According to a survey, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s casual outfit on the flight to his inaugural visit to the USA was suitable for most Germans. The outfit with a sweater instead of a suit and tie was appropriate for the trip, according to 60 percent of those questioned in a survey by the opinion research institute Yougov. 18 percent found the choice of clothes inappropriate.
During the almost ten-hour flight from Berlin to Washington, the chancellor came for a background discussion with accompanying journalists in jeans, a black T-shirt and a gray jumper. Photos of it made the rounds on the Internet on Monday. On Twitter, for example, there was talk of a “hardware store look”, other commentators recalled that US Vice President Kamala Harris was seen in jeans and sneakers on the cover of the fashion magazine “Vogue” – this too was unusually casual for a top politician.
On Tuesday, Scholz could be seen in a shirt on photos from the return flight from Washington; the 63-year-old was not wearing a tie. The former chancellors Helmut Kohl (CDU) and Helmut Schmidt (SPD) liked to come to the press on such occasions in casual clothes – even if they often still wore a tie. (dpa)