Fight against dress codes at the State of the Union
It is on.
That was the essence of President Biden’s State of the Union address; that was the message of the women of the Democratic caucus who sat en masse in white in the Chamber of the House of Representatives; That was even the statement on some Republicans’ Laken Riley pins and T-shirts. Even if Mr. Biden was the only one officially speaking, it was impossible not to see — and therefore hear — them all.
The State of the Union has increasingly become a stage for making sartorial statements, but rarely have the causes embedded in the clothes been so contested. The fact that the upcoming elections will be fought by any means necessary, including visuals, has also not been so clear.
It started in 2017, when Democratic women adopted the suffragists’ white suits — a choice Hillary Clinton popularized during her presidential campaign — during President Donald J. Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress, as sign of the importance of women’s rights.
The following year, white was replaced with black in support of the #MeToo movement, while members of the Congressional Black Caucus wore Kente cloth around their necks, in contrast to President Trump’s statements about Africa and Haiti. White returned even more emphatically in 2019 2020. In 2022, many members, as well as the first lady, Jill Biden, used their dress to express their solidarity with Ukraine.
But even in the context of what happened before – perhaps because of the context of what happened before – the women in white were striking. They stood in a block among a sea of dark suits, like a beacon of solidarity.
At this stage, the symbolism of the white suit is practically a cliché that is widely understood. It was adopted during major public occasions by a large number of women who wanted to make a point about female power and the struggle for its future.
Representative Nancy Pelosi wore a white pantsuit as she announced that the House of Representatives would begin drafting articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump. Kamala Harris wore white during her first speech as vice president-elect. Not only Liz Cheney wore white for her final speech during the televised House of Representatives hearings on January 6, but Cassidy Hutchinson, President Trump’s former aide, and Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary, were also in white when they testified at those hearings.
This time, the suits were not only about suffragists and women’s rights in general, but, as the pins they wore on their lapels declared, the message was also “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom.”
“Our message is clear: women must have access to the health care they need to take control of their own lives and future.” Representative Lois Frankelthe chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus said of the pins in a press release.
Representative Robin KellyThe Illinois Democrat posted a photo of the caucus members on a staircase in the House of Representatives and wrote: “We will never stop advocating for women, from reproductive rights to workplace equality.” So did the representative Brittany PettersenDemocrat of Colorado.
The sheer size of the group was a statement in itself. Just like the fact that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who made a name for herself last year with her whining about President Biden, took a page out of their playbook by donning a bright red MAGA hat and matching red jacket to symbolically join Mr. Trump. campaign. She paired it with a “Say Her Name” T-shirt featuring a photo of Laken Riley, the nursing student who was killed by someone authorities said was a Venezuelan migrant, in a nod to Trump’s immigration rhetoric. (The slogan is an appropriation of the Black Lives Matter chant.)
Ms. Taylor Greene also wore a button with Ms. Riley’s photo on it, an accessory she presented to President Biden. Rep. Matt Gaetz also wore a Riley pin; So did former Rep. George Santos, although the collar of Mr. Santos’ rhinestone shirt allowed his choice of clothing to draw more attention to itself than to any specific policy. Representative Troy Nehls from Texas even wore a star-spangled bow tie and a T-shirt with Trump’s mugshot and the phrase “Never surrender.”
Yet the pins, shirts and cap ultimately did not have the effect of the white suits. They didn’t echo off the screens where most viewers consume images.
But they were a tell nonetheless. The weapons of influence and the uniforms of loyalty can take many forms. What we see, whether we consciously register it or not, penetrates our brains and determines how we think. Mr. Trump has always been a candidate who understands as well as anyone how to use costumes and images — even his own mug shot — for his own purposes. That strategy has now penetrated politics from all sides. Get ready. This is just the beginning.