Politics exists at every level of our lives, from popular music, art, cinema, architecture, and sports, to the focus of this article: fashion. Aside from the openly political aspect of fashion, such as wearing a hat emblazoned with the name or slogan of a favorite political candidate, one may wonder: is it really—for lack of better words—that deep? Both history and the modern-day suggest yes.
Fashion as a Political Statement
Throughout history, movements have used fashion as a means of political expression. For instance, civil rights activists dressed in their “Sunday Best” to challenge the norm that black Americans belonged to the lowest level of America’s social hierarchy. This refined manner of dress was a form of protest in of itself, demonstrating to a segregated America that black Americans were worthy of dignity and respect and subverting preconceived notions of black Americans as less than. It was also consistent with the movement’s tenets of nonviolent resistance.
In contrast, the next generation of racial justice movements that followed civil rights—most famously, the Black Panther Party—did away with its predecessor’s “Sunday Best” dress code, rejecting symbols of white America in favor of a unique aesthetic representing black Americans. The Black Panthers adopted a uniform consisting of black leather jackets, berets, and sunglasses that served as a parallel to that of police or military dress. Indeed, the Black Panther Party acted as a quasi-military force countering the police, with its core practice being “copwatching,” or open carry patrols of law enforcement in response to police brutality, and this function of the movement was reflected in its fashion.
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is another figure famous for political expression through not just her art, but her appearance as well. As a vocal leftist, Kahlo joined the Mexican Communist Party as a young adult, and as a mixed-race woman with German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Indigenous Tehuana heritage, Kahlo resolved to use her dress to attract global attention to issues of cultural pride, identity, and feminism, combining elements of Western dress with traditional clothing. For instance, Kahlo wore contemporary dresses along with Huipil blouses, and colonial silver earrings with indigenous jadeite and onyx necklaces. She also frequently wore rebozo scarves, which served as a representation of pre-colonial indigenous women, as well as the women of the Mexican Revolution who smuggled weapons using scarves, therefore symbolizing femininity and independence. At a time when the leftist movement in Mexico focused on national pride and resisting the ruling class, colonialism, and capitalism (Kahlo’s then-husband Diego Rivera also painted murals attacking these), Kahlo’s choice of clothing—representative of indigenous and Mexican culture—was her own form of political expression.
Fashion as political expression is not limited to revolutionaries; in fact, it exists at the highest level of our government. Former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for instance, was well-known for her unique neckpieces that were speculated to convey her personal political opinions. Ginsburg’s “dissent collar” was famously worn every time she expressed condemnation or disapproval with the Court’s decision—with her dissents being so powerfully pointed that she earned the nickname “the Notorious RBG”—and she herself stated in an interview that the collar simply looked “fitting for a dissent.” Aside from court decisions, Ginsburg also wore the dissent collar the day after Trump’s 2016 election. The collar itself was given to Ginsburg by Banana Republic in 2012 and was donated to the Smithsonian following her death in 2020.
Fashion as a Mirror of Political Ideologies
Individuals or specific groups of people often use fashion as a way to express their personal beliefs, but fashion’s relationship with politics goes deeper than that. Fashion trends can often serve as a litmus test of society’s prevailing political values at large.
For instance, Europe underwent a major transition starting from the 1700s, as public opinion began to shift against the principle of absolute monarchy and Enlightenment ideas of inalienable human rights, individualism, and formal equality under the law began to gain traction in European society. Those of higher status in society, who previously dressed opulently, shifted to a more subtle and utilitarian fashion that laid the foundation for the business suit. Compared to the marked inequality of the previous time period, where one’s clothes made their social status clear, the toned-down nature of the early business suit meant that a variety of social classes could wear the same clothes, and therefore strengthened the ideal of equality of all of humanity.
Moving in the opposite direction, Spain experienced a surge in unconventional and hedonistic fashion coinciding with the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the shift of Spain from a conservative dictatorship—a dictatorship that set an evening curfew for women, repressed homosexuality, and arrested those with unorthodox appearances—to a liberal constitutional monarchy. This cultural movement was La Movida Madrileña, which promoted heavy makeup, voluminous hair, revealing clothes, and open sexual expression that functioned as a symbol of liberation following the fall of one of Europe’s longest-serving dictators. This boom in open, loud expression through dress reflected the general attitude in the country leaning away from the radically conservative norms established under Franco.
We may have experienced this phenomenon this last election cycle as well. Although in 2020, the political landscape in America leaned towards liberal self-expression, reflected in popular fashion trends and aesthetics such as the 2020 indie style, “kid-core,” and alternative fashion styles that gained popularity on social media such as TikTok, fashion trends—and overall political opinion—in 2024, seem to have gone in the opposite direction with the rise of trends such as old money, cottagecore, coquette, and clean girl.
Cottagecore and coquette, for instance, emphasize hyperfemininity, and therefore conservative views of womanhood through conventionally feminine colors, silhouettes, and features such as frills and bows. One headline describing the style claimed, “Cottagecore fashion aesthetic brings back simpler times,” a clear indicator of a longing for the “good old days” and, as a result, a return to conservative values.
Similarly, old money indicates a greater emphasis on looking classy and refined, a more conservative fashion style that seems to coincide with more conservative views. And the “clean girl” trend represents the same underlying theme of minimalism, natural beauty, and a conservative approach to makeup—a key facet of self-expression.
It is no coincidence that in both 2020 and 2024, the most popular trends corresponded to which side most voters swung. Fashion is much more than just fabrics and aesthetics; it reflects societal values, political ideologies, and individual identity.
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