When writer Peter York first published Dictator Style in 2005 there was no way he could have predicted this look’s American revival in 2024. And there is a cheekily elegiac tone to his book, as if to say there was a sunsetting of dictatorship culture. After opening with a quote of “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” York points out the then-dominant billionaire taste was “the dressed down wooden beams of new Silicon Valley money.” At the time, no one rich and all-powerful wanted to actually look it. Fast forward a few election cycles.
While the idea of bad/good culture itself is root coded into every capitalist project from colonialism to neoliberalism, any dictator’s sartorial choices can still be a hilarious respite from years of that boot on your neck. Really? You’re wearing that to the show trial?
According to York, you too can get the look with the following rules….
“Have Yourself Everywhere”
“Think Hotel”
“Have Important Oil Paintings”
“Go For Gold”
“Big It Up”
“Think French”
“Involve Brands”
