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Summary

By wearing military-style clothes Zelensky tailored his look to highlight Ukraine鈥檚 culture and history while also emphasizing that the country is in a state of war and increasingly focused on defense.

Abstract 

Volodymyr Zelensky became president of Ukraine in a landslide election in April 2019. Widely acclaimed for his unusual election strategy and populist rhetoric, Zelensky rebranded himself to disassociate from being a comedian and a trick- ster politician. Using Zelensky鈥檚 self-fashioning, I examine several strategies in his fashion choices to convey messages about gender and masculinity. His clothing, body language and behaviour tell a story about an uneasy relationship in Ukraine between the competing narratives of the nation and its military history and present. I argue that Zelensky鈥檚 clothing signals a sharp turn away from his previous pre- and post-election rhetoric of civic secularism and peaceful national- ism, as well as his emphasis on belonging. His use of military fatigues and traditional Ukrainian clothing demonstrates that he adapted his message to underscore Ukraine鈥檚 culture and history, while also drawing attention to the country鈥檚 militarization. At the same time, the casual style of dress he adopted, his open emotional expressions and his body language show a more contemporary and non-hegemonic version of masculinity.

1. How did Zelensky鈥檚 self-presentation through clothing and style affect his popularity, especially during the early period of the full-scale invasion (2022鈥�2024)?

2. How did Zelensky鈥檚 clothing choices change from before February 2022 to after? 

3. What are the implications for how we understand clothing as a form of political communication for leaders鈥攑articularly in relation to Eastern European masculinity?

Outlines a new understanding of masculinity in the post-Soviet space and examines how military and tactical clothing is interpreted in Ukraine during the war.

It combines fashion semiology and gender (masculinity) studies by treating clothing as a system of signs that communicates meaning, and then analyzing how those meanings shape ideas about manhood. In Zelensky鈥檚 case, items like military-style sweatshirts, boots, and muted colors function as visual messages鈥攕ignaling duty, restraint, solidarity, and wartime leadership. Reading those signs through masculinity studies helps explain how his appearance contributes to a distinct model of Ukrainian masculinity that differs from post-Soviet 鈥渟trongman鈥� styles.

Zelensky鈥檚 wartime style helps shift what many people read as 鈥渟trong鈥� leadership鈥攆rom luxury, dominance, and distance to modesty, endurance, and being visibly 鈥渨ith鈥� the public. It also makes him feel more relatable, which can deepen emotional connection to him as a person and help audiences see Ukraine鈥檚 struggle in more human terms. That relatability has contributed to greater empathy for Ukraine worldwide, while also showing how clothing becomes a powerful social language in crisis鈥攗niting people, but sometimes creating pressure to look and act 鈥減atriotically鈥� in a narrow way.

Zelensky鈥檚 case shows why scholars need to treat self-fashioning (clothing, grooming, visual style, media image) as more than personal branding鈥攊t can shape how a nation is perceived, how legitimacy is built, and how international support and empathy are mobilized. Studying this systematically could create a new field of inquiry on Ukrainian masculinities and reveal how leadership appearance influences a country鈥檚 symbolic power, geopolitical positioning, and public affect both at home and globally.

Alla Myzelev “Volodymyr Zelensky: The New Ukrainian Masculinity”, Crtical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, vol 16 no. 2., 2025, pp. 131-152.