Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt: A PeaceBang Styling Session

Hej, pigeons! Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has graciously provided us with lots of wonderful outfits and hairdos we can examine together to see how attire projects leadership and personality. Let’s go have a look, shall we?

The Prime Minister is my exact age, which is to say that she is forty-something with a very heavy tilt toward fifty.

Ms. Thorning-Schmidt a beautiful person, that’s for sure. Here she looks relaxed and appropriate for a television appearance. There’s nothing particularly interesting about her attire but accessories don’t seem to be her thing. Peach jacket over black shell. Frankly, her lovely face, open and engaged expression and lush hair do a lot of the work that accessories would do for a less vibrant personality: add vitality and interest.

This also appears to be a casual outing, ie, not on official business. She has great posture and can carry off a busy print very well. And she’s comfortably sexy, which is allowed in Denmark but very suspect in the US of A.

But here — WUH-OH! Madame Prime Minister! You are obviously doing serious state business here, but how come you need to be all buttoned up in this quasi-militaristic manner? You do not look happy.

This look is very common with women clergy who are not confident about being taken seriously and choose garments that go overboard in communicating “I AM A SERIOUS PERSON.” I am always put in mind of this when I see what I call “suit drag:”

There is no need to dress like a prison matron in order to be seen as a leader.

I’m kind of obsessed with how accessories-averse the PM is, and I would like to volunteer my services as her stylist if I can spend a few weeks in Copenhagen, because I LOVE Copenhagen.

Charcoal grey with a simple neckline and pearls at neck and ears looks elegant and classic:

Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org

But this is just frumpy:

And if you’re going to be with the royals at Buckingham Palace in a white suit, madame, you need to get some help putting something better than this together. The shoe choice pains me:

As PM, Helle has to go to a lot of fancy balls and stuff (see, we’re on a first-name basis now). This is very aging, Helle. You’re so beautiful. We can do better with your evening wear:

Oh my gosh, red hair! That went away, I guess. But a fun scarf, yay! So animated!

I conclude, from my humble position as an ordinary United States citizen, that the Danish Prime Minister should wear more prints and hire me as a stylist. We would have SO. MUCH. FUN.