2023: Roger Stone's Best and Worst Dressed List

The 15th Annual List of My Best & Worst Dressed.

On this New Year's Day we return to a tradition, and for the 15th 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 communication 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 and I have to fight the urge to inject politics into it. Blackwell spent decades reporting on who were the very best and very worst dressed people in the world. His scorn or imprimatur could be the kiss of death or key to the city for the aspiring actress, socialite or business titan, and his withering criticism could destroy the up and coming.

As I have carried on this tradition in the years since with the Daily Caller, 2023 will be no different. While this year has been full of political, social, and cultural calamities, it has also been populated with some of the best and worst sartorial events around the world. There have been legendary statements of impeccable taste and utterly shocking crimes against not only good taste, but the basic tenets of true style. 

Once again, we must note that while fashion is fleeting, style is both timeless and enduring. Skirts may go up or down, and neckties may be wide or thin, but the double-breasted Navy-blue blazer with gold military buttons will always be in style. The little black cocktail dress will always look smashing. A seersucker suit is always appropriate between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  

We’ve made this point in the past, but feel it necessary to make it again in this age of sartorial error. Just as you don't order fish at a steakhouse, you should not wear a jean jacket to a wedding, as you wouldn't show up in a three piece suit to a bowling alley. Work out clothes are for the Gym and not the Mall. As I noted in my 2018 book "Stone's Rules" which Includes a forward by Tucker Carlson, the best dressed person is the one who is appropriately dressed for the activity in which they intend to engage. It's amazing how many people don't get this simple rule.

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.