OPINION
Mike Hosking, on the radio waves from London on Monday, single-handedly solved a massive dilemma for Chris Luxon preparing for the King’s coronation. He couldn’t find a double-breasted waistcoat to go with his morning suit. Zut Alors!
Crisis averted. It turns out, there are plenty to choose from in London.
Phew, thanks Mike.
But wait! Is this the same politician who turned up to face the New Zealand public, tieless, for his first major speech of election year? The speech which was applauded by highly critical Bob Jones as the best he had heard since Rob Muldoon, but ruined by the fact that the optics were not good. Luxon’s appearance in his open necked shirt and no tie was described by some as ‘scruffy’.
But the tone deaf man still has not got the message that both style and substance (which his party has plenty of) count hugely in the political arena. Previously as a manager in private enterprise he did not have to woo the public to vote for him. He had a captive audience eager to please him to keep their jobs. He could look casual and who cared?
You’re not at Air NZ now Christopher Luxon.
By his fashion choices, he shows his elitism. Christopher Luxon, as the ‘extrovert’ leader of the NZ Opposition, is not likely to register on the coverage of this massive occasion, but he is making a song and dance about getting his outfit just right for the ‘occasion’ and to mix with the great and the good.
I do see Hosking’s point and have no problem with Luxon wearing a morning suit; he is rich and can afford it, but it is the contrast with his ‘brand’ in New Zealand that is confusing.
Luxon appears to be vain. He apparently changed the background colours on National’s branding to suit himself and, possibly, his skin tone and is known to change his clothes several times a day. A journalist mentioned he was late for an interview because he had to change his clothes. (I don’t think the late bit would happen very often as he is driven and hard-working.)
Jacinda Ardern as a woman (who are known to be more appearance-conscious) didn’t continually change her clothes. Shock horror, she usually got through the day in the same outft, which is perfectly acceptable. And to be fair some did not even like her dress sense but she blitzed it with her charm, likeablity and eloquent word salads (until she didn’t).
Doing a morning TV interview when thousands of people will see him, Luxon deems the casual ‘rushed out the door half dressed with an open necked shirt look’ adequate; then later in the House he is in his formal suit and tie, when few get to see him. Nobody watches Parliament TV apart from political tragics like me.
My point is that he is leader of National 24/7 and no appearance is any less important than any other. Every time he appears in public is a rehearsal for the top job and garnering potential votes. He should look his best and not scruffy, as some perceive him.
He does not look like a Prime Minister in waiting; just a man with a fashion dilemma playing out in real time as the election date looms ever closer.
In wooing back the 400,000 who defected to Labour in answer to Jacinda’s siren song, is he trying to play both sides; mix and matching to look casual for those liberal luvvies who may come back and more formal for the conservative base; or like his fear of dealing with social justice issues, not wanting to offend anybody?
Always in life when you try to please everyone you end up pleasing no one or in his case potentially relegating his party to another three years in opposition.
Second guessing the general public is a dangerous game as National have found to their cost. The general public describing his appearance as ‘scruffy’ got me asking, “Why did he not wear a suit and tie for his first most important appearance for election year?” It was not just me who noticed, but other potential voters.
This is not the best time to try to be the global trailblazer in changing the face of men’s business attire when going for the job of his life. Whether he likes it or not, the accepted ‘business’ attire for men is suit and tie. Women have more leeway.
When Luxon was recently introducing his health policy (tieless), the always impeccably dressed Dr Shane Reti beside him looked more prime ministerial than his boss. And a recent image of a slimmed down Chris Bishop with a sharp new haircut and suit and tie sent a message he is taking this year’s challenge very seriously, although his attire isn’t as crucial as the man in the spotlight, his boss.
When doing a press conference Luxon looks like a man in a hurry, looking for the exits so he can make a fast getaway. He does not always look like he is ‘in the moment’; although it is clear he works very hard, is churning out well-thought-out policy and has his party running like a well-oiled machine.
His performance is what puts the cherry on the cake and every detail is important. Not being a career politician, as he constantly reminds us, is not an advantage when dealing with the media.
A recent media training expert on Newstalk ZB said she thinks Luxon had media training at Air NZ but could do with specific training for politics, which she believes Hipkins has had and in my opinion could possibly be of more value than te reo lessons.
He needs to relax and realise the value of a pause, to gather his thoughts. His speech is a little too fast which shows nerves, although he is well informed with smother delivery than the PM.
He must never forget he is up against a crafty career politician.
Hipkins has an excellent command of the English language, better than most; however, his delivery is punctuated like there is a full stop after each word. During his initial speech of the year, it was almost a relief to cross to Luxon, whose speech I was more interested in any way, to hear his smoother delivery style (its perception, not preception, Chris).
He needs to eradicate his annoying habit of, weirdly and wrongly, ending a quote in the House with ‘quote’ rather than ‘unquote’ or ‘end quote’ or a pause. It sounds ignorant and bloody-minded. Even the most pathetic, uninspiring MPs (and there are a few) get this right except him (and Willis on occasion). Does their hubris and egos override listening to others?
Have his advisers told him? Or is he surrounded by ‘yes’ men, afraid to upset him?
This appears to be the case with his public bullying of two MPs showing him at his most inflexible, ill-informed and badly advised.
In contrast, Chris Hipkins, who shows his professionalism and his respect for his office by always wearing a suit and tie, has opted for a suit from Barkers for the coronation, according to Hosking. To be fair Hipkins, like Ardern did, needs tonnes of positive optics to counteract the severe lack of substance in his government.
Hipkins has got it about right, putting more thought into his correct attire for his job in New Zealand than attending a high-class event where the King, the royal family and women in their glittering gowns and haute couture will be in the camera’s sights, not the men in their boring suits.
Also, Hipkins gets better coverage from the media than Luxon who lately has unflattering images of himself everywhere; so needs to work that little bit harder to get positive coverage. A latest Herald image shows a smiling PM beside the opposition leader looking like he is having a bad day: a trick the media use for those politicians they don’t like.
Shame on the media, who to their credit did give Luxon lots of positive exposure in his early halcyon high polling days. One enduring image looked like he had a crown on his head, an optical illusion from a lit up advertisement on the wall above him, which stayed online for a while. I guess even (a left-leaning) media likes a conservative winner
However, even when all the details are perfect, we also need to consider the adage:
People won’t remember what you did or what you said but how you made them feel.
Could this be the reason with their lies (not misinformation), damaging social engineering agenda and their almost complete destruction of the NZ economy, Labour are still neck and neck with National, as Hipkins with his political smarts and his relaxed smiling boy scout manner, resonates better than Luxon?
The fickle public are still going for style over substance, as New Zealanders are wont to do –and regret.