Statesmen: The new style gurus

Advertising experts say politicians are a big hit with ‘aware and responsible customers’

PARIS: Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is promoting luxury bags. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is voted one of the best-dressed men in the world.

Politicians have taken a place next to supermodels, actors and sports idols in the style sections of glossy magazines.

“We look at politicians more,” said Michael Roberts, fashion and style director at Vanity Fair, the magazine that put Sarkozy on their best-dressed list this year, together with David Beckham and rocker Lenny Kravitz.

“If there’s coherent thinking behind how politicians put themselves together, then people  assume they have
coherent thinking in terms of their politics. So, the way they present themselves is definitely more important,” Roberts said at the Yves Saint Laurent fashion show.

Although government officials have been largely absent from the front rows of fashion shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris in past weeks, politicians’ dress sense is a big issue in many glossy magazines.

And some faces normally found in political pages have even appeared in the ads section.

Gorbachev took many by surprise when he starred in a campaign for luxury label Louis Vuitton, following in the footsteps of actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Uma Thurman.

The ads show Gorbachev sitting in a car with a Vuitton bag, driving along remnants of the Berlin Wall — the monument ex-US president Ronald Reagan once asked him to tore down.

“It’s original, but logical,” French actress Catherine Deneuve, who also features in Louis Vuitton ads, said of
Gorbachev’s participation, adding the campaign had also been in support of environmental causes.

Advertising experts say politicians and politically involved celebrities can draw in customers because consumers have become more aware of political or environmental issues.