PM Lee drops subtle acknowledgement on social media of his penchant for pink shirts

In a time of a global pandemic that has greatly affected Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is serving the nation with poise, calm and looks. 

The leader’s sartorial choices became a topic of interest over the weekend after a series of Instagram posts by Izyanti Asa’ari pointed out how pink is the Prime Minister’s prime colour of choice when national announcements need to be made. 

Out of restlessness and perhaps more than a little anxiety over what’s happening in the world, the 32-year-old graphic designer decided to get something out of her system: the pattern of pink-hued shirts that PM Lee regularly dons when he makes televised appearances. 

“I don't [know] what it is for me, but this… phenomenon has always been a thing my brain strangely and unfortunately keeps track of,” Izyanti stated. 

And thus she spent 30 minutes poring over Google to find all the times that he wore pink shirts. Accompanied by her commentary on the styles and variations of his rose-coloured attire. 

Since her Instagram Stories were reposted on Facebook on Friday (March 13) by a Lydia Shah, the Prime Minister’s fashion appraisal got widely shared over the weekend, garnering hundreds of engagements and reactions. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Izyanti expressed pleasant surprise over how viral her posts went, but was more delighted with the messages people sent her about the Prime Minister. The man was, after all, among the top mathematics graduates in Cambridge who could have been a world-class research mathematician if not for the whole politics business.

“I really liked the people that DM-ed me with trivia about the PM and his forgotten academic dreams,” Izyanti told AsiaOne. “Like we’re all entertaining alternate realities.”

The Prime Minister hasn’t exactly responded to the viral posts but he certainly indicated that he’s well aware of his penchant for pink. 

ilyas@asiaone.com