It was the first thing President Donald Trump said when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky stepped out of his car at the White House on Friday.

“You’re all dressed up today,” Trump said as he greeted him, referring to Zelensky’s military-style black sweatshirt, adorned with the Ukrainian trident.

Zelensky has eschewed suits, button-down shirts and ties – even during important meetings with world leaders – since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of his country began in 2022.

The former comedian has said his attire choice is an act of solidarity with soldiers.

His casual dress sense has long been an irritant for critics of US aid to Ukraine, and after years becoming a conservative talking point, the issue came to global attention in a spectacular way during the now infamous Oval Office meeting as Zelensky squared off with Trump and US Vice-President JD Vance.

A question to Zelensky from a US reporter accused him of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit and this immediately changed the atmosphere in the room, according to BBC reporters present.

And a short time later, larger issues of respect and gratitude fuelled the extraordinary argument between Zelensky, Trump and Vance.

When the meeting was opened up to questions from reporters, one came from Brian Glenn, chief White House correspondent for conservative cable network Real America’s Voice.

“Why don’t you wear a suit?” Glenn asked. “You’re at the highest level in this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit.

“Do you own a suit?” he continued. “A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dignity of this office.”

BBC reporters in the Oval Office at the time noted that the question was the moment where the Ukrainian president – who until then seemed to be having a diplomatic, even friendly, conversation with Trump – first appeared tired and irritated.

“I will wear costume after this war will finish,” Zelensky replied. (The word “suit” can be translated into Ukrainian as “kostyum”.)

The Ukrainian president then made a verbal jab at the reporter.

“Maybe something like yours, yes. Maybe something better, I don’t know,” he said, to laughter in the room. “Maybe something cheaper.”

Glenn’s question gave voice to a longstanding gripe in the world of Maga politics, where some argue that the Ukrainian leader does not seem to be showing enough gratitude or respect to the US.

A former local TV reporter in Dallas who became better known in conservative circles for his work at another pro-Trump channel, Right Side Broadcasting Network, Glenn is an unabashed Trump fan. Last year he told Politico that he is “100 percent behind President Trump and the America First agenda.”

He is also reportedly dating Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who is one of Trump’s most outspoken fans.

Real America’s Voice, which was founded in 2020, is a relatively obscure right-wing cable news outlet, one of several pro-Trump channels that have cropped up in recent years. Its guests and hosts have spread conspiracy theories about a variety of subjects, including the 2020 presidential election, the 2021 Capitol riot and QAnon.

Its show line-up includes some big names from the Maga world, including Trump’s former chief advisor Steve Bannon, classic rocker turned political activist Ted Nugent and Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative Turning Point group. The BBC contacted the network for comment.

After the Oval Office spat, Glenn posted online that he had “extreme empathy for the people of Ukraine” but alleged that Zelensky’s lack of a suit demonstrated “his inner disrespect” for the US.

Zelensky’s defenders online posted pictures of Winston Churchill wearing casual clothes during World War Two.

Pictures from the period show the British leader wearing jumpsuit-like clothes to a meeting with then-US President Franklin Roosevelt, and he also wore military uniforms and suits during conflabs with world leaders.

After Glenn’s question, the news conference swiftly moved on, to a query about whether the US would send more arms to Ukraine. At the end of an answer Trump referred back to the suit question.

“I do like your clothing,” he quipped, and pointing to Zelensky he said, “I think he’s dressed beautifully.”

Behind the scenes, Trump’s attitude may have been slightly different, according to reports. US news outlet Axios reported that before the meeting, White House staffers had requested that Zelensky wear a suit and were offended when he did not.

However, the two world leaders continued taking questions, more or less cordially, for nearly another 20 minutes before the extraordinary argument broke out, after an interruption by the US vice-president, JD Vance.

Vance repeatedly brought up “respect” – referring to Zelensky as “Mr President” as the Ukrainian leader called him “JD” – and said: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media right now”.

The discussion went downhill from there. A suit-less Zelensky was soon ejected from the White House, as relations between the two countries reached a new wartime low.

With reporting by Shayan Sardarizadeh, BBC Verify, and Bernd Debusmann and Myroslava Petsa at the White House