Robin Givhan, the senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post moderated an hour-long virtual program that explored the dynamics of the first ladies’ fashion from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Jill Biden. They agreed that the first ladies’ position has been synonymous with American fashion, and Trump’s infamous “I don’t care” jacket when she visited the immigrant children was revisited once again because it sparked fury when the ex-FLOTUS was photographed wearing it.
“When you have actual writing on clothes, the implication is that you are trying to communicate a message. Fashion, in general, communicates a range of messages, but they’re not always as clear as that onem” Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, was quoted as saying by Footwear News. “So this one caused controversy with everybody trying to guess what exactly she was referring to, it was unclear on what that meant.”
Steele said the first ladies represent the administration that’s why they should be very careful with their wardrobe.
“For a lot of Americans, the first lady represents the administration. People feel that this is the wife of the president we elected, so she should represent that administration and more generally represent the United States to the world. We expect her to live up to that — that’s her job in a sense for us,” she explained.
Givhan also acknowledged how the current first lady is using her fashion as a platform to express her sartorial choices. The Washington Post editor pointed out Biden’s tradition of wearing young, independent American designers, too.
“[She] very quickly began using her fashion to make a statement from something as simple as wearing a face mask that matched her attire,” Givhan said.
In an interview with Kelly Clarkson in February, Biden was asked about her viral scrunchie. The FLOTUS said she heard that the scrunchie trended on Twitter from her daughter Ashley, but she didn’t get the hype.
“You know, my daughter [Ashley] called me right after I left that shop and said, ‘Mom, everyone’s talking about this scrunchie.’ I said, ‘What scrunchie?’ I didn’t know what she was talking about. I still don’t understand it,” Biden said.