The first words spoken by President Donald Trump to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrived at the White House on Friday was apparently ribbing him for having come to a formal meeting in athleisure.
President Donald Trump met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the West Wing lobby porte-cochère on Friday morning for talks and reportedly the signing of his critical minerals deal. The meeting of foreign leaders has itself become part of President Trump’s politicking, with Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warmly welcomed on the step on Thursday, but France’s Emmanuel Macron snubbed by not being met at all earlier in the week.
While Zelensky got a personal greeting, he also got a jibe. As the Ukrainian leader stepped out of his motorcade vehicle, President Trump look surprised and immediately pointed at Zelensky’s Torso. As the two men exchanged greetings and shook hands, Trump’s eyeline and body language all made clear to the waiting news cameras that he was talking to Zelensky about his dress, a button-up sweatshirt emblazoned with the device of the government of Ukraine and plain trousers.
A video posted by White House staffer Margo Martin shows President Trump saying, sotto voce: “well look, you’re all dressed up” as he shook Zelensky’s hand. Turning to those press cameras, Trump declared to the press, sardonically, “he’s all dressed up today”.
While most are probably too reserved to say anything about it, Zelensky’s switch from regular global business attire to a combination of semi-military fatigues and olive green athleisure in wartime no matter the location, formality, or context does subvert norms in political dress. Of course, exceptions are often made in wartime: in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, for instance, clothing was rationed and Prime Minister Winston Churchill took to wearing a onesie because he found it practical during air raids, it is said.
But context is key. Even with that 1940s forerunner to modern zero-effort dress to hand, Churchill still tailored his appearance to his audience, donning the military uniforms and even yacht club regalia he was entitled to wear when visiting troops, or a business suit when meeting President Franklin Roosevelt at the White House in 1941.
It isn’t as if there are no suits or ties left in Ukraine after Russian bombing raids. Dmytro Kuleba, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine until Autumn 2024 flew the flag for Ukrainian tailoring abroad during the Russian invasion, never being seen without. His successor, Andrii Sybiha, also stands out as unusual in the Ukrainian government in wearing a suit and tie to work, albeit with less flair than Kuleba.
World war two; President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, 1943. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)