The history of fashion includes long chapters on politics, as analyzing a politician's attire (or that of their partners) down to the smallest details and accessories, can reveal the messages they're trying to convey. Garments and accessories used as propaganda or to endorse specific candidates even earned spots in fashion exhibitions, and so have creations by renowned designers conceived as tools to oppose a fascist regime.
Today, as the 2024 United States elections unfold, we're hours away from knowing whether Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump will become the next U.S. president. This campaign has felt long and exhausting (partly due to the intense and often crude rhetoric of Trump's rallies…) even for those of us in Europe who have been watching from afar. Fashion had its role in this election.
In late June 2024, Joe Biden, 81, incumbent President of the United States, performed poorly in a debate against Donald Trump. Following the debate, at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, First Lady Jill Biden showed her support for him by wearing a Christian Siriano-designed "Vote" navy silk crepe dress. This was a new take on Siriano's popular black and white "Vote" emblazoned designs from his S/S 21 collection (a hit with celebrities, from Lizzo to Billy Porter, as you may remember from a previous post). Yet, the candidate and the message seemed out of synch, as many voters, media outlets, and Democratic supporters began calling for a more dynamic candidate.
The situation shifted when Biden ended his re-election campaign, citing concerns about his age and capacity to lead. Soon after, Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy, stepping up as the Democratic contender in the 2024 presidential race.
After Joe Biden exited the race, Charli XCX's enthusiastic endorsement ("kamala IS brat") sparked the trend of the summer and the word of the year, leading to a surge in donations to Kamala Harris' campaign (at the time of writing this post, Harris' campaign and affiliated groups are estimated to have raised $1 billion since she entered the race).
Around the same time Harris, who also received an endorsement from Vogue, went viral when a line from a 2023 speech in which she quoted her late mother - "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?" - was turned into a meme.
Harris' campaign was often boosted by an emphasis on Democratic blue, which resonated with younger voters - especially when the color was worn by prominent supporters at her rallies, creating a sense of unity. For example, at the end of July, at a campaign rally at the Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta, Harris wore a powder blue suit and was joined by former Georgia House of Representatives member Stacey Abrams, dressed in a sapphire sweater with a matching blouse and statement necklace, and by Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who wore an electric blue cropped white button-down shirt and blazer with coordinated low-rise trousers.
Yet, while colors can communicate a candidate’s message, merchandise has proven to be an even stronger tool. A July survey by EverythingBranded found that 36% of 1,000 U.S. adults had already purchased or were planning to buy election merchandise. Among these, 68% felt the items could influence the election outcome. The survey also highlighted trends, with Democrats preferring clothing and Republicans more likely to buy hats or yard signs.
Interestingly, the survey also highlighted how 72% of buyers, probably forward-thinking collectors, planned to keep their items post-election, a savvy choice if we consider that political merchandise often gains value over time and can even find a place - especially when created in collaboration with prominent designers/brands - in fashion exhibitions. Past examples of such items include designer-created merchandise for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign by designers like Marc Jacobs and Tory Burch, and items supporting Joe Biden in 2020, created by a group of 19 American designers, including Prabal Gurung, Gabriela Hearst, Vera Wang and Jason Wu, among others.
Creating a powerful, appealing piece of merchandise isn't always easy, but the Harris campaign succeeded. After Harris announced her VP pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a variety of designs became available on the campaign site, including a camouflage hat that nodded both to Walz's passion for hunting and to Roan Chapell. This approach reached across demographics, and the hat's pre-sales generated over $1 million in just 24 hours in August.
Fashion has consistently contributed to crafting desirable garments and accessories that inspire people to vote.
Anna Wintour, Vogue's global editorial director and Condé Nast's chief content officer, has long supported the Democratic Party, often hosting celebrity- and designer-studded fundraisers. In past elections, Wintour spearheaded efforts to enlist fashion designers in creating limited-edition merchandise for campaigns, beginning with Barack Obama in 2008 and continuing with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
For this year's election, a group of 16 top American designers, "The Designers for Democracy" (including Gabriela Hearst, Prabal Gurung, Thom Browne, Willy Chavarria, Vera Wang, and Joseph Altuzarra, among the others), collaborated with the Democratic campaign on a collection to support the candidate's message. In September, New York Fashion Week also kicked off with a nonpartisan pro-voting march in midtown Manhattan, organized by Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), featuring Anna Wintour, First Lady Jill Biden, and numerous fashion designers and their teams.
During the NYFW shows, many front-row guests sported accessories celebrating Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, including the popular camo Walz-Harris hats. Designer Christian Cowan even wore one while taking his finale bow at his spring 2025 presentation (View this photo).
In the last presidential election cycle, Prabal Gurung posed the question: "Who gets to be an American?"
For his spring/summer 2025 finale, he donned a T-shirt that read "VOTE" on the front (note that the "O" was shaped like a coconut...) and "Harris/Walz" on the back. His collection included nods to the Democratic candidate, such as a splatter print of a lotus flower (Kamala means "lotus" in Sanskrit), a minidress adorned with a beaded coconut tree and a powder blue dress decorated with white and brown round sequins, both references to the viral coconut meme.
As the weeks went on, more collaborations and designs were released. Poet and artist Cleo Wade partnered with the clothing brand La Ligne to create a white and black T-shirt featuring the sentence: "I'm just a girl. Standing in front of a country. Asking it to vote" (View this photo). Proceeds from this design will benefit the nonprofit organization When We All Vote (founded by Michelle Obama to increase voter participation).
Knitwear brand Lingua Franca collaborated with InStyle for the "Voting Is in Style" collection, donating 20% of the collection's proceeds to Vote.org, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to removing barriers to voting.
Additionally, Planned Parenthood Action Fund joined forces with several designers, including also Diane von Furstenberg, to produce a collection of exclusive T-shirts aimed at encouraging people to vote and protect reproductive rights.
These collaborations feel less aggressive than the recent version of Trump's MAGA hat, notably worn by Tesla and SpaceX CEO and owner of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk during a campaign rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden. While the official "Make America Great Again" cap is red with white text, Musk sported a black-on-black version, calling himself "dark gothic MAGA". Commentators noted online that the letters seemed written in what resembled a Nazi font, also used for the cover of Hitler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf".
While some political merchandise may find one day its way into future fashion and politics exhibitions, let's hope that this particular piece will not be included.
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