WHY IT MATTERS THAT DONALD TRUMP WEARS BRIONI SUITS

People who say that what a politician wears doesn't matter are wrong. Sure, what the politician actually says on the podium should be what any potential voter should be paying attention to, but what a politician wears can ultimately give an insight into their mindset — or even undermine the values they're said to support.

Of course, as anyone who's read the Daily Mail will know, it's usually the women in the political world who come under the greatest scrutiny for the clothes on their back. And usually, this analysis is unfairly is pushed to the extreme — where a female politician or First Lady's fashion choices are seen as somehow a reflection on their inability to do a serious job (Teresa May being perplexingly seen as "famously unapologetic" of her penchant for a pair of leopard-print heels or patent boots, springs to mind).

This has only been heightened with the potential of a woman being the US president. Thousands of column inches have been dedicated to analysing, deriding and praising Hillary Clinton's wardrobe choices on the campaign trail — so much so, in fact, that Clinton has referenced it in her Twitter bio: "hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, 2016 presidential candidate".

Rarely do the labels male politicians wear make headlines. In fact, with the exception of a few jibes about Jeremy Corbyn's frequent tielessness, the last major mention of a male politician's fashion choices was the fallout of our interview with Andy Burnham during the 2015 Labour Party leadership contest, in which he confessed he favoured a (discounted) Armani suit.

In the same way as with female politicians, a male politician's clothing can become a battleground, which is why we've taken note of a little nugget of information in a Business of Fashion story this morning: Donald Trump has a thing for Brioni suits.

And apparently it's a brand he's been loyal to for many years. According to Mereditch McIver, ghostwriter of his 2004 book Trump: Think Like a Billionaire[i], the Republican presidential candidate said that Brioni «graciously supply me with my clothing for [i]The Apprentice[i]”. Today, Trump might buy all his Brioni suits himself, but what does that say of a man who espouses the need to create more American jobs for American people — then wears clothes cut by European designers? On a side note, it’s worth pointing out that to give her now-infamous speech at the RNC in Cleveland, Melania Trump wore a dress by Roksanda Ilincic, a Serbian-born designer based here in Britain, bought from [i]Net-A-Porter. Great for cementing that "special relationship" between us Brits and the US, but not exactly supportive of the content of her husband's pro-American industry speeches.

Contrast this with the highest-profile female Democrats we've seen at the DNC in Philidelphia so far: Hillary Clinton has been almost solidly wearing suits by a homegrown American designer, Mississippi-born Nina McLemore and Michelle Obama wore a party-appropriate blue dress by American designer Christian Siriano.

As a final note, it's worth casting your eyes down at the watch former US president Bill Clinton wore to endorse his wife at the DNC: a 47-mm Shinola Runwell, assembled in Detroit.

If that's not supporting US industry, I don't know what is.