‘Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three times is an enemy action’, this is according to Auric Goldfinger, the enemy in, um, Goldfinger. A James Bond book and film. But forget who said it and why, because doing something three times, in the fashion world, makes something a trend.
And as we saw Theresa May take to the count in her Maidenhead constituency last night, we noticed a trend. The outfit she was wearing: red skirt-suit with a blue and red patterned scarf, was on its third outing. We first saw May wearing it when she went to visit President Trump - you remember, the day he held her hand because, The Times suggested, he’s scared of stairs - and its second trip was for her only televised ‘debate’ with Jeremy Corbyn, when she went on Channel 4 to answer questions from Jeremy Paxman and the public.
Now, before anyone suggests it’s somehow remiss to analyse these outfits, we don’t want to dissect Theresa May’s fashion because she is a woman. We want to dissect Theresa May’s fashion because she loves fashion, and uses it politically. She is an avid follower of fashion, gave a pre-snap election interview to US Vogue (not UK, note) where she said: ‘It’s important to be able to show that a woman can do a job like this and still be interested in clothes’ and during this election campaign boasted that a female researcher once told her ‘You know, your shoes got me involved in politics’.
We asked a personal brand expert, Jennifer Holloway, her take on why Theresa’s worn the same power suit and scarf combo for three such noteworthy events.
Why did Theresa May wear this outfit so frequently for important engagements?
She would have thought it through. It’s not just ‘Oh, I’ll put this on again.’ Particularly in politics, for someone of her visibility, she knows how much information she’s conveying about her personal brand through her choices of clothes and accessories. People will read this in different ways, but I wonder if she’s intended it as ‘It’s not about the clothes, it’s about me and my policies, I’m wearing the same outfit, if this was a man, no-one would be making the same fuss.’ Also, I don’t know about you, but I don’t wear one thing once and never wear it again. I wonder if this choice was to make her seem down to earth to the electorate
She did face a lot of criticism for wearing £995 brown leather trousers in a photo shoot
Exactly. There’s also been a study done into something called enclosed cognition which shows that there are certain outfits that make us feel certain ways. I used to have a boss who would wear a red suit and when she came in you’d know she was either doing a board meeting, or she was going to bollock someone. You knew, she’d wear that red suit to make herself feel powerful in situations where she wasn’t otherwise feeling confident. The fact May has worn her red suit with Trump and in the debates and at the account makes me wonder if it’s her go-to power or confidence dress.
So maybe it’s her internal thing, done for HER confidence, not for our perceptions?
Yes, and Nicola Sturgeon seems to do it, and Hillary Clinton had her white jacket in her campaign. It’s more noticeable when women do it, because there’s more variety that a woman can be putting out there, and people notice it more. A politician like David Cameron wouldn’t have turned up in a red jacket, but he may well have worn the same Savile Row pinstripe suit ten times but we don’t know because it doesn’t stand out.
Do you think May didn’t realise how much that image of her and Trump had solidified in people’s minds?
I don’t know how much of an effect that would have had on what people voted last night because it was a few weeks ago [it was actually in January]. She will have worn that red dress for a reason, not just ‘how it makes me appear to other people, but how it makes ME feel, too’
And there we have it…she wore it for a reason, and we may never know, but there was a reason, still. Probably not ‘enemy action’, but really, a Conservative wearing red?!
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.