Fashion diplomacy. All the greats have done it, check out the diversity* of this list: Julia Gillard, Julie Bishop, Nicola Sturgeon, Theresa May, Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Clinton. It’s apparently very important a world leader’s clothes get interpreted for meaning and allusion. Hell, you don’t have to be in office! Just ask Melania Trump, and now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s fiancee Jodie Haydon. Inspired by the Nine papers’ coverage of a dress she wore during Albanese’s diplomatic trip to China, Crikey has decided to get right into fashion diplomacy:
In a move straight from the royal family’s fashion handbook, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demonstrated he is ready for the dressing demands of being Australia’s overseas representative. Wearing a South Sydney Rabbitohs cap, as he did early in his trip during his walk along Shanghai’s Bund waterfront and again at the Great Wall of China, sent an unmistakable message: “I’m a fan of the rugby league team the South Sydney Rabbitohs,” Albanese’s look told Chinese President Xi Jinping , and indeed, the world. “Also, it’s a bit sunny today.”
Pairing the cap with a dazzling array of polo shirts — navy blue one day, light blue the next — is an obvious indication that he is a man in his early 60s; such shirts are comfortable semi-smart casual that can be worn on a hot day, popular with men of his age.
The fashion footing of Albanese has been assured since he became prime minister in May 2022. Who can forget his bold decision in August 2023 to step out in a colourful, figure-flattering Rio Tinto shirt, his name playfully monogrammed above the right pocket?
Jodie Haydon, who is engaged to the prime minister, and is not an elected official, wore a dress.
(*Exceptions that prove the rule include Boris Johnson, who seemingly went out of his way to look like shit, and Barack Obama, who had the temerity to be US President While Black).
What do you make of Albo’s bold sartorial choices?
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