Did the Fashion Babes Predict Trump’s Victory?

Could recent beauty and style trends evoking ‘old money’, an idyllic past and a ‘clean girl’ aesthetic have predicted Donald Trump’s re-election? At least that might be the case if you ask the fashion babes on the internet.

Fashion influencers on TikTok and other social media platforms swear they read the tea leaves – cottagecore prairie dresses – and were able to predict last week’s shift in the electorate to the right and white women’s embrace of conservatism.

“Fashion girls and others have been talking about the ‘harmless’ signs of a tide toward conservatism through trends over the past two years,” reads one viral tweet of the week. “A re-emphasis on the aesthetics of ‘clean girls’, Ozempic, and thinness, not just of traditional housewives.”

Elysia Berman, creative director at Estée Lauder Companies, agreed in the viral TikTok that the writing has been on the wall for months. It’s not just the milkmaid’s dress that suggests a cultural sea change, but also the retro Reagan style. .

“I was thinking about the industry as a whole. About Celine, her return to America, and Ralph Lauren back in style, people wearing polo bags and little women’s jackets. There’s a value system associated with that aesthetic,” she said in the clip. “We are transitioning to that aesthetic because we are returning to that value system.”

Next, there is the fashion we commonly see among housewives. “Tradwife” influencers (women who embrace traditional gender roles and document on Instagram the idea that a woman’s place is at home and with her children) tend to favor milkmaid dresses and bare feet or vintage fit-and-flare silhouettes. there is. 1950s housewife cosplay.

Of course, wearing a cottagecore dress doesn’t mean you’re conservative. During the pandemic, many people have been drawn to prairie dresses and Hill House Home Nap Dresses. Roe v. Either subtly support Wade being flipped. “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Even if they kind did).

Still, even in 2021, some feminists have found its aesthetic a bit problematic because of what it conveys visually: a humble, non-threatening, homely femininity (especially when it hits the market in the aisles of Target and Walmart).

Danielle Vermeer, the new head of social commerce at online consignment site ThredUp, said she connected the dots about fashion trends and Trump’s return.

“Fashion trends do not exist in a vacuum. “Trends are often indicative of larger cultural and social changes,” he told HuffPost. “For many people, fashion is a medium for self-expression, social signaling and blending in with different subcultures. Fashion is political and never just about clothes.”

The idea that pastoral traditional fashion heralded a shift toward traditionalism and social and political conservatism has historical precedent, according to Deirdre Clemente, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who studies the history of the American fashion industry.

“Before World War I and Vietnam, there was a noticeable change to more country-style clothing.” she told HuffPost. (If you’re a boomer, you probably own a few peasant tops and dresses.)

“These have all ‘transformed’ into conservative attire over the years. before Clemente told HuffPost. “Fashion makes the culture makes Changes. Clothing does not reflect cultural change, it is constitutive.”

Peggy Heffington, a history professor at the University of Chicago and author of “Without Children: The Long History of Motherhood,” added muted coquettish and balletcore to a few style trends that may suggest Trumpism is here to stay.

“This is not a clear throwback to a past filled with traditional gender roles in the same way, but it does a similar thing of disempowering the body politic by making women’s bodies safe and feminine,” she said.

What’s most interesting to Heffington is how effectively influencers who favor the Tradwife’s look and lifestyle have separated their aesthetic and lifestyle from the more provocative conservative ideology that typically lurks behind their fashion choices.

“This allowed conservative cues, even overt historical references like 1960s housewife fashion or prairie dresses, to look like politically neutral fashion choices,” Heffington said.

Now that Trump has won, it seems reality is setting in for many of those influencers’ followers. Model and lifestyle influencer Nara Smith received backlash from some of her 10.7 million TikTok followers after her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, reposted a TikTok congratulating Trump on his victory. faced. .

Similarly, on Reddit, fans of the popular reality show “The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives” are seeing their favorites share RFK Jr.’s names online. I’m disappointed to see reposts and “likes” of supportive and MAGA celebratory posts.

Given these women’s backgrounds, Smith’s claim to fame is that she is a homemaker of 23 years and a mother of three who makes everything from scratch, even homemade Coca-Cola. SALT LAKE CITY ― Fans won’t be too surprised.

Some are unconvinced by the idea that Ozempic and the return to thinness as the body ideal after years of body positivity was a hint that Trump would win.

Susan Scafidi, professor, founder and director of Fordham Law School’s Fashion Law Institute, believes the re-embracing of thinness has to do with another related cultural divide: rich versus poor, not conservative versus liberal.

“In a society overflowing with empty calories and sedentary jobs, being thin requires free time for exercise, access to healthy ‘slow foods,’ money to buy prescription drugs, or all of the above,” Scafidi said.

Scaffidi often quoted Wallis Simpson, the American socialite turned wife of King Edward VIII, when she said being thin was expensive in America. “You can never be too rich or too thin.”

It’s worth noting that many of the aforementioned fashion trends definitely align with white femininity. For example, critics have argued that the “clean girl aesthetic,” which promotes fresh, “natural” beauty, tends to promote Eurocentric beauty. Others say it smells of classicism. Not everyone can afford to undergo laser treatments or buy expensive skincare products that clean “makeup-free” girls use in abundance.

The idea that fashion is inherently political — that it can be used to test political waters — has its limits, said Henry Navarro Delgado, associate professor of fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Fashion can be political, but it can be so even in ideologically polarized times,” he said. He supported measures to tighten up, noting that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to pinpoint someone’s politics, such as the divided electorate voting for Trump. People who voted for liberal senators and representatives while choosing abortion rights, or Trump.

“Trends that can be interpreted as ‘conservative’ share space with many other style perspectives, not only because they are currently dominant, but also because of the numerous cultural and ideological attitudes found in diverse and increasingly vocal communities,” Navarro Delgado said. .

For example, Generation Z has embraced upcycling and sustainable fashion. Oversized tracksuits (think Billie Eilish) and genderfluid looks are also popular.

Vermeer believes the acceptance of second-hand fashion will further strengthen, especially if Trump’s aggressive tariff plan passes and drives up clothing prices.

“Gen Z and Millennials have been driving the demand for thrift to save money and shop more sustainably, and it will be even more appealing if their favorite retail brands become more expensive due to tariffs,” she said. . “Used clothing already exists, and it’s easier than ever to buy and sell it online.”

Could Trumpism and social conservatism usher in a more aggressive and decidedly less “quiet luxury” trend? If fashion is political, then true personal style can be a radical act, or at least a statement against the status quo.

Consider how the punk scene and its associated aesthetics (trimmed leather, safety pins, ripped jeans, mohawks) grew out of Reagan-era conservatism and that old-money aesthetic. Form-fitting Brooks Brothers suits, fussy tweed skirts, and bow blouses were favored by First Lady Nancy Reagan. (Street styles associated with hip-hop, including bold Afrocentric prints, oversized silhouettes, tracksuits, and gold chains, also emerged around the same time.)

Mandy Lee, a popular fashion influencer on TikTok, predicted that Trump’s recent victory could lead to a return of ‘man-hater’ looks, such as baggy pants that avoid the male gaze or blocky power suits with big shoulders that hint at female power. I did it.

In Lee’s comments, other women said they were looking forward to a new trend of aggressive, unpretty fashion.

“I sincerely hope that the backlash against the clean girl conservative look has the biggest resonance of the DIY punk rebellion of the late 70s and 80s,” said one critic.

Another woman thinks grunge suits this moment better than punk rock. She called it ‘self-defense fashion.’

“Clutch that looks like a holster, knuckle rings, spiked shoulders,” she said. “That’s how the revolt will go.”