Style pro: Obama, Thompson tops in ‘swagger’ primary

Published September 27, 2007 4:00am ET



Deep Eggplant

Fonzworth Bentley

, the hip-hop artist, fashion designer and former personal assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs, gave Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. Fred Thompson tied among presidential candidates, with 7 out of 10 swagger points.

As his new book, “Advance Your Swagger: How to Use Manners, Confidence and Style to Get Ahead,” hits shelves, the editors of Men.Style.com asked him to rate the top male presidential candidates on their “swaggerosity.”

Bentley says Obama could make a “strong deep-eggplant tie” his own, like Bill Clinton’s signature blue tie: “Not a merlot, but a beautiful plum or eggplant.”

Thompson gets points for keeping his receding hair pulled back and for his “sexy young wife.”

It’s downhill from there. Bentley says John Edwards doesn’t “seem to care much about style,” although he “looks like he has 60 suits.” Joe Biden “invented the gray sack suit. Rudy Giuliani “has the textbook politician look” and John McCain “ain’t never had nothing close to swagger. … [H]e looks like my fifth-grade social studies teacher.”