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When Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, gender became a more central part of the race.
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Experts said Harris’s clothes balance being “feminine but not too girly.”
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Trump knows the importance of visual communication and incorporates his ideology into his “loud” style.
If Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump stand side by side on the debate stageviewers watching from their living rooms will notice – even if unconsciously – what the two candidates are wearing.
With reproductive rights as a key campaign issue and Trump’s historic series of misogynistic comments, gender issues were at the forefront of this electoral cycle. But when President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for re-election and Harris became the Democratic nominee, these issues rose to inevitable prominence.
Trump’s “loud aesthetic” contrasts with Harris’s more low-key style.
Clothing and image have always been an important part of politics since the early days of the English monarchy, said Derek Guy, a menswear writer best known for his popular twitter account. The traditionally masculine suit was and still is a constant presence on the American political scene. And in this scene, which has long been visually and literally male, Harris had to carve out a place for herself as a black woman.
“I think the issue of gender in the political space would be more about how dress changed as women entered it and how they adopted or challenged the male uniform of politics,” Guy said. For Harris, this took the form of a subdued but recognizable femininity, experts who study political science and fashion told Business Insider.
Trump adapted the traditional men’s suit to suit both his body and his brand. Guy said Trump often wears navy blue Brioni suits, which are reminiscent of the powerful silhouettes of the 1980s. The shoulders are padded and extended to give him a slimmer, more masculine figure. Around his neck, Trump opts for a bright red satin tie.
It is, according to Guy, a “noisy aesthetic”.
Harris, on the other hand, is far from loud in her clothes. Sparsha Saha, a Harvard professor and co-author of a book on the political meanings and effects of styles of dress, called it “normal but also feminine.”
For women in male-dominated fields, style is often an attempt to prove worth and authority, said Shauna Shames, an associate professor at Rutgers University and co-author of the upcoming book, Dressing for sex: the democratic paradox revealed by clothes.
“Most women politicians will start with the assumption of credentialing, showing that they are competent,” Shames said. “Clothing is a good signal to show competence.”
Harris’ campaign did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Trump’s campaign celebrated his style choices, as spokesman Steven Cheung said: “President Trump has the greatest style of any president in history.”
An old controversy reinforced the importance of style.
For Harris, the attempt at “accreditation” meant appearing like a lawyer at a high-profile firm. She often wears designer suits traditionally safe colors and neutral Manolo Blahnik pumps, although he also has a known affinity for Converse sneakers. In a nod to his brotherhood at a historically black college, Harris typically wears a pearl necklace. For important events, like the inauguration, she sometimes wears clothes by black designers.
According to Shames, the entire look embodies traditional femininity and perceived professionalism, which is often coded as masculine and white.
“Maintaining the feminine look, which I consider strategic, while balancing being a professional woman, a woman on the move, a lawyer,” said Saha. “Being tough. She wants to send all these things and I think so far she’s done it really well.”
“She has developed an image that is incredibly powerful, but also doesn’t try to erase her femininity,” Joseph Altuzarra, the designer behind many of Harris’ pantsuits, told New York Times in 2021.
Harris faced a clothing controversy early in her term as vice president when she appeared on the cover of Vogue Magazine with your own jeans and sneakers. People immediately considered the look too casual and said it didn’t confer enough respect.
The consequences likely taught him that, for better or worse, style has real consequences, Saha said. Women in politics, and in the professional space in general, must walk the line between associating themselves with masculine leadership traits and dressing according to the expectations of traditional femininity.
“It’s called a double bind. How do you look feminine but not too feminine?” Saha said. “And that’s her style. I think that’s her style of clothing. Feminine, but not too feminine.”
Trump’s clothes don’t need to be threaded in the same way — in fact, this year’s clothes do Republican National Convention leaned on traditionally masculine tropes. Shames said that red, his signature color, encodes masculinity.
Clothing communicates values and is a necessary consideration.
Guy, however, sees Trump’s trademark style as more related to industry than gender. He typically wears tailored suits to create a classically masculine physique, but his overall appearance primarily conveys the wealth of traditional real estate businessmen. Some of Trump’s clothing choices — especially his bright, shiny tie — go against classic menswear but work because of his specific brand of power.
“You can never really take the style away from the person who wears it,” Guy said. “If we never had Trump, if anyone else wore this, it would be considered cheap, tacky and tawdry.”
Given his experience on reality television, Saha said Trump understands the game of rapid visual communication and knows that clothes can send signals about values. Harris knows the same, Shames said. Aware that people will inevitably scrutinize her, especially as a black woman, the vice president wears strategic attire.
“They’re beautiful clothes that communicate competence, convey sophistication, but don’t distract from what she’s doing or saying,” Shames said. “I think she learned that she has to deal with the attention. She can’t help being looked at, but she wants to minimize the looking.”
As Trump has rewritten the political playbook in recent years and this election cycle has altered what many consider normal, the importance of gender and dress has remained stubbornly consistent, Guy said. Now, with Harris leading the Democratic ticket, the question of how to signal gender to voters is playing out before our eyes, at rallies and in television ads.
Trump has had years to create his specific visual signature, which, like much of his politics, “reflects a rejection of traditional conservative good taste,” Guy said. Harris, however, is still fine-tuning her look, as style columnist Rachel Tashjian noted in the Washington Post. She is, according to Saha, probably very aware of the message her style sends, given Trump’s tendency to attach appearance-based slogans to his opponents.
The tensions are no stranger to low-profile politicians or even ordinary voters, Shames said. Many can understand the crisis of dressing for an event and struggling to figure out how they want to be seen.
“It’s not far below the surface. It’s right there. The politicians I’ve talked to know this, they’re very aware of it, and they’re fighting it on a daily basis,” she said. “We all think about clothes every day.”
Read the original article at Business Insider
