Plus: Low-carbon leisure, heat domes, and more
June 18, 2024 [View in browser]( Good morning! Have you noticed that politiciansâ (already bleak) fashion sense has coalesced around some particular styles? Today, senior correspondent Rebecca Jennings digs in.
âCaroline Houck, senior editor of news [Rep. Cory Mills, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy outside the court where Donald Trump's hush money trial was held.] David Dee Delgado/Getty Images Male politicians dress badly for a reason Americans may be [paying less attention]( to political news ahead of the 2024 election, but when they do tune in, theyâll be greeted by a sartorial landscape thatâs different from the one they remember four years ago. Legions of Republicans are copying Trumpâs shiny red ties in a bid to win his (and his baseâs) favor. Suits, at least on younger politicians, have gotten significantly tighter. And weâre officially in the unfortunate era of the âdress sneaker.â DC fashion has always been [notoriously bleak,]( steeped in the regressive gender and respectability politics that govern the nationâs oldest bureaucracies. But this year, more than ever, there seems to be a uniform for male Republicans. Here to explain whatâs going on in this particular election cycle is Derek Guy, the San Francisco-based founder of the blog [Die, Workwear!](, whoâs perhaps better known as Xâs â[menswear guy,](â having exploded on the platform in 2022 for his informative threads and quippy comebacks. Rebecca Jennings: What do you think about all the Republican men copying Trumpâs ties? Derek Guy: I think Republicans are wearing the bright red tie to signal that theyâre a Trump Republican as opposed to a Romney Republican. Itâs not just the bright red tie, itâs that theyâre often wearing satin red ties, a very shiny material that Trump wears. Historically for men, itâs usually the tie youâd wear in the evening. But Trump wears a satin red tie even in afternoons and mornings, because itâs the strongest, punchiest way to wear a red tie. Other Republicans have picked up on that and bought essentially the same tie when you see them coming out in support of Trump. [Trump at a courthouse in his blue suit and red tie.] Getty Images The first time I really noticed that was the very [first Republican primary debate]( for this presidential campaign. So many came out in bright red ties, and the only men that didnât were Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, both of whom said they wouldnât support Trump if he were the partyâs nominee. They were totally scorched by Republicans for that. As everyone has noted, Trump has taken over the party. Itâs this kind of careful thing where candidates want to stand up to him and say that youâre an alternative, but then you also have to court his base of diehards. Rebecca Jennings: Do you find that Democratic politicians are taking a different approach to fashion than their Republican counterparts? Derek Guy: I don't know if thereâs a significant difference between how Democratic and Republican politicians dress. The contrast is more evident across generations. Men in their 30s and 40s tend to favor slim-fit clothing, whereas men in their 50s and 60s favor fuller-fitting clothes. Some of this comes out of experience. I canât imagine President Biden or Trump wearing the kind of clothes we see on Rep. Gaetz because they would instinctively know that suits shouldnât fit like that. I think this comes out of the fact that they grew up in a generation where tailored clothing was more common, and so theyâre more familiar with it, whereas I suspect Rep. Gaetz only started wearing suits with any regularity after he was elected into office in 2017. There are noticeably bad dressers on both sides of the aisle, but in slightly different ways. I canât imagine a Republican opting to dress like Sen. Fetterman because I think there are more pressures on that side of the aisle to conform to notions of respectability in dress. But ill-fitting attire is hardly a partisan issue. There are some members of Gen Z who are getting back into fuller-fitting silhouettes, which is great. But theyâve yet to get into elected offices in a way that makes their dress sense noticeable in political life. [Republican presidential candidates Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, and Ramaswamy at last yearâs GOP primary debate. ] Win McNamee/Getty Images Rebecca Jennings: Weâre now seeing Mark Zuckerberg [start to wear a chain and grow out his curls](. Do you think thereâs a world in which, in a couple election cycles, there will be streetwear-influenced political dressing? Derek Guy: No, not streetwear. The thing about clothing is that itâs so tied to signaling issues dealing with class, race, and often coded as respectability. What we term ârespectabilityâ is often middle-class whiteness. Streetwear does not convey that. Mark Zuckerberg can get away with it because heâs a billionaire. But politicians and people who work in offices often have to affect this uniform of middle-class whiteness, and I think itâs going to be the default uniform, at least for the rest of my lifetime. I think theyâre still going to do button-up shirts and sometimes jeans. Rebecca Jennings: How do you think male politicians and other powerful guys can dress better? And why arenât they doing that already? Derek Guy: US politicians have dressed more casually since at least the 1970s. Politicians are people too, and they exist in the same world as we do. Theyâre influenced by the same casualization trends. John F. Kennedy is often credited with having killed the hat for not wearing the hat at certain parts of his inauguration, and in the â80s, when you see some politicians campaigning, you'll notice that they lose their jackets. In the late â90s to the early 2000s, you start to see men lose the tie, so theyâre only campaigning in a dress shirt. When Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for the presidency, he wore a quarter-zip sweater. Some of it is a desire to not look too stuffy. When you're walking into a town hall with everyone dressed casually, you donât want to be seen as the suit. Personally, I think they would look better if they put on a tailored jacket and found ways to dress down a jacket that was not an orphan suit jacket with jeans. Thatâs the one unique thing about Donald Trump: Heâs the only modern president who refuses to dress down outside of, like, golf courses. He always wears a suit. You rarely see him without a tie. We all know that these people are very powerful. Most come from privileged, wealthy backgrounds. I think they should just wear a tailored jacket and we should all just give up the charade that just because youâre dressed casually, youâre somehow one of us. As an electoral matter, I donât think thatâs changing. Politicians are still going to want to dress down to seem more relatable to voters. [Listen]( Save Darfur, again A bloody civil war is spreading famine and fear through Sudan. Itâs a near-repeat of a crisis from two decades ago, but this time Sudan is not commanding the worldâs attention the way the âSave Darfurâ movement did. [Listen now]( FUN - What to sip on this summer: Recommendations and recipes for sumptuous summer cocktails. [[Punch](]
- Introducing: the idea of âlow-carbon leisureâ: How do you have not just an abundant, but a fun, connected and restorative future, all while avoiding increasing greenhouse gas emission? A few ideas: âPublic pools. Shorter workweeks. Accessible parks. Local sports.â [[American Prospect](]
- What are we all watching on TV these days?: And why does it feel like âthe overlap in the Venn diagram of âcritical consensus hitsâ and âwatercooler discourse baitâ is getting smaller and smallerâ â to the point of almost vanishing? [[Vox](] [: Children cool off as they play in a spray pool amid the heat]( Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images NOT SO FUN - A heat dome is settling over much of [the Midwest and eastern United States](: And, as my colleague Umair explains in this piece, just tracking the high temperatures doesnât even reflect how dang hot it is outside. Meet the metric that really captures how it feels: the âwet-bulb temperature.â [[Vox](]
- Older women are being significantly shortchanged by medical research: From Alzheimers to heart disease to mental health, thereâs less knowledge about how female bodies respond to medical issues. [[Washington Post](] POLITICS - 2024âs hottest electoral issue might just be the Supreme Court: After Trump explicitly campaigned on locking down the federal courts for conservatives in previous elections, Bidenâs going in too. [[Politico](]
- Are Republican women okay?: Women have never had it easy in politics, generally, no matter the party. But todayâs GOP requires women to navigate âbaffling, contradictory demands.â [[NYMag](] Ad Sign up to keep with: On the Right Conservative ideas that once seemed fringy have gone mainstream with unpredictable speed. Zack Beauchamp is launching a new newsletter today, to help you understand whatâs happening âon the right.â [Sign up here »]( Are you enjoying the Today, Explained newsletter? Forward it to a friend; they can [sign up for it right here](. Apologies: Yesterdayâs newsletter included a bullet recommending a Vox article exploring why the musical artist Post Malone seems to be everywhere this summer â but the link was broken. You can [find that article here](. Today's edition was produced and edited by Caroline Houck. We'll see you tomorrow! [Become a Vox Member]( Support our journalism â become a Vox Member and youâll get exclusive access to the newsroom with members-only perks including newsletters, bonus podcasts and videos, and more. [Join our community]( Ad [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [TikTok]( [WhatsApp]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences]( [unsubscribe](param=sentences). If you value Voxâs unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Notice]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1701 Rhode Island. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.