2022: Roger Stone's Best and Worst Dressed List

The 14th Annual List of My Best & Worst Dressed.

On this New Year's Day we return to a tradition, and for the 14th year I post my International Best & Worst Dressed List. I undertook this tradition when the late Mr. Blackwell, a Hollywood columnist who produced his own List every year for 48 years, passed away in 2008. I published no List in 2020 because I was gagged from all public content by a federal judge and no List for 2021 because my wife had just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, from which, I am happy to report, she is in total remission.

It was hard enough coming up with the List of the Best and Worst Dressed ladies and gentlemen prior to the development of the transgender phenomena in which men wear women's clothing and vice versa. This makes it even more difficult. This List is, however, not political, as I would note that late Senator Ted Kennedy was in my Best Dressed List for several years and MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon once again graces our Worst Dressed List this year. The List is nonpartisan and entirely non-ideological.

The designer Mary Quant once said about clothing, "People like you better without knowing why, because people always react well to a person they like the looks of." It was Mark Twain who said, "Clothes make the man," although in this case, clothes make the man and woman.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Larry Kudlow

Audrey Gelman

Shannon Sharpe

Josh Mankciewicz

A "Lifetime Achievement" category became necessary when a handful of true dandies and swans dominated the List for several years. In order to create room for the up and coming we moved them to this category of sartorial perfection.

In past years, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow, CNN’s Mike Smerconish, presidential daughter Ivanka Trump, NBC’s Josh Mankciewicz, CBS Sports Shannon Sharpe, Rocker Mark Ronson, New York PR Whiz Audrey Gelman, and Pennsylvania politico Gordon Woodrow all graced our Best Dressed List for multiple years—ultimately graduating to our LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT category. We salute them all, as this pantheon is joined by those inducted this year.

Now to the main list:

THE BEST DRESSED

Melania Trump Let’s face it: The former First Lady would look great in anything she wore. She was the most chic and well-dressed first lady since Jackie Kennedy. But this kind, cultured, soft-spoken lady took major abuse for her fashion choices, with virtually none of it merited. Always appropriate, tasteful and elegant. Hadley Freeman of The Guardian trashed her African safari outfit  as "neocolonial." Wrong! It was smashing! If you saw her when she and President Trump visited the Queen Elizabeth, she was radiant.

Joe Biden Yes, I know I'm going to take a lot of crap for it but the President's selection of neckwear is impeccable and always has been. Biden wears the perfect style and size of collar for his face and his necktie choices. He also sticks to solid color suits because he knows they make you look taller. I even like his aviator shades. FDR had his cigarette holder and naval cape. LBJ had his "Open Roader" cowboy hats, and Joe has his aviators. No further political comment in the spirit of the non-partisan, non-political nature of the Best and Worst List.

Karyn Turk could be the hardest working woman in the media. She co-hosts American Morning on Real America's Voice. Her spiky heels shoe selection are always perfect. No one looks better in the little cocktail dress. She rocks a headband. We share a secret—the thrift shops in Palm Beach often have magnificent castoffs from the rich and famous, and we have shopped them together.

Charles Payne of FOX Business News is a man with style. As a big man, he dresses to minimize his girth and he does it with flair. His long collars countervail his soft round face. His look has an urban feel to it. The best pencil mustache since Bud Abbott when he sports it.

Jennifer Coolidge is an actress who knows exactly what she looks good in and exactly how much cleavage is enough. The woman has sass. Don't believe me? Check it out.

Greg Kelly of WABC radio in New York and Newsmax, is a man of impeccable instincts and understated style. Preferring a more subdued style, he is never showy. He once mused on social media about taking over the authorship of this List on an annual basis, and I told him he could have it when I died.

Isabella DeLuca is a rising star who has set the bar on female dress in the conservative movement. She truly shined at the NYC Young Republicans Gala in an elegant yet very chic green dress. Her look is always polished, stylish and timeless. First time on the Best Dressed List and certainly won’t be her last.

Wayne Allyn Root can cram more promo code commercials into an hour podcast than anyone I know, and he always looks great while doing it. A Brioni man (the same suit choice as President Donald Trump), Root dresses like a New Yorker who picked up a little Las Vegas flare when he was an oddsmaker. He is wise to stick to solid neckties, and should avoid posting selfies of himself at the gym. He looks much better dressed.

Giorgia Meloni is not a fascist; she's a fashionista. Ms. Giorgia Meloni, founder of the hard-right Brothers of Italy Party and leader of the conservative coalition that won the national election, wore three dark Armani pantsuits on the three days of formal transition of power. Meloni wore an Armani suit with a black shirt for her first official photograph with her ministers, an Armani with a white shirt for her handover meeting with her predecessor, and a navy blue Armani in between. This is power dressing.

T.R. Sartor As the host of Vintage Style, Vintage Values, and the founder of the Order of Social Antiquity, he is making classic American dress cool again to thousands of Gen Z conservatives. He is impossible to miss, with his impeccably tailored classic suits reminiscent of an earlier era when men gave a damn about the way they looked in public. 

Matt Brooks They say that Jackie Gleason, although a man of considerable bulk, was one of the best dressers of his age. The Great One understood that dressing in dark, easy-fitting solid ventless two-button single-breasted suits minimized his size and allowed him to avoid the stuffed sausage look. The longtime Executive Director of the National Republican Jewish Coalition is also a man of considerable but declining girth, and he applies Gleason's rules with aplomb. The one exception is his fondness for a cream color summer dinner jacket which, owing to its traditional status, still looks great.

Jeanine Pirro Since her days as a District Attorney, Judge Jeanine Pirro has always had a great wardrobe sense. The Fox News commentator always dresses appropriately for the occasion. Whether in hot pink, deep scarlet, or somber black, Judge Pirro likes the fashion forward designs of Donna Ricco (@DonnaRicco). The Judge manages to look both sexy and judicious at the same time.

Eric Metaxas This TBN radio host and maestro of the podcast, "The Eric Metaxas Radio Show!", is an impeccably tailored man about town. Metaxas is a longtime client of legendary New York City Italian tailor, Domenico Spano. As a disciple of Spano, Metaxas custom-made suits have a bit more shoulder than the more traditional drape suit cut offered by Anderson & Sheppard of Savile Row, London, as well as New York designed Alan Flusser. Metaxas knows how to sport a cutaway collar but often eschews his beautiful suits for a Ivy League college style that includes tweedy sports coats, V-neck sweaters, and natty neckwear.

Alex Stein This confrontational activist and gonzo journalist dresses down when on the hunt for his journalist prey,  but when not on a "mission" he is always resplendent in a well-cut solid tie and solid white shirt and dark blue suit which works for man of his stature. It proves even rebels can be well turned out. No one will ever mistake the comedian-activist of looking like ANTIFA.

THE WORST DRESSED

John Fetterman The New York Times said he was one of the 91 most stylish people in America. Let's just say the Old Gray Lady isn't what she used to be. Fetterman has a uniform of a dark hoodie and cargo pants. He dresses like a skateboarder. The cowl of the hoodie does hide an odd growth on his neck. A very strange man. Not stylish in any way.

Jill Biden Why do her dresses always look like they were made out of curtains table cloths or rugs? Her choice of bold and cheap looking prints is not a good look for her. The First Lady should never look dowdy. Sadly, Dr. Jill's sartorial choices are not as good at as her husband's.

Klaus Schwab dresses exactly like what he is, an International villain worthy of a James Bond movie. This guy has the "Dr. No" look down pat. His "bad guy" Nehru jackets are bad enough--but his beach attire is even worse! This guy really does plan on destroying the world, or at least getting control of it.

Harry Styles has the rare distinction of having fallen off the one of my previous International Best Dressed Lists to join the ranks of the poorly clad. Early in his career, Styles affected the look of a debanoir crooner with tailored suits, straight collars, and tasty neckwear. Now, sadly, this entertainer has started donning the kind of jumpsuits that Elvis began wearing in Las Vegas in the most tragic period of his career. Unlike Elvis, Styles' jumpsuits are open to the navel. It's a bad look. Harry, turn back!

Yotuel The lead singer of the music group Orishas wore a Cuban flag cape to the 2021 Latin Grammys Red Carpet. There's only one major issue with this —  No nation's flag should ever be dragged on the floor. Could you imagine how José Martí & Félix Varela, the founders of the Cuban nation, would react to this?

Volodymyr Zelensky He was an actor before he was President. Nothing wrong with that—Ronald Reagan was an actor. It would only be a bad thing if you were an actor hired by a bunch of oligarchs to play a president... He is always in costume. Wearing a green combat sweatshirt when you are addressing a joint session of Congress is disrespectful. We've given you $100 billion. You can't wear a suit and tie?

Samuel Bankman Fried This guy is the epitome of a techy nerd. His uniform of a dark t-shirt and cheap khakis put him in a different class than other robbers like Jesse James and Charles Ponzi. Sadly, it is the look of his generation. Laundering U.S. Aid to Ukraine into crypto and funneling it back to both Republican and Democrat political campaigns evidently does not require you to be well turned out, but would it hurt?

Steve Bannon has made my Worst Dressed List for a number of years. I don't understand why he wears button-down shirts on top of button down shirts, or the whole "fat Johnny Cash” vibe he's got going. And what's with the three pens clipped to his shirt? Unkempt slovenly inappropriate.

Lenny Kravitz needs to figure out whether he's going to go through the full transgender look - which is popular with some today - or whether he is going to remain committed to dressing like a man. His fashion choices show enormous indecision over this question.

Kathy Hochul The Governor of New York dresses like a mob wife, albeit, one who is headed to a funeral. An excess of plastic surgery and poorly applied botox make her entire look even worse. Her clothes look cheap, drab, and never elegant. If you are going to be Governor, you should learn how to dress better.

Justin Bieber If he wants to see how a teen idol should look, he should examine the young Frank Sinatra. He was always impeccably tailored in a close fitting suit, wearing a signature, floppy cravat, or a super cool, thin, solid tie, and topped with a straw tribly. Sinatra made the bobbysoxers wail. Bieber dresses like a punk. There is nothing clever about oversized clothes, unless you are David Byrne of the Talking Heads.

Sam Brinton I get the thing about dressing like a woman, but the woman you dress like should have taste. Not everything you wear on the days you are feeling like a woman should be off the shoulder. If you are going to dress like a woman, it shouldn't be trashy woman. If you are a man and you are going to dress like a woman, wouldn't you shave the mustache? The two looks collide.

Rosa Delaura Connecticut is known as the "Land of Steady Habits" and the state has been returning this repugnant looking Democrat to Congress since 1990. Her purple hair looks juvenile, her clothing appears to have been taken from a dumpster, her look is vile, tasteless, and revolting.