# Why does Ahmadinejad wear a suit?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 15, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758 "2006-08-15T02:34:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/1 "2006-08-15T02:34:14Z")
Well, why does he? He’s fairly anti-Western, but a suit is the stereotypical dress for a Western man. Why doesn’t he wear a traditional Iranian outfit? Look at [this picture](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/5/5a/180px-Khatami-and-Ahmadinejad.jpg) of him walking next to Mohammed Khatami.
The same question could be asked for a number of people who are also considered to be against the West - for instance, North Korean officials and diplomats usually wear suits.
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### Author:  [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/2 "2006-08-15T02:48:06Z")
It’s actually fairly common for politicians in that area to wear suits. [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Majiles.jpg) is a photo of the Iranian parliament, for instance. He just stands out because Iran has been led by clerics for quite a while. Although it’s not uncommon to wear a suit, his dress is different in that he often dresses in pretty shabby suits, and I believe that that’s to reinforce the notion that he comes from humble roots.
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### Author:  [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/3 "2006-08-17T02:55:08Z")
It is most likely to gain global recognition. If he dresses like a cleric he would more easily be dismissed as a just another religious nutcase.
Also his politic style, which is different from former Iranian leaders, is to be a politician for the average Iranian. To reinforce this notion, it is better for him to wear shabby suits.
It’s all about politics, hardly anything is really about religious values.
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/4 "2006-08-17T13:33:06Z")
You might just as well ask why the Chinese government wear suits. The fact is that suits have long since ceased to be a purely Western form of attire. Nobody associates suits specifically with the West any more.
Iranian politicians don’t seem to wear ties, though.
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### Author:  [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/5 "2006-08-17T21:31:08Z")
As implied by **Lakai** , his political style and personal biography is fairly different from former Iranian leaders. Although I don’t doubt that he is personally a religious person, he is not a cleric, but studied engineering at a renommated Iranian university. Probably he thinks he wouldn’t be credible to the Iranian people if he dressed the same way as religious leaders.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/6 "2006-08-17T21:42:00Z")
> [@Absolute](#):
>
> He’s fairly anti-Western…
Is he? He is virulently anti-America and anti-Israel, but that does not necessarily mean he rejects all things Western. For all I know, he may be on good or at least neutral terms with most of Europe. Anybody know the straight dope on this?
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### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/7 "2006-08-17T21:51:12Z")
Maybe he is just anti-_style_
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### Author:  [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/8 "2006-08-18T14:13:22Z")
I’ve been waiting to see if someone would make the obvious joke. Well, if you want things done right…
Why does Ahmadinejad wear a suit? To keep everyone from seeing his “hidden Imam”. 😃
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### Author:  [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/9 "2006-08-19T23:17:33Z")
> [@Lakai](#):
>
> It is most likely to gain global recognition. If he dresses like a cleric he would more easily be dismissed as a just another religious nutcase.
Plus, he’s not a cleric, he’s a politician.
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### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/10 "2006-08-22T02:00:04Z")
Don’t hate me if I’m terribly misinformed, but I think it’s the tie that is Western, not the suit.
Just going, not even from memory, just what’s in me head.
hh
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/11 "2006-08-22T02:22:10Z")
> [@Mathochist](#):
>
> I’ve been waiting to see if someone would make the obvious joke. Well, if you want things done right…
>
> Why does Ahmadinejad wear a suit? To keep everyone from seeing his “hidden Imam”. 😃
Okay, I was going to say he wears a suit so that he gets more coins in his tin cup when the organ grinder plays music.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/12 "2006-08-22T02:24:51Z")
I wouldn’t even call it a suit. Just a sports jacket over a dress shirt with no tie. He dresses like a college professor, not a politician.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/13 "2006-08-22T02:26:02Z")
> [@Renob](#):
>
> Plus, he’s not a cleric, he’s a politician.
Isn’t he the first lay head of government or state since the fall of the Shah?
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/14 "2006-08-22T13:22:35Z")
> [@Alive At Both Ends](#):
>
> Iranian politicians don’t seem to wear ties, though.
I think I’ve heard that some Muslims consider ties to be symbols of Western decadence and effeminacy.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ahmadinejad-wear-a-suit/368758/15 "2006-08-22T15:12:44Z")
Ties are discouraged in Iran as being western and therefore, bad. (We are the goon squad and we’re coming for you - beep, beep!) Suits are not that unusual. The thing about his dress that is kind of surprising to me is that his shirts often have collars on them. This has also been viewed as being western in Iran and the collar-less type of dress shirt was preferred. If the prez is wearing them, however, it must be okay these days.