May Day fashion parade
Look, you all know by now that I have a thing about appropriate clothing, and I do try to control myself not to appear unduly obsessed. But really, there are limits.
Look at this line-up of leadership hopefuls on May Day, for example. Not to put too fine a point on it, what in heaven’s name do some of these people think they’re wearing? The only ones who have followed the rule that you should dress for the job you want and not for the job you have are George Abela, who got it perfectly right with a dark suit, dark shoes and plain tie, and Michael Falzon – except that a dark suit would have been a much better choice than a pale one.
Then we have Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, wearing a cheap black trouser-suit from the 1980s – totally out of fashion, devoid of style and completely unflattering – with a red scoop-neck top that doesn’t exactly harmonise with her jacket-lapels (pavri), nothing round her neck, and what appear to be flip-flops. She’s on the short side, so they might very well have a heel attached, in which case we will have to call them thong-sandals. Whatever they are, they are completely unsuitable because (1) they don’t chime with the 1980s suit and (2) bare toes at a May Day parade are a no-no for somebody seeking to become party leader and prime minister.
Then we have Joseph Muscat, obviously thinking he’s hip and that he’s rocking an edgy look. He seems to have taken his own famous advice on board: that the more important you are, the more casually you can dress. Yes, I know he’s wrong, so don’t all rush at me at once. Dressing inappropriately may be possible when you’re important, but it remains atrocious manners all the same, which is why, for example, the president of the United States or Queen Elizabeth I would never have turned up at a formal ceremony at which the head of state was present wearing casual garb, as Roberto Benigni did in Malta. If you do something like that, it doesn’t reveal your significance and importance, but your lack of good breeding. Essentially, what you are saying is: I am more important than you are. I am even more important than your president. Therefore he turns up in a suit, but I don’t have to do so.
But back to Muscat, who’s rocking the edgy look (he thinks). So he’s gone for an open-necked shirt. Fine, but he needs to be told how to wear it. So here goes: if you’re going to opt for separates rather than a suit, make sure that the separates really do look separate. If they are as close in tone as what you’re wearing in this picture, Joseph, you end up looking as though you pulled out what you thought was a suit at 6am when you couldn’t see straight.
As for those brown shoes – oh God. Oh God. Oh God again. What is it with Joseph and Jason and their brown shoes? There is one very important reason, apart from the dictates of style and the male sartorial code, why you should never wear brown shoes with black trousers especially if you have short legs: they make your legs look even shorter. Black shoes with black trousers create an uninterrupted visual line from hip to toe. Brown shoes with black trousers chop your legs off at the ankle and emphasise their lack of length.
Now for Evarist – what is he? Tal-Muzew? All he needs is one of those little badges at his neck and we’ll all start snatching our children away from him (that was a joke, before the obsessed begin to write in). Seriously though, I did say that he reminds me of a nun when he speaks on television, now here he is, dressed as a priest or some kind of lay religious person in at least three shades of black and charcoal. What a mess.
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What about Ev?
[Moderator – The full post is back. We had some trouble with a Word feature called ‘hidden text’, which is similar to having a Labour Elve (sic) living inside your computer. Sorry about that.]
OK. For starters, my usual quip, according to my friend Sally. “Never trust a man in brown shoes”!!….and guess who’s wearing them again. Yep the good old poodle.
But I must tell you this Daph, guess who was wearing a light coloured suit and striped tie, at the one and only State funeral this century, …good old Jase.
For goodness sake man, have some respect. As always most of you just cannot get it right, can you, …ever!
This is not fair Daphne; these guys are all out to make your job so much easier !
@ DCG
Wanna bet you still gonna get it on the neck for the Musew crack?
BTW, how could you miss commenting on our Joseph’s inane grin? Maybe the shoes were to blame :D
@Mod
Thanks for the rest of the article
@DCG
Pity Jason’s not in the photo. I would have appreciated your comments.
Quality!
(I sense a temporary sigh of relief within the MLP camp… “Ghall-inqas, illum fuq il-hwejjeg biss kitbet”…!)
you should have seen joe mifsud {ta bla agenda} daphne
Lisa, got any pics?
Why such an article could ever be of any public interest is beyond me.
It is neither comic nor cynic. I find it more interesting watching paint dry then reading such writings.
Anyone with minimum intelligence can understand my message.
[Moderator – Have fun with your paint.]
Just a flash of lightening ………….
Maybe I am mistaken in my previous post and the article might be comical for some and cynical for others.LOL.
I dont care much on the sartorial tastes of the contestants per se. I care much more about what it says about their suitability for leadership. So Evarist and MLCP dont even get to the starting line of the suitability test. Joseph Muscat thinks he can smile his way to anything without having given us one single iota of proof of his leadership qualities. What exactly has the man decided so far? Which organisations has he turned around tru his leadership skills? Michael Falzon has yet to discoiver how to smile. You don’t have to do it all the time like Muscat but you have to know how to smile.
George Abela has natural leadership skills. But the magna tal-partit is busy blocking him in his quest. The latest fashion is denying what Abela has NOT said. First we had George Vella calling Abela a liar about informal disucssion for unfreezing Labour’s EU position. George Vella was not mentioned as invlved in these discussions so how he can categorically declare they have not happened is incredible.
Now we have Mangion telling us that none of the members of the administartion approached Abela with the presidency offer, Abela said he was approached by an influential member within Labour not by a member of the administration. Does Mangion think there are no influential members who are not in the administration?
Surely we ought to know how such offers are made. They are never made directly between top rank officials. Intermediaries are used and all without prejudice i.e. if you do’t accept I’ll deny I ever made the offer. It does not mean it never happened. Abela is a man of integrity and he would not have said if it was untrue. Probably it would have been unthinkable!
It looks that Labour feel comfortable in Oppositon.
@ moderator … At least now I know you do have a sense of humour.LOL.
@ Daphne and moderator
What about having a discussion on current events that really are of public interests?
I give you a good example: Gordon Pisani, the Nationalist Party’s director of information, ex-PN deputy secretary general and a major PN protogonist during the last General election Campaign, has just been appointed Government’s Head of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister.
No further comments aat the moment.
@ Peter Muscat
Excellent choice I say! Could not think of anyone better myself.
@Peter
Let’s not, what is there ti discuss? Did you expect that Charlon Gouder would get the job? It’s more fun discussing the sartorial aspects of the candidates for the liderxipp.
@DCG
Be careful, saying that GA got it right will be deemed as bias in his favour (after all who cares about the truth!)
@Peter Muscat
We can add Gonzi’s arrogance in telling Labour to give up the 1st May parage and instead hold a national conference on future developments on workers role in modern society.
As if the two are mutually exclusive!
1st May parades are held all over the world and workers cleberate the progress since the old days when they had no rights, when voting was not universal and when education was for the selected few.
On 1st of May people of Labour creed celebrate that the PN had to become quasi solicalist to gain government!
And I expected that for half a day I would see them all in tattered jeans , tee-shirts , safety hats and safety shoes. Some respect for the workers please. Was Dom there? No red flags? For me Evarist (Tal-Muzew) was the best poser , I suppose he forgot the vacuum flask filled with home brewed coffee!
Oh what a circus …..oh what a show …… tal-labour have come to town…
@ GCG
Daphne Caruana Galizia Saturday, 3 May 1834hrs
Lisa, got any pics? of Joe Mifsud (and Jason, too)?
Try http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=43906
To Tony Pace, I’m glad someone else noted the incredible slip up Jason had in Sir Mamo’s state funeral. Is it possible that this guy does not own a black suit?! It’s the funeral of the first president of malta and he comes in a light coloured suit!
Unbelievable
Peter Muscat – Maybe you could explain to us why you feel such compulsion to see what Daphne has written, seeing that you generally chose to object to whatever she has written. Maybe your paint takes far too long to dry.
As for Varist’s choice of clothing – His sweater is short enough for what appears to be the buckle of his belt to pop out from underneath it.
What an embarrassing line-up of people!
Amanda …. love the that name.Hope you know what the name means and in which place it is very common!
I will not respond to your remark and your childish conclusion because I am afraid I might hurt your level of intelligence.
Nor will I spoil the childish fun of yours and some others.
If that is the way to enjoy yourselves, then have fun. I won’t spoil the way you chose to keep fit.
On a different occasion I told Daphne ‘Prosit’ but of course you haven’t read that. So please do not jump to silly conclusions.
I like this friendly banter about the dress sense of the contestants for Labour’s leadership. However since you brought Benigni to the blog let me give this comment a stronger Italian flavour with this proverb:
L’ABITO NON FA IL MONACO
Proverbio ripetuto per ricordare che l’apparenza molte volte non corrisponde alla realtà; perciò bisogna essere cauti nel giudicare gli altri.
Meditate gente, meditate
@Andrea Camilleri – that’s an outdated proverb. The wisdom nowadays is that if a person isn’t even capable of making a correct decision about what to wear, and if he isn’t capable of judging what’s best to wear, then he’s going to slip up on other things. Knowing what to wear is very simple, especially for a man, given that the male sartorial rules are very rigid and have been the same for decades. It doesn’t take much to know that you shouldn’t wear a pale grey suit to a state funeral – but Jason Micallef did so, and it chimes perfectly with the major slips he made in far more important decisions.
@Daphne – Proverbs are never outdated. They are words of wisdom that stood and will stand the test of time. To say “the wisdom nowadays” is therefore a fallacy.
[Moderator – ‘A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they be.’ Just like you said: never outdated, and very wise – right?]
Wear are the fashion police? MLCP was wearing the same jacket in Valletta the very next day:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=68722
Maybe it brings her back memories of the ’80s, given the well-padded shoulders, the lapels and the shape/style in general. Ah well, at least she bothered changing the top she wore underneath it …
He he he – That should have been “where” …