Fashion of 1980 Who Was the Vis-president of 1980

Equally soon equally Kamala Harris took to the stage in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday night, social media was abuzz with talk of her outfit. It was a telling sign, for meliorate or worse, of the public scrutiny her fashion volition face up in the coming years.

Just while the Vice President-elect's acceptance speech volition surely, and rightly, be remembered for the words of inspiration offered to women in America and around the world, the commentary on her wardrobe was not as little as it might seem. Considering, rather than distracting from her words, the white pantsuit and pussy bow blouse served to reinforce her bulletin of unity and emancipation.

On a nighttime that Harris credited to the women earlier her -- "I stand on their shoulders," she said of those who fought for voting rights at the beginning of the 20th century, and of the "new generation" that had exercised those rights terminal week -- she also channeled their symbolism.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris arrives to address the nation in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday.

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The color white has long been associated with the women'southward suffrage movement, adopted equally a symbol of moral purity alongside green for hope and purple for dignity. Information technology besides signaled their ethos of nonviolence, an olive branch to those threatened by their so-radical calls for political equality.

But Sat night wasn't just almost the suffragettes. Harris, the first Black and kickoff Due south Asian Vice President-elect, was standing on the shoulders of Shirley Chisholm, who wore white as she became the beginning African American woman elected to Congress in 1968. She was standing on the shoulders of Geraldine Ferraro, who wore all-white to accept the role of Walter Mondale's running mate in his 1984 presidential campaign. She was standing on the shoulders of Hillary Clinton, who wore a signature white pantsuit to accept the Autonomous presidential nomination in 2016.

Shirley Chisholm, the offset African American woman to be elected to Congress, dressed in all-white.

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Harris' very deliberate selection of outfit was a gesture of solidarity with the long line of women who accept defied expectations in American politics. It demonstrated that the Vice President-elect does non consider herself an exception to the rule, simply rather part of a continuum -- of the slowly bending "arc of the moral universe," equally President-elect Joe Biden put information technology in his own voice communication, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.

Harris' pussy-bow blouse, too, carried historical weight. Information technology evoked the power-dressing of Margaret Thatcher, who wore hers the mode male person colleagues wore ties, a fitting metaphor for how the UK's former prime minister co-opted and remade the boys' gild rules of 1980s British politics. More recently, Melania Trump's choice of the archetype garment at very detail moments -- namely an anti-cyberbullying height and a presidential debate shortly after the "Access Hollywood" tape came to low-cal -- were, some speculated (wishfully, perchance), subtle barbs aimed at her husband's infamous brag.

Margaret Thatcher sporting her signature pussy bow.

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The Vice President-elect was clearly looking beyond the Trump era to something more universal. But her outfit, reportedly created by American fashion designer Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera, spoke of recent history in other ways, also.

The women of the Democratic Party have continuously used white in silent protest confronting a president whom they consider a threat to their rights. At Trump'due south joint accost to Congress in 2017, a group of female lawmakers synchronized their outfits to raise awareness for women's issues, including reproductive rights and equal pay.

They did so over again at successive State of the Matrimony addresses, most recently in February this year, every bit lawmakers marked a century since the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote (though women of color would face voting barriers for decades longer). The sight of Nancy Pelosi in all-white clapping sarcastically behind the President a year before, while a great block of white-clad congresswomen saturday earlier him, will also live long in the retentivity. Harris was standing on all their shoulders, as well.

Autonomous representatives dressed in white during President Donald Trump's Land of the Union accost in Feb 2020.

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As she assumes an office -- the vice presidency -- that has been communicated through the norms of men's formalwear for over 230 years, Harris' wardrobe choices will continue to generate give-and-take. The attending may be unwelcome, but the lack of precedent could also show liberating. She has an opportunity to remake the role in her own image, creating a reference point for the many women who volition, inevitably, follow in her footsteps. Every bit she told the crowds in Delaware, "While I may be the first woman in this office, I won't be the last."

Harris has already offered snapshots of her more than casual side, notably her apparent preference for Converse sneakers. While her Instagram feed is largely populated with the dark pantsuits she has traditionally favored, a video posted shortly subsequently her projected victory was announced shows her in workout gear as she celebrates with Biden on the phone ("We did it, Joe!"). This kind of unguarded moment is a requirement of the social media age, but it offered something refreshing and stripped of the usual polish.

Many female leaders take, understandably, decried the public interrogation of their fashion choices. German chancellor Angela Merkel has bristled at the double standards, denouncing the "letter-writing" instigated by outfits seemingly selected to deflect attention. Former British Prime number Government minister Theresa May, meanwhile, spent much of her premiership subjected to unwarranted tabloid criticism of offhand fashion choices that would have been ignored if fabricated by a male counterpart.

The women'south suffrage movement used white equally a symbol of moral purity and nonviolence.

Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images

All the same, just the most blinkered political observers tin deny the power of clothing, should leaders choose to exploit it.

On the biggest stages, and at the most crucial moments, female politicians accept embraced unspoken symbolism -- whether that's Jacinda Ardern adopting a hijab in an act of unity with Muslims in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack, or congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applying cherry-red lipstick like "war paint" as she challenged a fellow representative for alleged sexism.

On Sabbatum night, Harris non only showed that she is enlightened of this ability, but that she is unafraid to harness it.

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