Election season is upon us. So we thought we’d start a new series in which I assess different politician’s styles. Particularly whenever they dress up for important occasions.
As a firm that specializes in special jackets for special occasions, I love the looks on a few different politicians. I like Joho’s youthful confidence in wearing casual luxury with his colourful Versace shirts and Dolce and Gabbana sneakers. I like Abdulswamad Nassir’s clean and understated looks, deputy president William Ruto’s colourful blazers, and occasionally, albeit very occasionally, governor Sonko’s luxury pieces.
However, my personal favourite by far has to be Ababu Namwamba’s superb taste for a very clean business casual look. And I’ll very briefly explain why.
A high fashion IQ.
The man has a very high fashion IQ. A high fashion IQ entails having a strong understanding of your surrounding and wearing the right pieces from your wardrobe for that surrounding.
Since a wise old man once told me to always show rather than tell, here, let me show you.
That’s him wearing a dinner jacket for a dinner. It should be obvious that dinner jackets should be worn for important dinners right? But notice how everyone else is wearing a suit. Suits tend to be the de-facto clothing item for men in Kenya. For most Kenyan men their policy seems to be, when in doubt just slap on a suit.
But not him. His extremely high fashion IQ will never allow such laziness. And notice how he shines as a result. It’s almost as if he’s the sun at that table and the rest of the suit planets are gravitating around him based on a very strong gravitational force of style.
In yet another example of the right jacket for the right occasion, here he is receiving an award in the appropriate jacket and outfit.
A very high fashion IQ.
Wearing a dinner jacket to a dinner demonstrates a basic fashion IQ. However, this next image demonstrates an extremely high fashion IQ.
Honorable Ababu Namwamba was meeting some Indian dignitaries. So what does he do? He wears an Indian themed jacket to show respect for his guests and their culture. Now, if that’s not dressing for the occasion, I don’t know what is.
Not afraid to experiment.
What I love about all the politicians in my opening paragraph is their lack of fear with experimentation in terms of their outfits. What I love about Ababu Namwamba however, is just how much of an expert he is at said experimentation. Particularly within the dress code category of business casual. A dress code category I assume is important when meeting all those international foreign dignitaries.
An ordinary suit might be considered too formal on some occasions. Too casual (we’re looking at you governor Sonko) might be deemed disrespectful. Business casual, on the other hand, feels just right.
And you’ve got to love how he adds his own unique creative spin to it whenever he can.
And there you have it. A style masterclass by the honorable Ababu Namwamba. Stay tuned for part 2 where we’ll look at deputy president William Ruto’s newfound love for fancy blazers.
Cheers and God bless.