Fire the dressmaker. Please. The prime minister’s wife is wearing a man’s jacket in lace.
We all wear what we like to parties and much of the rest of the time, this being a free country, but when people have a state role, and they’re taking part in a state occasion, they’ve got to be careful.
Looking like a dog’s dinner is just not an option when you’re walking down Republic Street with your husband the prime minister en route to the state opening of parliament.
Exactly what is that outfit?
Whoever made it should be shot or fired. And how do I know it was made (and not by a professional, either) rather than bought off the rails or from the house of a couturier?
Aside from other considerations like general tailoring, choice of fabric/colour match and design proportions, it’s simple: the jacket buttons up on the wrong side. No professional dressmaker would ever get that wrong. Nobody accustomed to making clothes for women, rather than jackets for men, would ever get it wrong, either.
We can also deduce from this that the prime minister’s wife’s jacket was made by a man. Women know automatically where the buttons should go if only because we wear them ourselves. But male dressmakers should know that too, if only because their customers are women (men go to tailors, not dressmakers).
So what exactly is going on here?
Women’s jackets button right over left. Men’s jackets button left over right. Mrs Muscat’s jacket buttons up like her husband’s jacket on her right and not like Irene Frendo’s, the outgoing Speaker’s wife, on her left.
You don’t believe me? Check all the jackets in your wardrobe, ladies, and you won’t find even one that buttons left over right. If you live with a man, check all his jackets and you won’t find one that buttons right over left (and if you do, best check how he spends his spare time).
Those of you who are not ladies should adapt these instructions accordingly.
Michelle Muscat, on this state occasion, is wearing a man’s jacket, made out of lace.
This is apart from the fact that it is 1. badly made, 2. lace, along with heavy make-up and overdone hair, is associated in Europe with the ‘Lebanese look’, 3. it does not flatter her figure (the dress she wore for her husband’s swearing-in was much better for her shape and suited her), 4. walking next to the perfectly-dressed Irene Frendo invites odious comparisons.
That outfit is also very ageing. Mrs Muscat is a good 15 years younger than Mrs Frendo, but you would never know that by looking at them.
That kind of outfit – and obviously, with the buttons in the right place – can be carried off, and then it has to be with a sense of irony and on a very different occasion, only by a super-skinny rangy 25-year-old with legs up to her armpits and mussed hair.
Michelle Muscat might love fashion, but fashion certainly does not love her. This is a shame, because in her position she can really do a lot to add some much-needed panache to Malta’s public image, and she certainly seems to have the will, but it’s all wrong.
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Reply to Harry Purdie Click here to cancel reply
Baxxter, comments please…
KEEP CALM
AND
READ ON
In 1942, I was dispatched by SOE to the Eastern Front, as part of the Allies’ efforts to help our Soviet brothers-in-arms. I had hitherto been leading a life of ease in the midst of war, seconded from the Catering Corps to SOE’s top secret Department M&S (Menswear & Sartorial). Our job, as set out by Mr Churchill himself, was to “contribute to the war effort by maintaining the British Empire’s sartorial standards at the highest level, by countering the enemy’s efforts to subvert the rules of style, and by raising morale through fine tailoring, on the Home Front and in all theatres of war.”
Stalingrad struck me as a dismal place. Night life consisted of noisy bombing raids by the Germans, vodka was nowhere to be had, the roads were in shambles, and my entire wardrobe had been parachuted on the wrong side of the front. Some fat German general was no doubt struggling to squeeze into my dinner jacket. In short, the outlook was grim.
But the Soviet civilians, bless ’em, kept a stiff upper lip that gave us a run for our money. When the stray cats ran out, they made bread out of sawdust and soup out of glue. On the other side of the Volga, the Germans were tightening their belts and taking in their jackets, as jowls disappeared and waists shrank.
Say what you like about the Germans but they were the best-dressed soldiers in this war. Herr Hugo Boss certainly knew his trade. Our tommies, in contrast, looked like a sack of spuds.
The Soviets had adapted their own traditional tunics into khaki uniforms. Bolshies they may have been, but our own Queen Victoria was fond of dressing the young Edward, Prince of Wales, in these square-collared tunics.
Uncle Joseph Stalin’s factories, relocated beyond the Urals, were churning out acres of coarse woollen cloth and turning out tunics by their thousands. The civilians, on the other hand, had to make do.
But their standards never wavered. When the women ran out of cloth, they stripped German corpses of their jackets and turned them into smart ladies’ outfits. They would cut away the collars with the hated SS or Wehrmacht insignia, take in the waist, re-tailor the cuffs, and turn them into superb outfits that would grace Mme Coco Chanel’s Parisian collection.
On thing they could not do, however, was reverse the buttoning.
And this is the whole point of my fanciful tale. Any tailor, in peacetime, who willingly and deliberately, buttons a ladies’ jacket on the wrong side, should be tried for treason and sentenced to hard labour in a Nike sweatshop in south-east Burma, sewing velcro onto nylons.
Thank you Baxxter for putting your life on the line to save the fashion culture of the west.
It is precisely because of sacrifices like yours that ‘we the people’ cannot but express anger when we witness atrocities like the one shown in the official propaganda pictures of the DOI.
We shall unite and fight the movement’s acts of defiance of the basic fundamental rules which define the existence of our civilisation. We shall never surrender.
We shall fight them on the beaches…
Ah, a brave soldier/tailor’s tale. Brought tears.
Hey Baxxter. Presently watching a film about Tolstoy. All the men’s shirts are buttoned right over left. Is that a political statement by the director, do you think?
Interesting. Buttoning conventions were still not established in Tolstoy’s lifetime, so the director either has an overzealous wardrobe designer or they just raided the women’s costume section.
We shall fight on the beaches, wearing swimming trunks, we shall fight on the landing grounds, wearing hacking jackets, we shall fight in the fields, wearing blazers, and in the streets, wearing pinstripes, we shall fight in the hills, wearing tweeds; we shall never surrender.
My thoughts exactly. Definitely mismatched materials with crochet and lace. The hat is hideous. And the buttons? BIG fail.
Mrs Frendo looks spectacular.
A man’s lace jacket?
So maybe it was originally intended for Jason Micallef but we all know how things turned out for the poor chap.
He got the laced chalice instead?
My favourite was Kristy Debono
Who’s that man behind Muscat?
A police officer
The colour of that dress is all wrong for her complexion.
So, since I am a fashion student I couldn’t help but notice that this suit is a Dolce and Gabbana rip off. It only took me 2 minutes to find the original one. Here’s a link for the original:
http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/F2012RTW-DGABBANA/#46
It actually crossed my mind that maybe she bought it in an outlet store somewhere (since this collection is now out of stores) but than again I had a closer look at it and thought no it cannot be, the tailoring is horrible.
[Daphne – The buttons are on the wrong side, Sandra. That alone should have told you that it wasn’t bought in a shop. Come on, you’re a fashion student…]
Let’s take a moment to point out that a woman with not so small hips shouldn’t really wear flesh-coloured pencil skirts. Another point I would like to make is, why does she always opt for the wrong colours?
She matched the green windows during the swearing-in ceremony and now flesh colour? Someone needs to help her find her way.
Well spotted. A horribly executed copy of the original, I can imagine where she gets her bags.
This woman needs protecting from herself and her ‘stylist’.
Before she’s off to Italy to be wasted by Dagospia, Chi and Striscia.
“Not so small hips”
Big bum, do you mean?
Should a Prime Minister’s wife be promoting copies and counterfeits?
Hardly. Now wouldn’t it be funny were somebody to inform Dolce e Gabbana about it, complete with photograph.
X’aktarx ‘home made’ nahseb.
Jekk mhux sejjer zball, jew omm Joseph Muscat, jew zietu, kienet thiet l-ilbiesi Burmarrad u, kif niftakar ma tantx kienet tal-qata.
Well thank God Mrs Muscat didn’t opt for the black underwear like the D&G model.
And then there’s also Mrs Gonzi’s elegance to compare to…
A variation of the Freudian slip?
Never mind the lady’s jacket.
Striding forwards with clenched fists, dorsum of hand facing forwards, rather than thumbs, are normally associated with rough pugilists not prime ministers on their way to pray in church or being sworn in at the Palace.
Well noted. And we know the sequel now. It matches.
Daph, could you possibly rename your site: StyleMalta.com or something to that effect?
Just a glimpse at the comments here shows that people are well equipped with knowledge and information to share with the people who don’t know or have no idea.
For example, I like Irene Frendo’s style and her keeping two steps back from her husband. That’s exactly how it should be. Except for the U.S., I don’t think anyone walks hand in hand with his prime minister husband when he’s on his way to some event.
Most of the photos here show the prime ministers’ wives separate from the husbands during important events.
http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/british-prime-minister-and-wife-samantha-s-visit-to-the-white-house?slide=44591606#slide=44591611
The prime minister and her husband share the same make up. Their faces are the same colour and both are darker than their hands.
“Michelle Muscat might love fashion, but fashion certainly does not love her.”
This would have been a more appropriate title to this piece.
Where is Carina and her “big no no”?
She’s dressed like one of those women in films set in war-time, who run waving alongside a train as it leaves the station…
The fact that Michelle Muscat didn’t realise the mistake in her jacket says something.
http://bigshotmovieclub.com/tag/jackie-o/
What about Mrs gonzi’s jacket , the button holes are placed in the same position as Mrs Muscat , no ?
[Daphne – No. Obviously not. I don’t think you fully realise what a serious sartorial transgression this is. It just never happens.]
Mrs Muscat may be many things, but she is not a button hole.
I noticed it too and burst out laughing with a friend. It was too hilarious, she couldn’t even get a dress made well.
http://zekzik.com/2013/04/07/il-libsa-ta-michelle-ikkupjata-wkoll/
What gets to me is how she proceeded to copy the dress colour and all, the intention wasn’t to interpret the idea and carry it elsewhere, she wanted it to look like D&G’s.
Well nearly, given that the details are all wrong, which is what happens when the intention is to plagiarise.
One wonders what respect this couple have for artists, designers, innovators and where that leaves protection of their work.
Horrible, she’ll walk into a showroom, get a brochure, walk to the nearest ‘joiner’ and order a copy. Then she’ll say it’s locally made. (U kemm ninqaghlu l-Maltin)
I always said this vote would be about the EU and its implications, Michelle Muscat is your typical ‘Maltese company allergic to bureaucracy’.
With her mentality restored to the norm, people like me have no place here, unless someone’s willing to take this as one of the fundamentals necessary to save this place.
Either we get to stand on our feet, or else we’re next to degenerate into a rock with nowhere else to go. Pathetic, cheap, nostalgic and scared.
I know one thing, it’s not worth risking with these people.
Muscat called for private intiative to come up with ideas, yeah right.
No sweat, Josef, they’ve set themselves up to self-desruct.
A government of incompetents.
Michelle Muscat, Irene Frendo, Kate Gonzi : factoring in also difference in age, and therefore appropriate styles, guess who looks the dowdiest of them all ?
They’re fake in dress and person, from top to bottom.
I didn’t notice the buttons but that hat reminded me of Marmie in “Gone with the Wind”. She looked like someone working in the cotton fields.
Class and good taste can’t be bought.
[Daphne – Well, to some extent they can be.]
Well, Wayne Rooney and wife have all the money they need for the fashion world but they just look good in tracksuits.
If you give Wayne Rooney a suit and he wears it, it’ll be just like painting a white wall with fluorescent paint.
If you give Prince William and Harry a tracksuit, it would be just like painting two walls with fluorescent paint.
The princes just look so good in suits.
You either have it or you don’t. Some people are made for track suits, some people are made for suits. People who wear tracksuits, usually look stupid in suits.
It’s how you carry yourself and what you’re born with, that decides for you.
Are Michelle’s dresses for state occasions paid from our coffers? I suppose so. Am I right?
[Daphne – No, you are not. The wives of prime ministers pay for their own clothes, or get their husband to do it.]
Ask fashion expert Marisa Grima?
Unnecessary: Men button up on the left side, women on the right side.
Same applies for belts: women belt it to the right, men to the left.
Simple.
http://tvm.com.mt/news/2013/04/the-good-the-passable-the-not-in-parliament/
The fashion expert hasn’t yet worked out that she’s speaking about a bad knock-off with the buttons on the wrong side.
[Daphne – But she’s right about Kristy Debono.]
Kristy Debono : Agree about Kristy Debono. Style, colour, hair were just right; particularly liked fascinator . which was poles apart from the usual flower-pot hat which hides the face.
She’s also right about Mrs Muscat. Note how she says “tipprova, tipprova, tipprova” with regards to trying to be fashionable.
Wrongly, for the first 30 seconds, I thought that this commentator was a sarcastic character from “Bla Komixxin” or something similar. Eventually, I realized she was serious.
Note that towards the end of the footage there is Luciano Busuttil with his wife (with the pink hat). Gosh, her posture and bearing in this video indicate that they seem to be a couple destined to be together – Dumb and Dumber.
“Il-moda thobbha”.
Jigifieri, min ma jhobbx il-moda, jilbes ikrah?
Marisa, my dear, tista tkun thobb il-moda u tilbes ikrah. U tista ma taghtix kaz ebda moda, imma xorta tilbes sura ta’ nies.
She shouldn’t have been wrong about Kristy. Kristy was impeccably ship-shape.
Marisa Grima thinks Mrs Muscat is a breath of fresh air.
http://tvm.com.mt/news/2013/04/the-good-the-passable-the-not-in-parliament/
Please don’t take that seriously.
Marisa thinks lots of things. Well, then so do I.
How can class and good taste be bought, Daph? Don’t think I agree.
[Daphne – Because with proper coaching and a keen eye, money teaches lessons, if only because it gives access to information and experiences a person might not otherwise have had. True, some people are a lost cause but many others are not.]
Dear daphne these kind of people are new money and just think that being able to afford things is class in itself. Money doesn’t buy class
Speaking of ‘Taste’, your issue today was scrumptuous.
Inspiration for the prime minister and his wife:
http://www.gq.com/style/profiles/201304/mad-men-every-don-draper-look-season-1#slide=3
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201203/mad-men-photos-january-jones-jon-hamm-john-slattery-jessica-pare?mbid=social_fb_fanpage#slide=1
In the US, Season 6 premieres today.
Surely she would have noticed that the buttons were on the wrong side when doing them up? Il-vera trid tkun cuc biex ma tindunax.
Given that Mrs Muscat’s jacket buttons up like a man’s, I would say that Bortex made it – for free, of course. After all, Mrs Bortex has been given a nice position on the Justice Reform Commission after giving testimonials for Labour.
I’ll stitch Joseph Muscat’s burst zips for a position in any commission. Come on, ma jmissnix slajs minn Malta taghna lkoll?
C’mon baxxter, would you stoop that low? The dwarf’s zip is only two feet from the nearest pot hole.
I think you need to be skinny thin for lace to rest perfectly on the body because it is not elastic at all – meaning it needs to have that straight, unstretched look to make people appreciate it.
Same with satined, crocheted and knitted pieces.
Regarding men with a particular round shape, skinny suits won’t do.
A well tailored double-breasted jacket, (not the thick padded shouldered type) would definitely suit this shape well.
Nice.
http://www.gq.com/style/wear-it-now/201105/how-wear-double-breasted-suit-jacket-best-db-simon-spurr
Double-breasted is a high-risk strategy. It takes a certain kind of man to carry it off. Prince Charles does it splendidly, but then he’s a real man and a proper gentleman, not some jacked-up rich kid from hicksville.
I think an unstructured single-breasted, two-buttoned jacket would work best, but he’d have to wipe that smirk from his face first. Because at the moment he just looks like a prize twerp in a school blazer.
What, mhux sabih il-mudell ta’ dak ir-ritratt? :)
Marisa Grima l-istylist qalet fuq l-ahbarijiet tat – TVM il-bierha li il -mara tal-prim Ministru kienet liebsa vera sabih, addattat , taf tilbes u thobb il-moda. Kemm hawn min jaf jilghaq, jahasra.