Bwelin, April 1 (Reuters): German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop praised Hamid Karzai for his impeccable dress sense and said other world leaders could learn a style lesson or two from the elegant Afghan President.

“President Karzai is a shining example of how a man can maintain the role of a gentleman even while wearing the dress of his ancestors,” Joop wrote in an article for Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel newspaper today.

“Karzai has something that few men and even fewer political leaders have: aura,” Joop wrote, saying Karzai’s fashionable dress — a blue and green Afghan “chapan” cloak and lambskin hat — made him stand out against other leaders in dull dark suits.

Karzai has urged international donors at a two-day congress in Berlin to help his country.