Now that the internet has turned us all into middle-school kids shooting Snapchat spitballs and gossiping in homeroom about the burning issues of the day — How come Melania pulled the “got to fix my hair” trick to get out of holding Donald’s hand in Rome? Was that moony look Justin gave Emmanuel at the G7 summit in Sicily proof the Canadian prime minister is crushing on his French counterpart? Did you notice that Francis smiled at the first lady and gave the 45th president papal side-eye? — it is almost a step up to devote a column to Barack Obama’s open-necked shirt.

It has been roughly four decades since semiotics became a cultural buzz word and one since the internet effectively supplanted the written language with an image-dominated one. In that time we have all become fairly practiced players in the game of reading signs. If the truth that clothes are coded with meaning has become a no-duh proposition, the question then arises of how much significance to read into what others are wearing and how much we unconsciously assume.

This brings us to Mr. Obama’s recent trip to Milan.

Putting aside for the moment the former president’s sometimes unfortunate golf duds and denims, what we had in No. 44 was most likely the best-dressed American leader since No. 35: John F. Kennedy. Only the third president to hold office in the age of mass media — Harry S. Truman’s was the first televised inauguration — Kennedy had a way of dressing that was clearly devised to play up his film star looks.