Monochrome at the Inauguration

By Alexandra M. '21

Can fashion be political? On January 20th, Vice President Kamala Harris wore a variety of outfits embracing distinct political movements within our nation. As the first female vice president and first vice president of color, Kamala Harris incorporated the significance of her identity within her outfits. In each of her inaugural appearances in years past, Harris showcased the work of a different Black independent designer. This year was no exception. Each fashion piece challenges society’s norms and allows them to embrace what they stand for publicly using symbolism and self-expression.

At her swearing-in, Harris’s first outfit was an elegant royal purple shift dress and a striking overcoat designed by Christopher John Rogers, worn alongside Ms. Harris’ signature pearls. The varying shades of purple were meant to represent numerous political matters, the surface being that of bipartisanship, combining Republican red with Democratic blue. Diving deeper, Kamala Harris’s purple shade was one of the official colors of the American women’s suffrage movement, expressing “loyalty, constancy to purpose, and unswerving steadfastness to a cause,” according to the National Woman’s Party. From fighting for the movement for women’s right to vote to becoming vice president in the recent presidential election, Harris’s hue of purple indicated how far we have all come as a nation, even though there’s much more progress to be made. Finally, the purple paid a remarkable tribute to Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black major-party candidate to run for president. CNN explained that Chisholm frequently wore contrasting shades of purple during her campaign, who inspired Kamala Harris’ own political career. The complexities of color choices in political outfits can be hidden at times, and Harris displayed this with her careful choosing of her bold and glamorous outfit. She topped off her ensemble with her signature pearl necklace designed by a Puerto Rican-designer Wilfredo Rosado. A classic string of pearls was often seen as delicate. In contrast, Harris’s necklace was a gold chain with South Sea pearls linked together by diamonds, embodying traits of courage, toughness, and femininity. 

During Harris’s acceptance speech, she wore a pussy bow blouse underneath a white pantsuit designed by an immigrant American designer, reinforcing her message of unity, emancipation, and nonviolence, while also highlighting her own immigrant parents. Alongside these fundamental concepts that will guide her time as vice president, the white hue in her outfit also represented the women’s suffrage movement by raising awareness for other women’s issues, such as reproductive rights and equal pay. During her speech, Harris exclaimed, “I stand on their shoulders,” referencing those who fought for their right to vote at the commencement of the 20th century. Not only was she “stand[ing] on [the] shoulders” of the suffragettes, but also on the shoulders of individuals like Shirley Chrisholm, Hilary Clinton, who wore a signature white pantsuit to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, Margeret Thatcher, who wore the pussy-bow blouse the way her male colleagues wore ties, and Nancy Pelosi, who wore all white with many other congresswoman. She is “stand[ing] on [the] shoulders,” of an abundance of women and strives for positive change. 

Throughout history, politics have always been embedded in the fashion world to emphasize or express specific matters such as nationalism, radicalism, feminism, activism, racism, and equality. Meticulous consideration goes into the choosing of a political outfit because it relates to the politician's overall image. Fashion is one way that people present themselves to the media, providing an opportunity for public figures to represent causes they stand for or to pay homage to those causes. In the end, fashion has always been a signal of power, which is what Kamala Harris embodies, as well as several other political figures who additionally communicated what they believe in with the simplicity of their outfits and color choices. With one’s appearance, political figures can highlight issues of interest. Fashion, conveying patriotic, nationalistic, and propagandistic ideas, will continue to create positive change in our nation.