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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's controversial Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance didn't just involve a debate over geopolitics. It also sparked a debate about dress.
"Why don't you wear a suit?" asked Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the conservative network Real America's Voice, drawing a smile from Vance. "You're at the highest level of office in this country and you refuse to wear a suit," he continued.
But criticism of Zelensky's lack of traditional tie-and-jacket attire misses an obvious question: Why does he dress like this?
As it turns out, his attire – like the one he wore in the Oval Office – is part of a growing visual shift in Ukraine, marked by the impact of the war on the clothing industry.
"Clothes are more than clothes, they are part of a culture of people who are involved in this war," says Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian journalist who has covered the war, and who writes for the Kyiv Post and The Kyiv Independent.
“Zelensky’s attire sends a soft, anti-elitist message. When he meets with prominent figures and agents of power, his attire raises the question: what are you for? Are you for saving lives, or are you for ornate protocols? Even when he meets with royalty, he dresses in a way that represents the average Ukrainian involved in this war effort. So it’s a message to say: ‘I have come to the corners of power as a representative of my humble people,’” Ponomarenko says.
He then reveals that Zelensky prefers to wear clothes from Ukrainian brands, such as M-TAC.
“The thing about M-TAC is that they make clothes that can also be considered casual, like sweatshirts and hoodies. But some of these clothes are also things you would wear in war zones. These are the same clothes you would wear with body armor and a military combat jacket. When I was working as a war reporter, I had a sweater that was very close to what Zelenskyy was wearing during that meeting. I also had a police-style jacket with lots of pockets. Both of these are things I wear under my armor. There are a million variations on how someone could put together an outfit for a war zone. What Zelensky wore could easily have been worn by someone in the military,” the journalist reveals.
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