Night one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week and Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance in a tan suit. You’ve definitely seen it. Because this apparently unassuming tailored look, like everything she wears right now, invited a kind of attention and scrutiny usually only found in fan theory Reddit forums, or the among anxiously attached analysing a text message. What is the subtext here? What is the meaning?
There is the long answer (not necessarily the right answer): she was nodding to President Barack Obama’s much-discussed 2014 tan suit. She was trolling the people who criticised Obama’s 2014 tan suit. She was championing a female designer (Chloé’s Chemena Kamali). She was blending in. She was standing out. She was mixing it up. She was playing to type.
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Then, there is the short answer: Harris wore the tan suit because she felt good in it. She felt it appropriate for the occasion, felt it allowed her to do what she needed to do in it.
The latter explanation, I suspect, is closer to the truth. You can tell she’s comfortable in what she’s been wearing because she looks tall. (It is a quirk of celebrity that they are often much shorter in real life than they appear on screen. Harris is 5’4” (and a half) – as someone who is 5’2” (and a half), kindly let her have that half – but carries herself with an authority that makes her seem much taller than that).
Harris knows what works for her, and that is exactly what she wears. By understanding her personal style – and translating that to the demands of professionalism and publicity – she can get down to business. She has a uniform.
There’s an advantage in that. In her 2017 memoir, What Happened, Hillary Clinton writes of how her famous pantsuits made her feel pulled together and professional. But, she explains, there was another selling point in the familiar: ‘A uniform was also an anti-distraction technique: since there wasn’t much to say or report on what I wore, maybe people would focus on what I was saying instead’. For Harris, the message is more important than anything. She does not perceive herself to be bigger than the country, or the party. She is seeking to serve, not to be served.
Consistency is also essential for her right now; people need to know Harris, and familiarity helps to make that happen. By seeing iterations of the same look over and over, we feel closer to understanding and knowing her.
There is an assertiveness buzzing just beneath the surface of Harris’s rigorous simplicity. She is doing things her way. The brands she veers towards – Altuzarra, Carolina Herrera, Dolce & Gabbana – are firmly luxury. That could be risky in a post-J Crew-at-the-White House world. She is bigging up European houses (Chloé, Valentino, Celine) as much as she is American ones. And although Harris has embraced Black and minority designers (or as Michelle Obama might have put it, talented designers ‘who just happen to be Black’) and brands, such as Christopher John Rogers or Sergio Hudson, she does not solely do that. The message, I think, is one of nuance. It is as if she is saying: ‘Sure, I am all these things – but I am not just these things’. That, and also, quite simply: ‘I like this’.
How’s she doing with it all? Pretty good. Getting dressed as a woman in politics is a fraught business. Remember the stick that Theresa May received for wearing leather trousers? Or how about when Labour lost the Hartlepool by-election in 2021, a result some blamed Angela Rayner’s bovver boots and leopard print pants? Look like you care too much about your appearance and you’re frivolous; care too little and you’re lazy. It must be utterly exhausting.
A common grumble when discussing the clothes worn by women in politics is that it is not a scrutiny their male counterparts are exposed to. To that I politely say: they are, and they most definitely should be. Tim Walz’s Red Wing boots and Carhartt jackets reveal the Minnesota governor to be a reliable sidekick, a salt of the earth, a humble guy. On the other team, Donald Trump’s too-long tie serves to remind us that this is a man who is so chronically out of touch, so unable to accept feedback or even the mildest criticism, that he has wilfully surrounded himself with ‘yes’ men who are afraid even to suggest some gentle sartorial advice. In contrast, Harris’s wardrobe reveals her to operate with class and consistency.
Something else important to note: Harris isn’t scared of fashion. Nor is she of joy. When the occasion arises, she ain’t afraid to combine the two. Look how jolly she looked in disco-ball gold LaQuan Smith shirt for a date night with Doug to see Beyoncé. See the not-perfect modern glamour of the emerald green cape gown (another Chloé piece) she wore for a State Dinner at the White House earlier this year. I dare you to imagine how major the inauguration looks will be.
If there is a message to be found in Harris’s clothes it is one that bolsters that of her campaign: ‘Freedom’. She expresses autonomy in what she wears. She dresses her body as she wishes to. It is, you feel, very Kamala. To return to Clinton and her pant suits: ‘You can’t please everybody, so you may as well wear what works for you’. Harris is already doing exactly that.
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