Joe Hockey trolled by Christopher Pyne over vintage-style suit jacket

Former treasurer Joe Hockey isn’t known for his sartorial choices, but he certainly stood out from the crowd at a glitzy black tie event in California this week — although perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Hockey, who is currently Australia’s ambassador to the US, attended the AACC San Francisco Australia Day Gala in California on January 19, and while all eyes are usually on the women and their outfit choices at events like this, it was actually Hockey who was the unlikely standout on social media.

Shortly after the event, Hockey took to his Instagram page to share a photograph of himself with South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. It didn’t take long for people to comment on the former politician’s unique choice of outfit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs4PJBZAXfr/

For the outing, the father-of-three opted for a navy dinner jacket with an interesting floral design. He also sported a white shirt with a wing collar.

Most people realise these shirts are designed to be worn with a bowtie and tux, but Hockey opted for a black necktie instead. Among his fashion critics was Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who suggested the outfit could have come straight from the set of 1965 film, The Sound of Music.

“Where did Joe source that jacket?” Pyne asked on Instagram. “The Von Trapp family wardrobe?”

Given the pair are in the same political party, it’s likely the comment was made in good fun. Still, others were also quick to point out Hockey’s fashion error.

One comment on Instagram read: “JOE JOE JOE Bow tie.”

Read more: Joe Hockey trolled after complaining about rental car queue at airport

Another message on Twitter read: “Me thinks Joe has gone mad, if he thinks that black tie looks good.”

He seemingly responded to the criticism and stood by his choice of necktie, sharing a Google image search of “contemporary neckwear” with his 189,000 Twitter followers.

“There you go,” he wrote.

There you go!
https://t.co/5D936ImQCJ

— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) January 21, 2019

The AACC San Francisco Australia Day Gala– which was held at San Francisco’s iconic Fairmont Hotel – aims to showcase the best of Australian food, wine and entertainment. This year’s event was presented by the San Francisco Australian American Chamber of Commerce and G’Day USA and was attended by the city’s leading business and tech executives, as well as plenty of Aussie expats.

Whether or not the rest of the Gala’s guests approved of Hockey’s bold outfit choice remains to be seen.

What do you think of Joe Hockey’s outfit? Is this something you would wear, or did he get the tie completely wrong?