Last week, President Trump's press secretary Caroline Leavitt was asked a seemingly simple question about the White House dress code.
Reporters noted that administrative officials were “worried” that Ukrainian leader Voldimi Zelensky had not worn a suit in his oval office. Still, the reporter said: “Elon Musk won't wear a suit there. So what's the dress code?”
Like everything in Washington, this was really a question about power.
Musk bends him by dressing down where everyone else has to dress up. He wears “Technical Support” T-shirts around town and is worn at meetings with the President.
So when the tech mogul wore suits and tie twice last week, it seemed like a sign that, like any other work in Washington, some of the old rules of this place, and the oldest ones about fashion and etiquette.
Somehow, when Musk wears a nice suit, there is a way that looks like a demote.
There's no doubt that he and Trump are still riding this vehicle together. The president posted on social media on Tuesday that he was buying Tesla – but last week, things started to change a little for Musk. The Cabinet Secretary began to stand up to him. Trump said he must use “feet” instead of “hatchet” to make government cuts. Republican lawmakers from Capitol Hill began to worry about him.
“I think the president really liked it,” Leavitt said in the briefing when Musk filed the president's speech to Congress. He arrived again two days later for the second meeting of the cabinet. (He wore a “Technical Support” T-shirt on the first one and was joking about how he got dressed.)
Suits are nothing small for Donald Trump. His father, a real estate developer, wore one every day, even on his visits to construction sites. My son ultimately did the same thing. And now his three sons (even one of his teens) prefer and unite their bond in the same thick bonding way as his father.
Musk is basically a Silicon Valley creature and is the scene that launched the entire revolution in power dressing. The young masters of that universe dressed down to show that they were members of the new elite. It was a defeat in the suit with a T-shirt.
But Washington remains one town than any other town where people still wear suits and ties. That's why it's unique to see Musk wearing his suit now. He has the very decorations that he finally came here to come and destroy – a grey flame bureaucrat.
“Maybe he felt inadequate,” said Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally who sentenced seven felony sentences in 2020.
A well-known clothing, Stone has published a book on his life lessons, called “The Rules of Stone: How to Win With Politics, Business, and Style.” One of the rules states, “If you're in a business or profession, you're much more likely to succeed if you're dressed than if you're badly dressed.”
He said he likes to see Musk dress up all of it. “I thought he looked great,” Stone said. “But I think you'll see him wearing it every day. That's not his style.”
Does Stone suspect the president is troubled by Musk's style? “I can't speculate about it,” he denied.
Of all people, it always seemed difficult for Trump to believe that Musk was okay with clothes like him.
The president is rarely seen wearing a Fulbrioni suit and tie (unless he is on one of the golf courses). During his first term in office, he cried out to former spokesman Sean Spicer about his choice to suit.
Trump once had his own line of suits (they were sold at Macy's), and wrote in one of his books, “The way we dress says a lot about us before we say a word.”
“To me, dressing means understanding your environment. I try to know the culture and reflect and respect it.”
So, how about the same man who wrote it, that his most empowered aide can allow him to dress like a goth mall rat in the most important workplace in the world?
Last month there seemed to be an unusual moment when Trump seemed a bit troubling with Musk's style.
Each wore their own uniforms: a suit and a t-shirt.
“He has some really great people working for him,” Trump said in Musk's defense. Still, these very wonderful people can “actually dress much worse than him.”
“You don't know that they have an IQ of 180,” the president added.
