US Elections | Harris chose an outfit for the election debate that has sparked debate before – Fashion researcher: “He really lives in those clothes”

“In choosing an outfit there were no surprises as such. Terrible Harris was dressed in such a typical power suit, i.e. a black suit, and a pussy-bow shirt,” says the fashion researcher and senior lecturer at Aalto University Annamari Vänskä.

Still, the outfit Harris chose for Tuesday’s election debate has a few interesting details. Democratic presidential candidate Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump faced off on Tuesday in the first and possibly only election debate before the November elections.

Left-handed the power suit he mentioned became popular in the 1970s and 80s as a dress code for women working in business and politics. In these decades, the share of women in the labor force in the United States grew up almost to the current level.

“In that sense, it is also related to a certain kind of feminist history, the entry of women into working life,” describes Vänskä.

The pussy-bow shirt, i.e. a shirt decorated with a bow tied around the neck, has its roots even further back in history. At the beginning of the 20th century, women who supported women’s suffrage replaced the ties worn by men with bow ties.

“It’s a feminist garment in the sense that it symbolizes women’s liberation and women’s right to participate in socially important discussions and in general working life,” explains Vänskä.

Picture: Brian Snyder/Reuters

This was not the first time a pussy-bow shirt is present in a US election debate.

A year During the 2016 presidential election, a video was released in which Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spread the word that he could do anything to women, even “grab them by the pussy”.

In the election debate organized after the video was released, Trump’s spouse arrived with a pussy-bow around her neck.

“With Melania Trump was wearing this pink Gucci pussy-bow shirt and there was a lot of talk about it at the time,” Vänskä recalls.

In the media was considered at the timewhether the choice of outfit was intended as some kind of statement.

In 2016, the spouses of presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Melania Trump greeted each other before the election debate. Picture: Mike Segar/Reuters

Vänskä thinks the main messages of Harris’ campaign are joy and comfort. Her clothes also seem to reflect this.

“He seems really comfortable in the clothes he wears. They are not glued on, but he really lives in those clothes and they are part of his identity as a public authority,” says Vänskä.

How about counter-candidate Donald Trump? Does he seem comfortable in his own clothes?

“Perhaps a certain kind of comfort is not the first word that comes to mind,” says Vänskä.

According to him, Trump’s style is very recognizable. Shiny suits and “sharp” ties are its cornerstones.

“There is something aggressive about the way he dresses,” says Vänskä.

In the field of politics working women’s clothing choices often receive more blame than men’s. Vänskä believes that this is related to the fact that women working at the top of politics are evaluated through different lenses than men.

According to Vänskä, the way in which Harris’s dress and appearance are evaluated is also related to his ethnic background. Harris’ parents have roots in India and Jamaica.

There are few women at the top of politics, and even fewer non-white women. Vänskä believes that this is why, especially for them, attention is drawn to how they look.

“That competence is judged by appearance and not only by what politics one has done or what he says,” says Vänskä.

Correction 11.9. 10:54 p.m.: Contrary to what was erroneously stated earlier in the story, Annamari Vänskä is a fashion researcher and a senior university lecturer at Aalto University, not a professor of fashion studies at Aalto University.