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Writer's pictureTrương Hoàng Đức
Nov 1, 20202 min read

Buy - Raccoon Your Butt Napkins My Lady poster, canvas

Buy - Raccoon Your Butt Napkins My Lady poster, canvas

Is Kamala Harris’s Fashion Her Secret Weapon?

A FASHION formula emerged for ambitious female lawyers somewhere between the fraught makeover that Marcia Clark underwent mid-OJ-trial in 1995 and the 2009 debut season of the glossy courtroom drama “The Good Wife.” The reliable components: dark tailored suits, creamy shells, subtle pearls and heels. Senator Kamala Harris, a lawyer who has often spoken of her desire to “prosecute the case” on the campaign trail, has rarely diverged from that strategy during her runs for president and vice president. While most female politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley favor TV-friendly rainbow hues, Sen. Harris adheres to a serious signature style honed during her years as a prosecutor. “She’s used to being on her feet in those heels in that suit arguing in a courtroom,” said the founder and director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Susan Scafidi, who does not know the candidate.

Sen. Harris has consistently used the sober codes of attorney style during her political career (with some notable, strategic exceptions—a sequined jacket, her Converse low-tops). Recent weeks underline her plan: In Georgia on October 23 she wore a black suit, black pearls, black mask; in North Carolina on October 21, a dark blazer and pearls; at a Florida appearance on October 19, a dark suit and white pearls. On the current cover of “Elle” magazine—for which she selected her own clothing, as always—she opted for a charcoal suit and pumps. Prof. Scafidi, who studies the intersection of fashion and law, observed, “I think she’s got it down to a shorthand, it’s PPP with PPE, that is to say, pearls, pumps and a pantsuit with a mask, so very 2020.”


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