The opening of the museum in the Obama Presidential Center this summer sparked an unintended consequence: a new wave of interest in former President Barack Obama’s famous tan suit.
The Obama tan suit that launched one of Washington’s most absurd controversies when he wore it to an Aug. 28, 2014, press conference.
The tan suit that inspired a hilarious press conference skit starring Obama and Larry David on the August finale of their HBO sketch series.
The suit that is not in the museum.
The legendary suit reporters were told Obama gave away when he was cleaning out a closet.
I’m on assignment to find Obama’s tan suit.
I don’t know when Obama gave it away or to whom.
This is more than hunting for a needle in a haystack. I don’t even know where the haystack is.
I wasn’t sure at first how to proceed. It’s not like the suit was taxpayer-funded traceable public property or an official gift that had to be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration upon leaving office.
So I just jumped in. I made an initial list of 68 people to call to get the ball rolling. On my punch list: I needed to know who made Obama’s tan suit — the origin story.
And I found, with the help of a pal, the not widely known genesis of the tan suit. It was made by Martin Greenfield, who sewed his first stitches when he was a prisoner at Auschwitz, repairing the torn shirt of an SS soldier. After the young teen survived the Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi concentration camps, Greenfield eventually became a famous tailor in Brooklyn, New York.
When I first tell people I’m on the hunt for Obama’s tan suit, I can hear their eyeballs rolling. When I tell them a Holocaust survivor who came to the U.S. made the suit — well, something clicks and they want to know more about my project.
Greenfield died in 2024. His sons run the company now. I recently talked to one son, Jay, who went to the White House to measure Obama for suits. I’ll have lots more to pass along from my interview with Jay in another column.
But first, let me explain my tan suit project. The journey will unfold in print and the digital world. We’ll have videos. Maybe some events. And I’ll be reaching out to you to figure out what the uproar over the suit means in 2026 — and why some folks thought it should be in the museum.
The suit triggered a political firestorm when Obama wore it to a press conference where he talked about crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. Critics said he looked un-presidential. Supporters said the criticisms were racially based.
The Obama tan suit controversy touched on the raw fault lines surrounding race in this nation. Other presidents — Ronald Reagan, for example — wore tan suits with impunity. But not the nation’s first Black president.
I don’t accept that the Obama tan suit is lost forever, because I haven’t tried hard enough yet to find it.
What we know is the tan suit is having a moment.
Let me tell you what we saw during the June 19 Obama Presidential Center dedication. Marty Nesbitt, the chair of the Obama Foundation, came to the stage dressed in a re-creation of the famous outfit: tan suit, white shirt, copycat striped tie. Guests like former late-night stalwarts Stephen Colbert, David Letterman and others also wore tan suits to the ceremony.
Nesbitt’s getup was a surprise — and very intentional. He had a statement to make.
When Obama saw Nesbitt, the former president got up from his seat, embraced his friend and said, “I love that tan suit.”
Nesbitt said it was “inspired by a very good friend of mine who made tan suits famous. And I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I thought he looked pretty good wearing his, so I decided to wear one myself. … [This] is my way of just showing a whole lot of love.”
Rewind to June 3. I’m at a press preview briefing at the Obama Presidential Center.
Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett and Michael Strautmanis, the Obama Foundation chief corporate affairs officer, are among the briefers. Strautmanis is asked what he wished was in the museum that’s not there.
“Tan suit,” he said.
Jarrett delivered the bombshell.
“The reason we don’t have the tan suit is President Obama gave it away when he was cleaning out his closet,” she said. “But we thought about a replica, but that would not be authentic, and so, we do not have the tan suit.”
Colbert, former host of “The Late Show,” is one of the people who expected the tan suit to be in the museum.
Last May, in one of his last episodes, Colbert interviewed Obama in the museum. The comedian demanded to know if “the tan suit is here.”
Looking over a photo of the infamous 2014 press conference, Obama told Colbert, “I look great.” But he didn’t mention he gave it away.
In the HBO show, “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” the Obama and David spoof creates a fictional comic backstory about why Obama wore that suit to the press conference. The show was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama through Higher Ground, their company.
It was taped in December in an Obama-era Oval Office recreated on a Los Angeles soundstage. In the skit, Obama wears a tan suit with a jacket that’s a spot-on ringer of the original. However, it was a replica, made by costume designer Christina Mongini.
So, the hunt continues.
I understand why this assignment ended up in my lap. Until last year, I was the longtime Washington Bureau Chief at the Chicago Sun-Times. A highlight of my career was covering Barack Obama from the Senate to the White House, to his post-presidency and the development of the Obama Presidential Center.
I was not shocked about the tan suit in 2014 because I had seen Obama out of his dark-suit uniform. I was with him on Aug. 23, 2006, when the then-Illinois senator wore a beige suit while visiting the Illinois Africa Office for Trade and Investment in Johannesburg. (That office no longer exists.) I was surprised when I saw Obama wearing a light-color suit but never thought of writing about it.
The night before my interview with Jay Greenfield, I was in a panic because I never got a copy of Martin Greenfield’s memoir, “Measure of a Man: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents’ Tailor.” I was kicking myself for being unprepared.
I ran over to the Highland Park Public Library, and to my relief, they had the book. When I was checking it out, I explained why I wanted it, because I want to enlist everyone in my cause. I see that as part of this project — telling everyone what I am doing to see if one thing can lead to another.
I chatted with library membership services staffer Dara Bass and told her about the connection between the book, Obama’s tan suit and my tan suit project.
The next day, Bass sent me a note.
“Your storyline is interesting,” she wrote, because “it highlights the origin story of the bespoke garment and a human behind it. Moreover, your angle is unique because it sort of shifts the focus from the person who donned the clothing (in the spotlight) onto the person whose hard-earned skill and expertise led him to create it (behind the scenes).”
I don’t know how this quest for Obama’s tan suit ends. But I do know how it begins.
Contact us: Please join us on this journey by sending tips, story ideas or suggestions on who to interview. Email: tansuit@suntimes.com.