Abstract

Merkel grimly submitted to an executive fashion makeover after the media sneered at her frumpy look; now she clearly relishes shining out in jewel-toned jackets from a forest of dark suits at G20 meetings. And, just once, she stunned the nation by wearing a deep blue evening dress with a fjord-like cleavage and pearls to an opera in Oslo. Quite possibly that was when a lot of Germans first woke up to the fact that their head of government was female. But, ordinarily, Merkel still wears less make-up and hairspray on the job than Silvio Berlusconi on vacation.

(Constanze Stelzenmüller, Observer, August 23, 2009: 33)