1990s, I was struck by how unkempt everyone looked compared to my peers in the Big Apple. New York was synonymous with power dressing – elegant Armani or Calvin Klein suits and a kind of polished, quiet luxury that was epitomized by the late New York. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedywho was actually a publicist for Calvin Klein before marrying John F Kennedy Jr.

No one in Manhattan went out without a super straight blow-dry and a fresh, neutral-colored manicure/pedicure. Sure, it looked professional. But it was also pretty boring. Clothing in New York, then and now, tends to blend in rather than stand out. They are the armor that protects you in a high-stakes careerist world. Things have loosened up since the pandemic, but now, rather than everyone wearing the same sheath dress, everyone wears the same oversized cashmere sweater, performance silk pants, and leather sneakers (in nice neutral colors). on).

London, on the other hand, was a messy kind of creativity. When I arrived in 1998, Alexander McQueen was ascendant, making scarves and armadillo shoes, and Isabella Blow (she of the amazing hats) was the person whose photo you always saw in the fashion pages. Women on the High Street had tousled hair and chipped nail polish, but also interesting and crazy combinations of patterns, proportions and kinds of styles in a single outfit. Standing out rather than fitting in seemed important. And being too serious about it all wasn’t cool.

I’m thinking about dress codes these days, because Washington is going through a sea change on that subject. DC has always been a formal city, the kind of place that can make New York fashion look edgy. Traditional dark-colored suits and ties for men, and “colored toast stockings” and jewel-toned dresses for women were a staple outfit until recently. In Washington, people don’t want to shock, they want to chat. I used to feel edgy just wearing opaque black tights in the Beltway instead of regular tights.

There’s still a lot of that conservative sartorial vibe, but as politics evolve, so does DC style. Consider Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who likes to play sports. sweatshirts and shorts around the Capitol. This is a guy who has a Harvard degree, mind you, but he was mayor of a steel town, and the vibe he clearly wants to project is, “I’m a worker, I’m not part of the Beltway elite. »

A more casual dress code in Washington has actually been endorsed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Rather than banning anyone not wearing a suit from entering the congressional chamber, “Senators can choose what they wear in the Senate.” I will continue to wear a suit. Many young politicians will too, but probably hipper versions of the same thing, as the New York Times recently reported: Young progressives in particular are adopt a more diverse style as a way to communicate inclusiveness and political creativity.

I remember thinking that something very important had changed in Washington DC when I went to do a White House interview with Heather Boushey, a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, about two years ago discovered she was wearing a cute pair of combat boots. Maybe that’s what it takes to fight the political battle these days in Washington. This is perhaps representative of an administration that is making major pro-worker changes in the economy. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.

Alec, my question for you, as Foreign Affairs Editor, is: what does London fashion, and particularly London political fashion, tell us about the UK? And do you think, like me, that cities tell us something about themselves through fashion?

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Alec Russell responds

Rana, I love your idea that, as the FT’s foreign affairs editor, I should consider fashion as part of my rhythm! In truth, fashion has only played a role in my geopolitical analyzes once in several decades of writing about the world, and that was a rather unusual case when I covered Nelson Mandela in the 1990s.

As South Africa’s first democratically elected president, he used fashion brilliantly to further his political goals. He became known for his brightly colored, thigh-length sparkling shirts. They showed how much the country had changed since the austere days of apartheid. Mandela always had a reputation as a snappy dresser, even as an activist in the 1950s. But he also understood that the trick is knowing when to dress casually – and when to dress down. He wore a perfectly tailored dark suit when meeting Queen Elizabeth II during a state visit to Britain in 1996.

So what about political fashion in London? Unfortunately, it’s a much duller affair than Mandela’s South Africa and not much different from Washington’s. If anything, I think you, Rana, are being a bit generous to DC’s traditional style. When I lived there in the early 2000s, the standard outfit for a male political apparatchik was a shapeless blazer, chinos, and brown or gray shoes.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak favors dark, slim suits, as does his fellow financier turned world leader, French President Emmanuel Macron. I suppose this is meant to reflect a clear business approach. This certainly contrasts with the chaotic style of his predecessor Boris Johnson, whose cultured, disheveled look proved a big hit with voters during his rise.

But right now, the nation seems desperate to wait for even the slightest hint of competence from its leaders. My hunch is that he is certainly happy to do without fancy or striking outfits in Number 10 Downing Street if that is part of the price of having organized government. If the polls are good, in a year or a little more, Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labor Party, will be at number 10. He too is a man of sober suits. If he comes to power, he will of course surprise us; new leaders always do it. But I really don’t think he’ll surprise us with what he’s wearing. We live in bleak economic times in Britain and the current dress code will reflect this.

Your reactions

And now a word from our Swampians. . .

In response to “The slow and lingering death of the UN?:
“Expanding the UN Security Council (UNSC) would only risk further paralysis, as we saw during the Cold War and, more recently, from the aggressiveness of the Hermit Kingdom. Furthermore, bringing more members into the UN Security Council would simply transform it into another “group of X” countries, mirroring the G20 in size and scope. For guidance, look no further than the Asean group, which requires unanimity for its communiqués and has been derided by critics as a “talking room” with nothing to show for it. Calling Asean a “chat room” may be a bit harsh, but at least it brings heads of state together for dialogue. I suspect a similar fate awaits the UN. . . » — Nicolas Chia