At first glance, if we had to highlight an element of the outfit that adorned the President of the Government during the presentation of his latest book Tierra Firma last Monday accompanied by Jorge Javier Vázquez, the chosen one would probably be his suit, thanks to that violet blue hue that guarantees from all eyes. However, in a second look that is somewhat more relaxed and focused on the nuances, the spotlight is captured by a much more revealing detail: the fantasy socks with small polka dot prints that match the charcoal of the tie.
Although Pedro Sánchez is far from challenging the position of the largest collector of original socks in global politics, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose most famous pair are probably those with the Chewabba face that he wore in 2017, the gesture is not not at all negligible. It could be said that it shows that one of the main stylistic references of the socialist is in fact the Otaués leader, who does not miss even the slightest opportunity to express his identity, his personality and even the occasional political message through his clothing. .
Pedro Sánchez is what the norm clearly considers to be a handsome, attractive man, which inside and outside of Spain has even earned him the nickname Mr. Handsome. And he knows it. Therefore, throughout his career, he has known how to take advantage of the certainty that part of his political and media capital resides in his erotic capital. In the work of the same name to this last concept (Erotic capital. The power to fascinate others) Catherin Hakim begins by making a devastating statement: “President Barack Obama has many powers, and is an intelligent, highly educated person, but it is likely "That being handsome and thin, being in good physical shape and dressing well helped him become the first black man elected president of the United States."
Furthermore, the author explains that it is a value that usually results in even greater benefits in the case of men than for women, and that of the elements that constitute said erotic capital, in addition to beauty, vitality or charm , among others, the use of clothing becomes a key factor.
“On Sánchez's part there is an active search to communicate through clothing, something that in itself is quite exceptional, especially in the field of bipartisanship,” comments Vanity Fair journalist and LGTBI writer Dario Gael. “This last outfit, with the little detail of the socks, seemed very calculated to me as well as a success, because he takes risks, but never too much; He intentionally gives something to talk about with his clothes, as he did with the Peaky Blinders look this summer, but without this overshadowing what he does; He plays the role of distraction, but he never makes a fool of himself,” he deepens.
Gael makes it concrete by referring to the violet blue of the set: “is it a nod to Podemos, also making those positive and untimely statements about Irene Montero?” In any case, he points out, "what seems most groundbreaking to me about him is the fact that he gives importance to clothing, more than the clothing itself."
Along these lines, although Sánchez began his career as head of the Executive by playing it safe with grey, black and navy blue, in recent years the color has become one of the president's favorite experimentation resources, having even reached trying trial and error with the famous eggplant-colored suit that did not arouse too much sympathy. “Sometimes he dares to use slightly strange colors, although you also have to be careful because on television you see colors that are exactly like that in reality,” points out Lluis Sans, owner of the Santa Eulalia boutique. “It's okay to want to innovate, to get away from dark colors, but sometimes you use some that are too bold and don't look good,” he says.
Even so, he generally chooses not to be overly original and explores the blue palette with considered frequency. “Although blue is very institutionalized and does not deviate much from the norm, Sánchez, who tends to use that range a lot, looks for more sophisticated tones, such as Emmanuel Macron's own French blue, cerulean blues, brighter or closer to purple... It is That is, it uses the usual code of the suit but more modernized,” highlights Rafa Rodríguez, journalist and professor of fashion studies and criticism at UC3M.
And the same goes for everything else. The thickness of the lapels, always very narrow -Sans insists that too narrow-, or the slim fit pants that Raf Simons devised in the late nineties, putting the emphasis on the robustness of the legs, and giving a modern touch compared to the classic suit. that other politicians such as Patxi López or Aitor Esteban can use and that have constituted his safe bet and the most immutable element since he landed in Moncloa. “Sánchez seeks to convey the image of a man of his time, using the most classicist usual codes, tailored suits, but transmitting a new type of masculinity,” explains Rodríguez.
“I don't think they are very expensive suits, they probably don't exceed 400 euros, but they don't give the impression of being from the Ibex35, nor the typical ones you would buy in a retail store,” he ponders. In addition, he often reuses them, as well as ties. In fact, it is fairly reliably rumored that the president has a trusted tailor whose identity has not been revealed, probably for security reasons. “Having a secret tailor, generating that mystery, is super dandy,” says fashion journalist Leticia García.
Also in what has to do with his gestures, the president does not hesitate to differentiate himself from that more traditional performativity. “Simply the fact that he smiles so much and how he uses the smile may be a symptom that he is playing to identify with what is commonly understood as new masculinity; It is not common to see heterosexual men who sell themselves as attractive smiling so much, even if sometimes with a certain cockiness, but it still seems that you are less of a man if you smile, if you actively try to be pleasant,” observes Gael.
However, showing off his socks so deliberately is something he had not been seen doing until now. “He always follows the rules strictly, with the length of the pants just above the instep so as not to show the ankles and to wrinkle them as little as possible. But the other day those shorter pants caught our attention,” says Rodríguez.
In García's opinion, what Sánchez is doing is "trying with more or less luck to dress as one dresses on the street, trying to get closer to the people, to a certain electoral group, dressing as they dress in their heads, playing a little with the stereotype." "from the modern man from Malasaña, the hipster when he has to wear a suit or the posh gay man from Chueca who actually votes for Ayuso." “He is risking more and more, probably because he sees that there is once again a void in a certain profile of voters who have basically voted down until not long ago and will most likely reconsider voting for the PSOE again,” concludes Gael.
The life of that anonymous twenty-year-old has taken many turns and his style has evolved a lot. “When Sánchez jumped into the political arena with the 2015 general election campaign, the North American model of spectacle politics began to be copied in Spain,” Rodríguez puts in context. Those days, “the images of Obama in which he appeared with his white shirt open, his golden wig, without a jacket, had had a strong impact, because it was the first time that a president of the United States had been seen in that more modern way.” and close,” he continues.
“That is when that new image, different until that moment, of politicians is forged,” explains Rodríguez. In fact, the white shirt would be precisely the garment that Sánchez would end up wearing during his first campaign that culminated in an unprecedented setback on December 20, 2015 for his political party, which he would later make a comeback.
During campaign times, using a singular and distinctive garment repeatedly until it becomes a seal in terms of media identification has continued to be a strategy that characterizes him. This summer, on the occasion of the 23J general elections, it was the turn of the denim shirt, which he wore repeatedly at rallies such as those in Valencia, Barcelona or San Sebastián, including it in the occasional total denim, proving to be aware of the trends. seasonal.
He even went so far as to replicate the denim color during his speech at the Federal Committee of the PSOE that was held shortly after, at the end of October. Almost as if it were the updated version of the corduroy jacket, Sánchez ended up making the garment his own that was once popularized by icons of that fashionable masculinity but with a much more normative and working-class glow like Steve McQueen.
And outside of the institutional sphere, “when he is playing at home, so to speak, he is much more classic, you can see it in the colors, in the cut... It seems to me to be a quite unique phenomenon that he has a real interest in building a range of different looks and images clearly adapted to the place and the moment, having that awareness of the power of clothing can be understood as a new masculinity,” celebrates Gael.
In short, the arsenal of stylistic resources that Pedro Sánchez deploys when it comes to accompanying and building his political strategy also seems to dwell in the details. And almost nothing that is put on should be considered a childish issue. We will have to be alert to unravel the message of whoever is his next step in terms of fashion and style.
