“Father Of Fashion” Gets Airtime On Twitter Again

Only a few weeks since his last caught-by-paparazzi “fashion” moment wearing a Burberry shirt worth RM5,500 which many social media users commented the pattern looked similar to cow’s udders, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri once again “wows” Malaysian netizens with his latest fashion statement — another piece by the powerhouse designer, Burberry.

Maybe it was the shirt’s colour or maybe it was the bold red letterings splashed on 90% of the front of the shirt that attracted him to the piece in the first place. Was the word “Universal Passport” that caught his eye or was the price tag of RM6,900 (as stated on the brand’s official store) that sealed the deal? Whatever it was, Ismail Sabri’s choice of clothing once again brought out many unofficial online sleuths when he was spotted wearing the designer shirt at the Jom Heboh Carnival event in Putrajaya last Saturday.

One user commented on the material of the shirt. On the brand’s online store, it is listed that the outer layer of the shirt is made of 100% silk. This is a religiously-related question because Muslim men are forbidden to wear silk and gold. Maybe he didn’t know that the outer layer of the shirt was made of 100% silk so this is one way to reproach him nicely, in case he really didn’t know.

Based on the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H),

أُحِلَّ الذَّهَبُ وَالْحَرِيرُ لإِنَاثِ أُمَّتِي وَحُرِّمَ عَلَى ذُكُورِهَا

“Gold and silk have been permitted for the females of my Ummah, and forbidden to the males.”

Sunan al-Nasi’e (5163)

There are many other hadiths regarding the prohibition of men wearing pure silk. This is exceptional for little boys or if they have any type of skin disease that requires them to wear this material. There’s an elaborate explanation (based on the collective understandings of Islamic scholars) of why Muslim men should not wear silk and you can read about it here. According to an article by Mufti of Federal Territory, Malaysia, these are the type of conditions where Muslim men can and cannot wear silk:

Then, there was another video shared on Ismail Sabri’s official Twitter account on the evening of 27th June where hawk-eyed netizens pointed out through the Quote Tweets (QTs) that the white shirt he was wearing under his business suit was also another Burberry shirt. This time it was the Burberry Slim Fit Horseferry Printed Shirt that costs RM2,390 (based on the brand’s online shop). Prime Minister Ismail Sabri must be a great fan of Burberry.

On a different tone, some netizens admonished the Prime Minister for wearing such an expensive piece of clothing, flaunting it to the Rakyat when that one piece of clothing is worth 3 or 4 months’ wage for some people. This is tone-deaf to the current situation Malaysians are experiencing, especially the rising inflation. Such a show of wealth further widens the gap between the Rakyat and the country’s “representative” that was supposed to fight for their rights.

However, a classic move by another UMNO member and Padang Rengas MP, Nazri Aziz, was when he backed up Ismail Sabri’s choice of fashion when he said “it is not uncommon for the Prime Minister to receive clothes or other luxury goods as gifts and should be worn in public to show his gratitude”. Have some of us not learned a lesson from what Pekan MP, Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor went through when many luxury goods were accepted as “gifts”?

So, what do you think? Has Ismail Sabri’s sense of fashion overturned and knocked Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Annuar Musa off the “designer-clothing-fashionista” pedestal?

Aliza M. is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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