Fads and fashions in international diplomacy

Condi in black, Chirac looking stuffy in a suit and the power of native dress.

When Pakistan’s history books were Islamicized in the 1970s and 80s, the country’s founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was portrayed wearing a traditional sherwani instead of his preferred Savile Row suits of a London–trained barrister. It’s fitting, then, that the one–time captain of Oxford University’s cricket team, Imran Khan, now wears similarly traditional kurtas (pajama–style clothing) in an attempt to build street credibility for his self–styled Justice Movement party. Having abandoned his cozy ties to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Khan no doubt hopes his cricket victories will translate onto Pakistan’s political playing field.

Via Arts & Letters Daily.