Subliminal sartorial messages on campaign trail?

By Ellen Wulfhorst

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Clothes make the man, as the saying goes, and clothes can do their bit to make the candidate too.

The suits, sweaters, even the knot of a candidate's necktie, help shape public opinion in the U.S. presidential race, whether voters realize it or not, fashion experts say.

"The clothes we wear send a message about how we want to be perceived," fashion guru Tim Gunn said. "Even if voters were to say, 'I don't pay attention to those things,' I think subliminally they must."

Political candidates are "loaded with subliminal messages," said David Wolfe, creative director at Doneger Group retail consultants.

"You take off your necktie, you're a man of the people. You take off your jacket, you're even more a man of the people. Roll up your sleeves, and oh, you're really serious," he said.

While Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, the only woman in the White House race, gets the most attention for her appearance, her male rivals are drawing more attention than usual, said Stan Herman, former head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

"Because there's a woman involved, a lot of people like myself started looking to see if the guys were wearing peak or notch lapels or two button- or three button-suits," he said.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama gets the highest praise from fashionistas for his well-cut suits, which he started to wear more often after winning the Iowa caucuses. Even his necktie is fashionably knotted in a thick, full Windsor knot, a style popular with men in their 20's and 30's, experts say.

While Obama's clothes are "fabulous," said Wolfe, he risks looking as though he is trying too hard.

"As a fashion statement, it's venturing toward foppishness. Should a presidential candidate care that much about his necktie?" Wolfe asked.

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Republican Mitt Romney dresses like the successful businessman he is, with a Harvard Business School background, said Patty Pao, head of the Pao Principle retail consultants.

"He's very well tailored, pressed, everything is creased," she said.

But Romney's old-fashioned, baggy trousers make fashionistas cringe. "I don't think that Romney's pleated pants are going to make an influence on fashion," said Robert Burke of Robert Burke Associates luxury consultants.

Republican Sen. John McCain often dresses casually in sweaters, "trying to look like just plain folks," Pao said. "I guarantee once he starts winning more primaries, he going to evolve into the more presidential look."