Gaddafi, as I’ll always remember him
Enough with the dead pictures. I don’t need to see that. I’m very glad Gaddafi is no longer in power, but I get no joy from death.
Instead, I prefer to remember the Colonel for the tiny rays of sunshine he brought into the lives of fashion followers everywhere. I recommend the delightful style retrospectives at TIME (“Gaddafi Fashion: The Emperor Has Some Crazy Clothes”) and Vanity Fair (“Colonel Qaddafi—A Life in Fashion”).
Also, possibly my favorite thing to ever happen in international politics in my entire life was when Libya’s Minister of Cultural Affairs tried to score a Costume Institute exhibit for Brother Leader. From the email sent by one of the Minister’s aides to New York Times fashion editor Horacio Silva:
A contact from our UN staff has been in dialogue with Mr. Harold Koda’s people at the Costume Institute at your Metropolitan Museum in New York. There is intense interest in our proposal for a retrospective in 2013 of Colonel Gaddafi’s four decades of superior dress sense. In the last month the compound next to the presidential palace was badly damaged in a bombing raid and we are very concerned should the same happen to the palace the result might be the destruction of over 3400 items of breathtaking sartorial magnificence: Decades of Military uniforms and leisure wear mostly hand made from the finest fabrics on earth that show not only President Col. Gaddafi’s strong commitment to leadership qualities but his relaxed and informal side as a devoted family man who loves to entertain.
Indeed many of his clothes have featured in global magazines from the hundreds of state visits and functions he has hosted over the years for world leaders. All of whom are in agreement, ahumdullillah, that our President is one of the very best dressed men of the last half century. It is not only African and Arab leaders who have been influenced by his style and substance but many western rock stars and celebrities have also been won over by the Gaddafi look: most notably Michael Jackson in the 1980′s copied the signature motif military style of our leader to great chart success on his own terms.
I could just read that over and over again and never stop giggling.
6 Responses to “Gaddafi, as I’ll always remember him”
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quixote says:
“Superior dress sense”? Superior dress sense?
Hahahahahahahahoohoohoohooheeheeheeheehee
(I mean, I know my nearest and dearest would — rightly — point out that his was better than mine, but still.)
October 21st, 2011 at 12:40 pm EST -
Monchichipox says:
Mr Grandmother would have used that as her formal caftan. It would have matched the Winston hanging out of her mouth beautifully.
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Ugsome says:
I recently saw a production of Beckett’s ‘Fin de partie’ (Endgame) in which Hamm was cast and costumed to accentuate his resemblance to Moamar Khadafi. Really gave the show that ripped-from-the-headlines feel.
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Toonces says:
Oh wow. The suits with the pictures of people, uhh sewn in? Ironed on?! His style was certainly distinct.
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tinfoil hattie says:
So many doods, so little fashion sense.
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propertius says:
“I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille!”
