In yesterday's post we looked at the fashion and politics connection via propaganda clothes and accessories or items that may encourage people to vote. So, while we are still waiting for the results of the US Presidential election, let's continue the thread by looking at a pair of shoes that certainly do not fall into the propaganda category, but that were used on a campaign trail.
The shoes in question are a pair of humble & Other Stories sneakers worn by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez worn them out and, in the same year, they were displayed at Cornell University in an exhibition organised by the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection in New York and entitled "Women Empowered: Fashions from the Frontline".
The battered shoes symbolise her dynamism and commitment: Ocasio-Cortez walked a lot during her campaign, knocking on people's doors in the 14th congressional district of New York. "These shoes represent the hard work, dedication, determination, and commitment of the youngest woman ever elected to Congress," the Cornell Costume Collection commented at the time.
The sneakers were in prestigious good company as they were showcased alongside iconic collars from the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a gown from suffrage activist Olivia "Livvy" Langdon, a skirt suit worn by the first female US attorney general Janet Reno, and the inaugural suit of Texas governor Ann Richards, among others.
If, while waiting for the results of the US elections, you want to continue pondering about the fashion and politics connection, check out the "Fashion & Political Power" talk recently posted on YouTube by the Museum at FIT and featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and The Washington Post's senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan in conversation with Dr. Valerie Steele. In the talk they chat about fashion, politics and power, and Givhan makes an important point about an unsassuming accessory that became the symbol of the 2020 US Presidential elections - the face mask to prevent the spread of Coronavirus - ignored by one side in the name of their personal freedoms and adopted by the other as a sign of civility and respect for the community.
Comments