Not content with being a thorn in the west’s side, president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been getting in their face too – as a style icon. It is not his skinny trousers that have made him a sartorial role model (though there have been plenty of those on the catwalk), nor his trendy loafers, nor even his refusal to wear a tie.

Rather, it is his signature fawn-coloured cotton blouson jacket – known locally, natch, as the Ahmadine-jacket – that has elevated Ahmadinejad to clothes horse of the month. Iranian entrepreneurs have reportedly ordered container-loads of copies from Chinese manufacturers for loyal followers to wear.