After falling out of favor during the global economic turmoil, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's propensity for dressing up its leaders in "silly shirts" returned with gusto on Monday as Indonesia's guitar-strumming president led a stylish parade of Balinese design.

US President Barack Obama was a notable absentee, perhaps relieved that a budget shutdown kept him home after he axed the annual fashion show when he chaired the APEC summit in Hawaii two years ago.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was there instead, sporting a purple shirt made of a silk-like Balinese fabric called endek.