The Fashion of GOP Politics: How Republican Women Are Dressing to Change America

Standing next to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley wears stacked pearls and a powder pink dress at the CNN Republican Presidential Debate in January 2024. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

“I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?”

In June 2018, on her way to visit a child migrant detention facility in Texas, then-First Lady Melania Trump wore a now-infamous jacket emblazoned with the above message. As opposed to her more opulent fashion choices that were wholly composed of Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana, this $39 Zara jacket sparked a backlash over her insensitivity when visiting detained child migrants during her husband’s administration’s “zero-tolerance” family separation policy. The former First Lady’s exorbitant wardrobe reflected the Trumps’ wealth, but the jacket was clearly chosen to make a statement. By deviating from her usual expensive outfits, Mrs. Trump aimed to capture the press and public’s attention. At first analysis, the jacket’s message was thought to reflect the Trump Administration’s relative lack of concern for migrant families and strict immigration policies. Political pundits soon realized the jacket’s intention was to distract from the Trump Administration’s growing problem of detaining and separating migrant families at the southern border without a formalized plan to reunite them. On a more personal level, the former First Lady, as an immigrant herself, felt strongly that migrant families should not be separated at the border and wanted her husband to change his policies. 

As demonstrated by the two interpretations of Trump’s jacket, First Ladies’ fashion choices have historically conveyed a strong message about a presidential administration’s policies or even her opinions. Generally, as the role of the First Lady has been to support her husband, her clothing has come to bolster his authority and role as president. However, since the 1960s, the role of the First Lady has become more independent from the President. Correspondingly, these women have worn clothing that reveals their relative autonomy. Yet these pieces continue to mark their places within administrations, exemplified by Jackie Kennedy’s Francophilic wardrobe and Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits. As more women come into political power individually, female politicians’ clothing choices have become clear markers of their internal beliefs and the message their party wishes to share. With the Republican Party becoming increasingly right-leaning, the wardrobes of female GOP politicians are changing to reflect the current Republican belief that women should inhabit more traditional gender roles. 

The effects of this growing conservatism within the GOP are seen most visually in the clothing styles the party promotes. In more right-leaning states such as Missouri, where the Republican Party does not have to appease a sizable Democratic population in the State Assembly, the GOP passed a resolution requiring women to cover their arms in the House Chamber. By appealing to conservatives in this fashion, the Republican Party hoped to show that while they do have female politicians within their ranks, the men still control the party by restricting what their fellow women wear. The Democratic minority in the State Assembly vehemently opposed the bill, with female Democrats calling the measure “ridiculous.” As only female Republicans touted the bill and even criticized their Democratic colleagues for their outrage, the GOP conveyed that women do not run the party. 

Increasingly, laws such as this one and the fashion choices of prominent women in the GOP indicate an intention to depict them as concerned, traditional women—figures conservative Republican audiences can trust. “Mother candidates” poll significantly better than childless female candidates, showing why female Republicans frequently position themselves in the role of the dual mom-politician.

This phenomenon is most prevalent in Senator Katie Britt’s (R-AL) choice of clothing during the GOP’s response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, filmed inside her upscale designer kitchen. For female Republican politicians like Britt, their clothing selections show their ability to enact change through their office that is not too radical to engender distrust in men. Britt wore a green collared shirt, her business-casual choice hinting at her usefulness as a politician. Her rolled-up sleeves emphasize the “politician” facet of the mom-politician duality, showing that she intends to do her job as a representative and should be supported. The business-casual choice also indicates that Britt does not separate her motherhood from her role as a politician. Instead, the work she does for the country is an extension of the support she provides for her family. In this way, she uses her identity as a mother to legitimize her work as a politician.  

Britt also sported a diamond-studded cross. A testament to her religious piety, the symbol was another message to her audience that the GOP is the “Christian party.” Britt’s kitchen setting underscored her position as a concerned Christian mother looking out for her family and, by extension, all Americans. The kitchen helped Britt strike a balance between the two parts of this duality, as she hoped to make the GOP seem accessible to all Americans.

Britt’s attempt to seem professional but not “too professional” was mocked in a viral Saturday Night Live skit, as Britt’s melodramatic attempt to fully embody the roles of the concerned mother and determined politician was not well received. Her facade was not tenable. Since Britt is incapable of relating authentically to real mothers and Americans, she resorted to using her wardrobe to send political messages by emphasizing her traditionalism and adherence to Christian values.

Like Britt’s clothing choices, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s wardrobe reflects similar themes of utility and reliability for female GOP politicians. As the only female candidate who ran for the Republican nomination, Haley’s gender was apparent. To turn this distinction into an advantage, she wore skirts. While this logic may seem counterintuitive, Haley used her femininity to stand out from the men. Among the sea of black suits and red ties, her skirts made her inescapable from the audience’s gaze. Haley’s traditional clothing conveyed that she did not want to be mocked in the same way former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was for wearing pantsuits during her 2016 presidential campaign. 

A marker of reliability, Haley’s skirts clued Republican voters in on her preferred presidential policies regarding women’s rights. For example, Haley supported a de facto total abortion ban in her home state of South Carolina as a state legislator and later called herself “unapologetically pro-life” while campaigning for president. As a female Republican, she has also called herself a “consensus” candidate who hopes to make abortion laws appeasable to multiple audiences through compromise and discussion. The label only confirms the message her clothing sends: she is a woman, but not a radical one. In her campaign announcement, Haley also said that she “did not believe in glass ceilings,” claiming that women could achieve anything if they put in the effort. Throughout her career, she has denied using identity politics, but Haley uses her wardrobe to embody the mom-politician duality by either emphasizing or masking her identity as a woman depending on the pertinent political issue to which she must respond.

Moreover, Haley’s love of high heels highlighted her commitment to traditional femininity. She wore heels to show endurance and avoid downplaying her gender, hoping to “appear like a familiar but unthreatening figure of female authority.” Like Britt, Haley must grapple with the crumbling facade that this duality requires, as her complex relationship with identity politics shows that she struggles to maintain the right balance that her gender unfortunately requires in politics. The traditional silhouette of Haley’s 1950s Dior-esque shirt-skirt dresses with pumps made her position on her gender crystal clear: she is undeniably a woman, but she is not radical and can be trusted by Americans. 

As female politicians, Britt and Haley’s fashion choices reveal how women must represent their femininity in an agreeable way with the GOP’s base by simultaneously showing their utility as civil servants and reliability as caring and concerned women. The relationship between female Republicans and their party reflects the broader desire to curb the power and autonomy of American women. At the national and state levels, the GOP has proposed bills limiting women’s healthcare and preventing the discussion of gender and sexuality in education. By wearing clothes that suggest a more passive position, female Republican politicians convey the GOP’s position that women should be disempowered and inhabit more traditional gender roles.    

The issue of fashion politics is not just about how the government influences trends and other cultural phenomena. As politicians, the Republican Party supports these trustworthy, reliable women who work to support their families and serve their country. However, the GOP’s lack of trust in female politicians has become increasingly apparent as the women of the party have had to justify their gender to have power. Leaders such as Britt and Haley have had to present themselves within the confines of their gender, repositioning their identity as women as an appeal to both male and female voters. If given the opportunity to succumb to the increasingly loud, extremely conservative voices of the party, the GOP would choose its own advancement over its women. 

If the Republican Party continues to support this fashion-based expectation for women in politics, political polarization will surge in an already divided country. As women with political power are limited by their male colleagues, the implications of these laws directly link to everyday American women as well. As powerful women must relinquish their authority to placate male legislators, American women will become powerless as discriminatory laws continue to pass. Dress code regulations and adherence to traditional femininity are only the start of the Republican Party’s resurgence of antiquated gender roles.

It is becoming abundantly and increasingly clear that the Republican Party really doesn’t care about the treatment or status of all American women. Do u?

Priya Shah (BC ’27) is a staff writer at CPR majoring in economics and art history. She enjoys reading, taking long walks in Central Park, and visiting the many museums of New York City.