After four years, America is finally rid of its most divisive president. The world had witnessed a battering of that country’s global reputation and saw the reality of what it is at its core – a deeply divided nation.
Like most people, I was glued to my television playing close attention to the inauguration but mostly taking in the stark differences of the sartorial choices of the incoming political administration as compared with the outgoing one.
It was a gentle visual reminder that optics do really matter particularly in the midst of a global pandemic that America has failed miserably at managing. It matters in setting the tone of how you want to be perceived. It goes without saying that the sartorial choices of the Trumps echoed a tacky out-of-touch aesthetic. Whether it was the distracting red tie often worn by Donald Trump, Melania’s towering Manolo Blahnik Heels to board a plane to visit victims of a hurricane, or her ‘I Don’t Really Care, Do You’ Zara jacket worn to visit migrant children locked up in cages, it was clear they did not want to be in touch with reality. And as trivial as many would like to make them seem, our fashion choices are a direct reflection of our values and identity. It was never a coincidence either as their choices spilled over to harmful and divided policies.
