A Sartorial Genius of Our Time

--MQ's 2007 Palace of Versailles visit

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Not to be snide at all -- because Qadhafi's fate was an abomination -- and most Middle East countries still need a strongman, IMHO.

But a couple of years back Vanity Fair offered a tour of some of the more spectacular looks Mr. Qadhafi rocked over the years while "completing his transition from international pariah to statesman" in "Colonel Qaddafi—A Life in Fashion." The text accompanying the photos is also precious (esp. accompanying slide #12, which is left for you to discover).

Per the above aviator look, one imagines Top Gun had some influence. Not that George W. Bush did not look equally foolish on that flight deck in the flight suit, and just about as credible.

What we don't admit to is, we are every bit the saps for a good uniform that the Arab world is. For us, Mr. Obama's Hart Schaffner Marx impresses; for the Libyans, an 8-line ribbon board with lots of shiny stars thrown in for good measure does the trick. Wait -- maybe that's us, too?

"All that’s missing from the signing of the official guest book during the colonel’s December 2007 visit to the Palace of Versailles are aviator goggles. The Snoopy hat and leather bomber jacket raise the questions: Where does this extraordinary individual get the ideas for his wardrobe? Does he have a team of designers back in Tripoli, working up the hundreds of bizarre looks required of a world leader on official business? What gave him the idea that a fur trapper’s hat was right for this moment in the home of the Bourbon dynasty?"