New Delhi: Nawaz Sharif can’t get enough of Gucci. And cash-trapped Pakistan doesn’t seem happy about it. The ex-PM made several heads turn when he showed up wearing a cap worth PKR 1 lakh—about Rs30,000—to an election rally in the Nankana Sahib district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
After Pakistanis were done investigating the cap’s price, a consensus emerged—Gen Z doesn’t approve of either the price of the Gucci cap or the way it looked on Sharif.
Even Gucci was looped in. A disgruntled user tweeted tagging the brand, asking them to take note of the ‘bad name’ being brought to the company because of him, “Dear @gucci. Nawaz Sharif is a corrupt Pakistani politician. He has amassed great wealth by siphoning public money from a poor nation. He is wearing your signature cap, a brand which is held in high esteem. Nawaz Sharif wearing it has brought Gucci a bad name. note n action accordingly.”
Amid a severe economic crisis marked by skyrocketing costs of essential goods such as petrol, power, and food, Sharif’s choice of accessory adds another dimension to the ongoing debate. The deplorable state of economic affairs in the country is visible in the increasing pressures on local prices, international and fiscal balances, exchange rates, and foreign reserves. The political uncertainty is also playing a major role in the ongoing crisis.
“Gucci Cap Rs 128,000/- aur batain ghareebon ki, (and he talks about the poor),” wrote another user.
The sight of a political leader, like Sharif, seeking votes from the public while flaunting his expensive wardrobe isn’t easy on the eyes of Pakistanis.
Also read: After Iran attack, Pakistanis want an Army Chief who can hit back and not just attack Imran
Repeat Gucci offender
This is not the first time Sharif has been called out for his luxury lifestyle. In 2023, he was spotted shopping at the upscale Harrods department store in London. Earlier that year, a video of Sharif exiting a Bentley and shopping at a Louis Vuitton store in London had also gone viral. All this while the Pakistan government was seeking financial help, globally.
The same year, Sharif’s Gucci scarf had people in a chokehold. He chose to wear it on the day he returned to Pakistan after a four-year exile. Pakistanis flooded X (formerly Twitter) with disdain.
However, Sharif isn’t the only fashionable politician in Pakistan who has upset the public. In 2022, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) wasn’t spared when he was seen wearing exorbitantly priced Gucci shoes.
“Rich people who rule poor countries buy luxury goods from rich countries and then beg them for money in the name of their poor people,” journalist Arif Rafiq wrote on X.
Another user wrote that Bilawal’s shoes cost “twice Pakistan’s GDP per capita.”
Earlier, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s designer salwar kurta enraged the public. The traditional attire, paired with Peshawari chappal, was the highlight of his meeting with former US President Donald Trump and other top administrative officials in 2019. When the outrage grew, the ex-PM’s close aides tried to pacify the situation by saying that the outfit was locally produced. It only added to the fire because after that, Islamabad-based premium clothing business ‘Mohtaram’ declared that it had stitched seven ‘salwar kameez’ outfits for the prime minister.
After the Gucci cap episode, many are comparing Sharif with Khan by sharing an old picture of the former PM with his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith. Khan is seen wearing kurta pyjama.