Did Zelensky wear a suit? President’s outfit at White House meeting sparks fresh debate

All eyes were on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s outfit as he arrived at the White House to meet President Donald Trump, months after his previous Washington visit sparked controversy — in part over what he wore.

American officials reportedly even asked the Ukrainian side whether Zelensky would wear a suit for the meeting this week, following scrutiny over his choice not to wear one during the now-infamous Oval Office showdown in February.

When Zelensky stepped out of the car, greeted by Trump with a smile, he appeared in a black jacket and trousers. Trump immediately remarked, “I love it,” to which Zelensky replied, “It is the best I have.”

For a moment, it seemed the matter was settled. But on closer inspection, another question arose in the public arena: did Zelensky’s outfit really constitute a suit?

“If we define a suit as trousers and a jacket made of the same fabric and matching each other, then yes, the president was wearing a suit — but if we think of a suit as a complete look, with a white shirt and a tie, then of course it was not,” Ukrainian fashion historian Zoya Zvynyatskivska told the Kyiv Independent.

The black outfit, designed by Ukrainian fashion designer Viktor Anisimov, has been worn by Zelensky on more than one occasion. A month earlier, he wore the same suit to the NATO summit in June, where it also sparked debate.

In a Twitter thread following the NATO appearance, fashion commentator Derek Guy wrote on X that he would call the all-black outfit a suit “because it’s the shortest, easiest way to describe his outfit without getting into the history of men’s tailoring.”

“But I would also recognize this is not what most people recognize as a suit,” Guy wrote at the time.

Elvira Gasanova, designer of Ukrainian fashion house Damirli, which has created pieces for Zelensky’s military-casual look, argued that his outfit went beyond the standard categories of business or military style.

“That is precisely what makes it difficult to define,” she told the Kyiv Independent.

“In the president’s look yesterday, there is the structure and severity of a classic blazer, but at the same time, a color, texture, and symbolism that remain rooted in wartime reality.

“The outfit conveys both the status of a head of state and that of a wartime leader.”

Guy’s earlier Twitter thread on the topic noted that the black outfit jacket’s “collar and lapels mimic that of military clothing, not traditional suits.”

Zelensky adopted a military look after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion — partly out of necessity, but also as a statement. He has repeatedly stated that he would only abandon this wartime style once the war was over.

The Ukrainian president’s choice of attire at this meeting may have been influenced by both the criticism that his previous outfit was inappropriate for an official meeting with the U.S. president, as well as the wish to project peace by wearing clothes closer to peacetime attire than military fatigues.

The meeting did not bring a breakthrough, and the suit did not change that, but according to Zvynyatskivska, updating his image was still a timely decision.

“The casual military T-shirts have run their course. But returning to a conventional suit would be inappropriate while the war continues. His outfit is a variation of what diplomats and presidents wear, but it underscores the specific and tragic state our country is in,” she said.

Berlin-based fashion stylist and activist Frank Wilde also praised the choice: “A very smart solution — not betraying his country, yet avoiding the recreation of a hostile situation in the White House,” he told the Kyiv Independent.

Following the NATO summit in the Netherlands, his attire also became the subject of heated speculation on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency prediction platform. Users created a market asking whether Zelensky would wear a suit by July. To settle the wager, participants had to provide a photo or video showing him in a suit between May 22 and June 30.

The market reached over $200 million in volume. While the result was initially approved, it has since been challenged several times and remains unresolved. On July 1, Polymarket acknowledged the dispute, saying that a “consensus of reliable reporting did not confirm that Zelensky wore a suit.”

“The Polymarket question was poorly worded. They should have set strict parameters on what a suit means. Whether you think Zelensky wore a suit depends on whether you are following the technical definition or the social expectation,” Guy wrote on X.

Whether it is a suit or not, Zvynyatskivska argues that the question itself is misguided.

“This whole debate about whether or not he wore a suit is, frankly, shameful. It does not characterize our president, but rather those who demand that the leader of a country at war must appear in a suit or else they will not speak to him.

“That says more about the ones making such demands,” she said.

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