Dr Jill Biden And Kamala Harris Are Both Sending Strong Messages With Their Choice Of Clothing

Before they even stepped inside The White House, or put on their carefully-chosen outfits for yesterday’s Inauguration Day, the excitement, and interest, in the fashion choices of Kamala Harris, American's new Vice President, and Dr Jill Biden, FLOTUS, have been gathering speed since way back when on the campaign trail.

Harris’s allegiance to pearls and Converse - she wore both on the cover of US Vogue - is already well-documented. Biden, meanwhile, has split her public-facing wardrobe between the country’s stalwart brands (Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta), and industry movers-and-shakers (Gabriela Hearst, the woman who just took over the reins at the famously female-centric fashion house Chloé). The First Lady chose a pearl white dress coat from Hearst, who was last year's CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year, as her evening look to wave from the balcony of her new home and watch the fireworks. Her daughter, Ashley Biden, also wore a midnight blue coat from the designer to watch her father be sworn in as the 46th President.

Earlier in the day, Biden chose a custom-made blue dress with matching coat, designed by the female-led brand Markarian. The neckline of the dress is hand-embellished with Swarovski crystals and there's a matching silk face mask to go with the outfit. The whole look was created by the brand's small team in New York. It's an interesting choice from America's new First Lady, who has eschewed the more established US brands in favour of championing a new label run by Alexandra O'Neill, who only established Markarian in 2017.

For her evening look, Harris wore an elegant, ankle-length coat from Sergio Hudson, who also designed the wine-coloured look worn by Michelle Obama. For the swearing in ceremony, Harris chose a jewel-toned purple dress coat by Christopher John Rogers, a young Black designer who has already dressed the likes of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. According to Vogue, purple might have been chosen to symbolise the unity that the new administration seeks to bring the country as it's the colour you get from mixing red with blue.

On the eve of Inauguration Day, which saw both women attend a memorial service for the country's 400,000 victims of coronavirus held beside Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, their outfits sent subtle messages to a country poised on the brink of a huge political upheaval. Harris wore a camel-coloured coat from Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Pyer Moss.

The designer was instrumental in the fashion industry’s fight against coronavirus - turning his studio into a donation centre for PPE, and creating a $50,000 relief fund for women- and minority-owned businesses who were struggling - and was the designer of choice for both Aurora James’sUS Voguecover back in September, and Angela Davis’s Vanity Fair cover. Just as her trainers, and her sense of humour on social media, signal a more down-to-earth approach to being a politician, her choice of designer shows that she is actively engaged in the conversation happening in the fashion industry about the desperate need for diversity.

Biden’s choice, an amethyst-coloured coat from Jonathan Cohen, also sent a message that she’s aware that a simple fashion choice, in her new role as FLOTUS, can work as a statement of intent without being a fashion statement. According to The Guardian, in fact, when briefs were sent out to designers for both women's inauguration outfits, they were specifically told that neither wished to send a 'fashion' message.

Cohen’s Mexican heritage mixed with his upbringing in San Diego, has informed his work as a designer, with an aesthetic that borrows from the rich print and colour culture of Mexico, and the laid-back surfer scene in California. Cohen is a passionate user of upcycled materials, which is probably one of the reasons why Biden, who has also worn clothes from sustainable designer Hearst, is lending her support as she enters The White House. As her husband rejoin the Paris climate agreement, she appears to be committing to wearing brands that are championing a more mindful, less wasteful approach to fashion.