The Night Reagan Wore . . . : . . . the Shirt That Roared

It isn’t often that the President can upstage his wife in the fashion department.

But tonight, as the Reagans wrapped up their two-day visit here at a dinner hosted by President Suharto, all eyes were riveted on Reagan’s batik evening shirt.

His shirt wasn’t exactly loud.

It roared.

A gift from Suharto made especially for Reagan, the long-sleeved, hip-length shirt was emblazoned with huge presidential seals in brown, mustard and white.

“Look at the President!” gasped a photographer covering the arrival.

All of the 140 guests, including Secretary of State George P. Shultz, wore batik, the hand-traced textile design for which Indonesia is famous.

Shultz’s shirt bore yellow and black patterns while White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan’s was in shades of blue.

“They didn’t try to match our eyes,” Regan pointed out.

None of the outfits was quite the stunner that Reagan’s was, although Nancy Reagan’s was an eye-catching bright-red silk batik with big smoke blue butterflies and lilies on it. To complete the look, she wore a fuchsia orchid over her left ear.