Coming out of his car in Washington, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was met by Donald Trump. And, shaking his hand, Trump said, “You’re all dressed up today.” This was the first of many sharp-elbowed mentions of what Zelenskyy would hear about his outfit that day, capped off by an abrupt question mark hung over his choices in fashion.
"Where's your suit?" Conservative cable channel Real America's Voice journalist Brian Glenn asked Zelenskyy. “You’re one of the highest people in the country, and you make a decision not to wear it.”
The questions did not end there. “Do you own a suit?” Glenn continued, insisting, “Many Americans are troubled by your level of disrespect for the dignity associated with this position.
Saying, “I will wear a suit after this war is over,” President Zelenskyy answered in a few words. “Costume” is from ‘kostyum’ which is the Ukrainian word for suit.
The Ukrainian president since trips to get military and financial help for his nation from many countries President of Ukraine has decided to keep away from the conventional dressing associated with heads of state. Rather than always showing up in a suit and tie and shiny black, formal shoes, Zelenskyy prefers to be dressed in plain sweatshirts usually in black or olive green with the Ukrainian trident emblem, cargo pants, and appropriate work boots.
This garment choice has stayed the same since the onset of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Only, Zelenskyy, on his maiden voyage to the United States post the full-scale invasion by a foreign power, addressed Congress wearing an olive green sweater, now one of his signature looks. He has sported this attire for state visits, TV interviews, and meeting soldiers at the front and further line. It has also stayed the same during talks with ‘foreign leaders’, if you can call them that and with other participants while he had gone out to sing the National Anthem.
Zelenskyy's role as a leader even extends to his clothing – everything he does is intentional. His style of dressing has indeed changed since the outbreak of the war. The president, who was always shaving, has had a full-grown beard for several years now, and just before the large scale invasion, he was in a similar type of dressing as other global leaders.
“This is the reality at present. Of course, our president will be a reflection of that,” says Agatha Gorski, co-founder of the Shadows Project, a nonprofit brand of creative consultancy preserving and promoting Ukrainian culture. “When you look at people on the streets in Kyiv, you see this,” she adds.
“It creates a story. A primordial story that we are in opposition and this is our truth.”
Zelenskyy is certainly the first not to wear conventional war a soldier uniform for going to war on behalf of his country as a global leader. Indeed, Winston Churchill famously appeared at White House attired in a siren suit-an all-in-one piece that was originally fashioned for use inside an air raid shelter. Yet, unlike Churchill, Zelenskyy has not been able to divorce this practical outfit from his public persona opting not to dress for aloofness in ‘serious’ formal garments for diplomatic occasions, and allowing his message regarding the state of his country to speak for itself.
Military costume denotes potency and is worn not only by leaders during a state of war but by those wishing to exude accomplishment, power, and authority. When military suits have been worn by army generals, honored servicemen, and politicians, the costume gives weight to those who don it in terms of credibility and experience.
His general look seems like a uniform, though not what the Ukrainian troops wear in active service. There are no medals that would show the awards he has received after battle. Rather, his clothing gives off a feeling of a soldier on furlough, the average civil representative of his nation.
"Our president is who we are and what we stand for around the world, and his clothing plays into that story as a personal brand that represents not just him but our country as well," Gorski informed Euronews Culture.
Gorski felt the interrogation about his dress did not only confine to what was being worn in the Oval Office. She says that the questioning “mocks soldiers fighting for the survival of their country, and the reality that their leader decides to stand with them.”
She claims the real meaning of Zelenskyy’s decisions is much more important. “I think Zelenskyy understands this better than anyone, because he’s been a comedian and actor,” she said. “He knows first hand what it means to put on a costume and be somebody else.
Ukrainian leader isn’t only receiving the heat for his sense of style, but his wife, Olena Zelenska, has been put under the radar for her fashionable picks too. The online sphere was ignited by the couple’s choice to do a Vogue photoshoot in 2022.
Lauren Boebert, a Republican Party politician, said, “Zelenskyy refers to a group of our citizens as ‘a bunch of fools.”
Apart from the accusation of posing for pictures, others think that with the prevailing situation of war, Zelenska should not have suited herself up in elegant garments.
It's unconventional; Ukrainians’ good portion multiple them see it as a show of unity and a significant change in political standards.
"I think it is because he represents a form of new leadership, that is youth and charismatic,” Gorski states. “What we’re getting to is leadership doesn’t have to particularly be that traditional formal kind of look.
