Next month marks the final run-off in Afghanistan’s presidential election. Candidates are focusing on predictably heavy issues like rebuilding the war-torn country, providing security, cutting corruption, and generally cementing relations with other countries.
But like any election, the physical appearance of candidates can play a more-than-significant role. And in Afghanistan’s case? The style stakes are sky-high to fill the shoes of a president who designer Tom Ford once called “the chicest man on the planet.”
Yes, Hamid Karzai may be a bitterly divisive leader who increasingly appears out of his mind, but apparently the man. can. dress. From immaculate silk overcoats, to well-structured tunics and luxe fur caps (typically made from the fur of fetal lambs, no less), the leader of a previously-fashion forward country doesn’t mind dropping some coin on his appearance. One Kabul-based tailor affirmed his view that Karzai may be “the most stylish leader in the world. In all seriousness, nobody can be like him.”
So now the heat is on for the current competitors—former Foreign Minister and mujahedeen commander Abdullah Abullah (nope, I’m not being racist, that’s literally his name), and former World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani—to out-chic each other as they try to win Afghan hearts and minds. The two have reportedly put on a fashion show during their campaigns, wearing dozens of styles and colors based on the location of their speeches: Snazzy bright overcoats in the ethnically-Uzbek north, formal turbans in more rural areas, and on-trend bankers’ suits in cosmopolitan Kabul. One observing anthropologist surmised that “they are trying to out-native each other. Like, ‘I’m more Afghan than you.’”
Granted, some Afghans scoff at the notion that fine-tailoring should come into play for their top leader. One 17-year-old student (reportedly wearing sunglasses, skinny jeans and a leather satchel) claimed that “clothes are not going to influence how we think. Our generation is not illiterate. Neither candidate can fool us.”
Still, many other citizens seem to take great pride in the mosaic of traditional and modern styles the country exhibits, and appreciates their leaders’ abilities to show off some style charisma.
We can only hope some intrepid reporter will be on stand-by to interview Tom Ford about the winner’s aesthetic as soon as results are in. After all, the Taliban seems here to stay, but fashion domination is fleeting.
Image: Wikicommons.org.
