Muammar Gaddafi Requests a 'Stylish Retrospective of His Fashion Highlights' from the Met, By Way of the NY Times
You’d think that with UN no-fly sanctions, doing battle with rebel forces trying to oust his command, and generally being one of the more unpopular people of the day, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would have more pressing matters than his wardrobe. But you’d be absolutely wrong. The NY Times features and online director of the paper’s T Magazine, Horacio Silva, recently received this utterly bizarre letter, supposedly from a member of Libya’s Minister for Culture and Ethnic Affairs office, asking if he would like to come visit Tripoli to see Gaddafi’s stockpile of clothing. According to the letter, the “dear leader” is worried that his famously-colorful clothes will be damaged by bombs and that, were Mr. Silva to come, he might then be able to convince the Metropolitan Museum of Art to curate “a stylish retrospective of his fashion highlights” in their Costume Institute. No, not a lot of it makes sense, so of course we’re inclined to believe it’s true (even after we were so badly hoaxed with that clever Home Depot prank). Either way, it’s a wonderfully bizarre letter, which Silva has posted in full. Here’s a bit:
Indeed many of his clothes have featured in global magazines from the hundreds of state visits and functions he has hosted over the years fro world leaders. All of whom are in agreement, ahumdullillah, that our President is one of the very best dressed men of the last half century. It is not only African and Arab leaders who have been influenced by his style and substance but many western rock stars and celebrities have also been won over by the Gaddafi look: most notably Michael Jackson in the 1980’s copied the signature motif military style of our leader to great chart success on his own terms.
