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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spent most of the past few years wearing tactical-style activewear - including at his contentious February meeting with President Donald Trump. So many were surprised to see him show up to the White House on Monday in a black suit, with large, boxy pockets and a short lapel, styled after a military jacket - a more formal ensemble that still allows him to dress in homage to Ukrainian soldiers in their war with Russia.
Viktor Anisimov, the Ukrainian designer behind the new outfit, said in a Zoom interview Wednesday that the dustup with Trump wasn't the primary motivation for its creation: Zelensky and Anisimov had been working on the look even before the February meeting. He rolled it out at the funeral for Pope Francis in April, and also wore it to a NATO summit and a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in June.
Anisimov, 61, spoke to The Washington Post from Spain, where his partner and daughter live; he splits his time between there and Ukraine. He said that Zelensky's wife, Olena Zelenska, was the one who urged the president to work with Anisimov on a suit.
As the war approached the three-year mark this past winter, Anisimov and his colleagues had begun to wonder whether the president might benefit from a wardrobe refresh: He had started traveling the world more, "meeting new people, and he slightly contrasted with the first lady and with those around him," Anisimov said through an interpreter. (Zelensky's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
The president's team seemingly had the same idea.
Anisimov began working with Zelensky more than two decades ago, during the president's earlier showbiz career, designing suits for his comedy troupe Kvartal 95 as the members struck out on their own in 2003 from the KVN comedy competition that gave them their start. "Knowing our relationship, the first lady decided that if anyone could convince him to change his look, it would be me," Anisimov said.
Conversations about a new, more formal style for the president began in earnest in January. "The task itself wasn't complicated: to preserve the image of a president at war by keeping military style, by replacing khaki with black, but to add also some design and fashionable touches," Anisimov said.
According to the designer, Zelensky largely left the specifics to him: "He has so many tasks in life that 24 hours a day isn't enough. He doesn't have time to think about pockets. That was our idea," Anisimov said. "He liked what he saw."
Over the following weeks, Zelensky attended seven fittings with the designer, often accompanied by the first lady, Anisimov said. "They are a team. Unfortunately, she wasn't there at the last fitting that we did. That is why maybe a blue suit" - a more common choice in politics, as well as a national color of Ukraine - "was declined by the president" for being too fashionable and not timely.
After Zelensky wore the new look at the pope's funeral, it attracted attention from Ukrainians when he reprised it at the NATO summit with Trump and other world leaders at The Hague in June. The Ukraine-based newsletter the Counteroffensive shared an AI-generated meme image that had made the rounds in Ukraine: Zelensky in a suit with playing cards printed all over it. "Zelensky's look at the next meeting with Trump," went the caption - in reference to Trump's earlier comment that Ukraine didn't "have the cards."
In Washington on Monday, pranksters posted a banner enjoining Zelensky to "Wear a suit, bro." But nobody was happier to see Zelensky's outfit than Trump himself. Except for maybe Brian Glenn - the Real America's Voice reporter who asked Zelensky "Why don't you wear a suit?" at the testy February meeting.
On Monday, ahead of a question about the possibility of peace in Ukraine, Glenn acknowledged the new look. "First of all, President Zelensky, you look fabulous in that suit," he said. "You look good."
"I said the same thing. And that's the one that attacked you last time," Trump said.
"I remember," Zelensky quipped, prompting laughter throughout the room.
"I apologize to you. You look wonderful," Glenn replied. To which Zelensky playfully retorted: "You are in the same suit. You see, I changed, you did not."
Many Ukrainians couldn't care less about presidential fashion, Anisimov acknowledged. "Ukraine is waiting for peace, and what someone is wearing is of very little importance," he said, adding that he was surprised to be doing so many interviews about the suit. Still, the designer recognizes how critical a role his creation could play in world affairs.
"History tends to repeat itself. Twenty years ago, we shifted from T-shirts to the classic suit for the comedian team," he mused. Now, he hopes the transition from a "simple khaki T-shirt" to a more traditional suit "will mean peace for all of us."
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