Gustavo Petro had already warned that at the gala dinner in his honor offered by the King and Queen on the occasion of his visit to Spain he was not going to abide by the stylistic code of the invitation. However, that did not stop the media and jihadists of the protocol from beginning to hyperventilate when they saw the Colombian delegation dressed in a suit and tie instead of a tailcoat. “Tremendous offense”, the ignorant were outraged. Petro did not break protocol or disrespect the King or Spain, what he did is called aesthetic activism.
Unlike the diplomatic suit (which was born with the ‘sans culottes’ and has a revolutionary germ); the morning suit, the tailcoat and the ‘tuxedo’ have always been considered oligarchic symbols. Those clothes weren’t just created specifically for elite leisure; they were intended to perpetrate the visual distinction between classes. When in the 19th century the bourgeoisie seized the revolutionary dress and imposed it on the rest with the excuse that there would never again be stylistic differences based on social status, they immediately created new codes to distance themselves from the vulgar. The fabrics, the pattern, the tailoring, the bearing or even the body of the trained worker give it away (condemn). Besides, these new exclusive dresses were created for the rich and powerful white man.
With everything, although a small part of the left at the beginning of the 20th century embraced and defended some stylistic formulas of the elite, understanding that not only a few should have the right to luxury and beauty in clothing; regarding the morning suit, the tailcoat and the tuxedo there is little debate. The great (authentic) progressive leaders have rejected its use.
“The posh”
Salvador Allendewho was nicknamed “el pije” for his great enthusiasm for clothes and clothing, He was the first Chilean president to be invested in a suit and not in a morning suit as was the norm. Compared to the controversy that was generated by tremendous audacity, the criticism of Gabriel Boric for not wearing a tie was caresses. Gabriel Garcia Marquez He also did not wear a tailcoat when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature and in his case he claimed the Caribbean suit liqui liqui. It must be borne in mind that the traditional dress of a region or territory has kept the same etiquette consideration as any other Western uniform for years.
If the president of Andalusia wanted (dared) to wear a short dress or the King a chulapo, no one should oppose it and it would even make more sense (it would be more patriotic). to put on clothes imposed by the British and French… Nelson Mandela declined an invitation to a state dinner at Buckingham because as a representative of his country he could not comply with the stylistic code required at the palace. Queen Elizabeth II understood this and allowed him to wear his characteristic madiba (representative shirt of African clothing). In Spain, the same thing happened to Santiago Carrillo with an invitation from King Juan Carlos: “Not even in clandestine times, when I had to travel first class on an ocean liner pretending to be a diplomat, have I agreed to use those garments. I thought that if I dressed up with a tuxedo or a tailcoat could never return to Vallecas.”
There are exceptions
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However, there are exceptions. Serve the example of the socialist government, with Pedro Sánchez at the head, at dinner with Petro. Everyone respecting the tailcoat, even if the dress fits you like Miquel Iceta… The founder Pablo Iglesias did enter Congress in his day with a cape and floppy hat, breaking with the custom of attending in a tuxedo and top hat. But of course, there were other times where politicians knew how to dress their ideas. A few years ago Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, the supposed enfant terrible of the Spanish left, appeared at a Goya gala wearing a ‘tuxedo’ (four sizes larger) because Antonio Resines asked him to. As Pepe Mujica well remembers, “power does not change people, it only reveals what they really are.”
Petro wanted to be consistent with his ideals. He will like it or not, but attacking him for not wearing a tailcoat is classist. Also, if you wanted to ridicule him aesthetically, it was enough to look at the two buttoned buttons on his jacket (the bottom one is never buttoned!). There his adversaries do have ammunition to criticize him “until dignity (clothing) becomes customary.”