Potential New Top Diplomat: A Clothes Horse
Even if he was colossally wrong about the stock market, here's one thing James K. "Jim" Glassman can predict with certainty: If he wins Senate confirmation to become undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, he'll improve the sartorial quotient at the State Department by at least 300 percent.
Glassman, a former Washington Post columnist and publisher of several news magazines and other publications, is, without question, one of the best dressed men in Washington. Despite its schloky reputation, the capital city does harbor some serious fashionistas. Glassman is at the top of the heap -- an A1, above-the fold clothes horse who has a penchant for fine Italian fabric.
If the Senate gives him the job, Glassman, who would replace Bush confidant Karen Hughes, will at least be dressed to impress as he goes about trying to bolster the reputation of America throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. (Let's just hope he doesn't break the cardinal rule of employment and beat the boss at her own game; Glassman would clearly give Secretary Condoleezza Rice a run for money in the fashion plate department!)
Glassman is such a fan of Neapolitan fashion that as editor-in-chief of American magazine, a publication of the American Enterprise Institute, he ordered up a story about a year ago on Naples, the hub of haute men's fashion. The author of the piece was AEI fellow and veteran neoconservative Michael Ledeen, who, coincidentally, was seen lunching with Glassman at Morton's steakhouse last week -- perhaps imparting his vision for regime change in Iran or other helpful tips for the would-be diplomat.
Ledeen tells us he wouldn't dream of giving Glassman advice. But he did offer some insight into Glassman's choice of Italian suit. "As I recall, he likes Brioni," Ledeen says.
Hey, James Bond wears Brioni. So why not the undersecretary of state?
Glassman must also have a soft spot for Kiton, whose suits go for upwards of $5,000. "He did commission that piece" after all, Ledeen says of the article he wrote, entitled "The Devil Wears Kiton."
Glassman wouldn't comment in advance of his Senate confirmation hearing slated for next week. But let's just hope for his sake that he does a better job of improving the United States' image abroad than he did at predicting the stock market. Glassman's 1999 book "Dow 36,000," which predicted the "undervalued" market could triple and perhaps quadruple, kind of, um, missed the mark.
For the record: the Dow was well below 12,000 points when we posted this.
By Mary Ann Akers |
January 22, 2008; 6:36 PM ET
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Posted by: Diane | January 22, 2008 8:47 PM
"Rather than dressing as a drab matron, Condi Rice has set the tone in the State Department for dignified dressing. I would expect each of the people who work at the State Department to dress for their position in a style which is becoming and well-fitted. So I am very pleased that her new member is also a person who believes in dressing for his role in diplomacy."
Congratulations: The most superficial column, virtually devoid of content, with the most ponderously vapid conclusion I have read so far in 2008. The Bush gang is putting a p.r. guy, which is all he is, in at State, a guy dumb enough to preduct a 36,000 Dow, while war rages, indebtedness to the Chinese skyrockets, the economy tanks...and Miss Thing the columnist demands that State employees were well-fitting couture. Shame!
Posted by: David Fishlow | January 23, 2008 6:54 AM
Does that make Condi Rice or Jim Glassman a better person or does it just show that they can afford the latest fashion that the common person cannot.
Let them try the Military Uniform, it is always in fashion and worn by brave men and women all over the world.
Posted by: Glasco | January 23, 2008 7:08 AM
A well-dressed neoconservative is just what is needed to reach the hearts and minds of those around the world who are, for unknown reasons, skeptical of U.S. foreign policy practices and think we are a country ruled by the rich and insensitive to the poor of the world. But will conservatives in the Senate vote against him because he thinks American-made suits aren´t good enough for him?
Posted by: Steve | January 23, 2008 7:37 AM
Don't you mean "schlumpy," not "schloky"?
Posted by: Jeff | January 23, 2008 7:43 AM
Rather than dressing as a drab matron, Condi Rice has set the tone in the State Department for dignified dressing. I would expect each of the people who work at the State Department to dress for their position in a style which is becoming and well-fitted. So I am very pleased that her new member is also a person who believes in dressing for his role in diplomacy.
Posted by: Diane | January 22, 2008 08:47 PM
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Good post Diane,thank you This subject some may deem trite and superfluous considering the dire world and domestic problems we are facing, but hey, taken at face value there is no harm in agreeing with the fact that "dress for success' is still with us. I would prefer to look at a well heeled Government representative than a scruffy one any day.
Posted by: elizabeth6 | January 23, 2008 8:37 AM
Who cares what Glassman wears. The big question is can he repair America's image abroad?
Tom=Tom's Beat
Posted by: Tom-Tom | January 23, 2008 9:36 AM
I believe that the word is "schlocky."
Posted by: Yiddish in English | January 23, 2008 9:50 AM
when a democrat is president the whole world will love america and the chinese will stop shipping us poison and chavez will give free oil to all americans and the economy will surge forward stocks will rise if they are held in 401(k)s and will plummet if they are held by the rich, interest rates will be low for mortgages and high for savings, cars will run on water, but we will need less of them since everyone will be happy staying at home watching our president on the new cspan-whitehouse channel
Posted by: Anonymous | January 23, 2008 11:44 AM
My favourite is the former S.of S.
Ms. M. Albright She has the flair for fashion.....Plus we have the same birth date...
Posted by: harveyharv | January 24, 2008 9:09 AM
I am 34 years old,i am a marketter from W/A Ghana,i am very handsom and strong but i havent get my love yet.please my comment look far diffrent but pls.help me.i want a beautiful lady from U.S.A TO MARRIED.I am very serious. Thank YOU. My e-mail..greenspan_2007@yahoo.com or loventetteh@yahoo.co.uk
Posted by: Godwin Greenspan | January 24, 2008 10:51 AM
Well, it might improve relations with Italy. God knows those suits that Bush wears--or do they wear him?--fit him like a burlap sack.
Posted by: SooonerThought | January 24, 2008 5:45 PM
what's with the goddamn wetbank wannabes on this site?
Posted by: Anonymous | January 27, 2008 3:34 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Having a good sense of fashion and dressing well does not make Sec. Condi Rice to be a clothes-horse. She has perfect pitch for wearing what is appropriate, and her international image is of a diplomat, not some fashion model strutting off the runway from New York.
Rather than dressing as a drab matron, Condi Rice has set the tone in the State Department for dignified dressing. I would expect each of the people who work at the State Department to dress for their position in a style which is becoming and well-fitted. So I am very pleased that her new member is also a person who believes in dressing for his role in diplomacy.