ECONOMIC crisis aside, one of the main talking points on the last day of the Apec Summit was simply: What would they be wearing?

Ever since then-US President Bill Clinton started the practice of having matching outfits in Seattle in 1993, the group photo on the last day of the summit has become something of a fashion show.

They wore elaborate batik shirts in Indonesia, elegant silk tunics known as 'ao dai' in Vietnam, traditional silk overcoats in Korea and last year, in Sydney, they put on rugged raincoats.

On Sunday in Lima, the choice proved to be a little anti-climatic. The leaders came out dressed in dull brown ponchos, known as challs. Perhaps Singapore can do better. Now that the Apec Summit is heading here, we also have to start worrying about what they are going to wear.

The costumes are meant to identify the country, but what would that be in a nation without a proper national dress? The safe, somewhat boring option would be to put them in shirts with orchids on them. But surely we can think of something else.

What if we put US president Barack Obama look good in a sarong? Or perhaps get Phillipine’s Gloria Arroyo to put on the Singapore Girl uniform? Or maybe South Korea’s Lee Myung-bak could put on a male version of the Merlion costume our recent Miss Universe contestant wore?

Another thing to think about is that the costume should be easy to put on over what they are already wearing. Otherwise, everyone has to go and change into it. One suggestion thrown up was to simply to have a tasteful corsage of orchids pinned on each one, almost like a 3-D orchid shirt.

I support this idea. It would be quite stylish, easy to put on and still identify Singapore. More importantly, with tough times ahead, it’ll be quite cheap.