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True, the two have both dressed down for the camera: G.W.B.'s dynamic entrance aboard an aircraft carrier last May had Republican ladies swooning (and Saturday Night Live's Tina Frey openly wondering whether he'd "stuck a
sock down the front of his jumpsuit"). But J.F.K.'s March 2003 American Vogue layout, which featured Senator Kerry crawling on a beach in a wet suit, had British-born Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, frothing - "The words chic and unique can also be said to apply to Senator John Kerry..." As
insightful as her observation may have been, it was ultimately the Senator's appearance on Jay Leno atop a Harley Davidson, and sporting an
antique-leather bomber jacket and jeans, that got the highest ratings.
But dressing up, up to the West Wing, must now be on the mind of both men. While Governor Schwarzenegger of California was not sure if he was a "metrosexual", when asked directly by the New York Times' Maureen Dowd, it is safe to assume that John Kerry, is, and always has been one. It is not surprising that he exchanged polite repartee in French with his future second wife, the quixotically elegant Teresa Heinz, at an environmental conference in Brazil. Nor is it earth shattering to verify his taste in Saville Row tailored dark suits, powder-blue shirts with French cuffs, worn with sterling links, or his affinity for tangerine-colored silk ties.
And, certainly, his flair has appeal. "Gephardt draws crowds of beefy, gruff men in union jackets," wrote Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News from Iowa, "whereas Kerry's events are full of affluent women in tailored suits."
Well, what would you expect?
Applying the M-word to the present incumbent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, might however, require a quantum leap, though Lisa Lenoir of the Chicago Sun Times did her best. "President George W. Bush steps into the spotlight
looking like a man fresh off the pages of GQ magazine," she wrote on May 6, 2001. "His black cashmere overcoat delicately drapes his shoulders, the blue stripe tie radiates against his white shirt and the suit perfectly fits his fit form."
While Ms. Lenoir was easily won over, Queen Elizabeth seemed not amused by the President's rented black tails and snow-white tie, worn on the occasion of a State Dinner at Buckingham
Palace in November 2003 - she spent most of
the evening reaffirming her respect for his père, a distant relative.
Anyway, President W. Bush seems happiest on his Crawford, Texas ranch, dressing down in denim to clear dead brush, if not golfing in gabardine and a polo shirt. Looking at his official wardrobe, those suits tailored by Chicago-based Oxxford Clothes, one gets the impression that his heart is probably not in it.
Politics aside, the showdown of bone fide Brahmin versus faux-cowboy, both with equally blue blood, may just be beginning.
Who's the best dressed? Let the voters decide.
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