Political fashion: From Gorman to Gandhi

DW

Public figures from Marie Antoinette to champions of the #MeToo movement have often used clothes and fashion to express their political opinion. Here's a look at some sartorial attitude across the centuries.

Weaving symbolism into clothes

Amanda Gorman stole the show in January with her poetry recitation at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. Her clothes were carefully chosen for the event, she said: the coat from feminist designer Miuccia Prada, the ear hoops from Oprah Winfrey and a ring featuring a caged bird, signifying Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

'Phenomenal' woman

Meena Harris, the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, started her 'Phenomenal Woman' campaign last year after being disillusioned with the mood in the United States. Her 'Phenomenally Black' T-shirts have proven a hit with the public, and even celebrities are flaunting the garment. The former lawyer and tech executive now works full time for her clothing brand.

'I am not a piece of meat'

Lady Gaga made headlines when she appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a dress made of raw meat with matching shoes (above). Many thought she was being anti-vegan or inspired by artist Mark Ryden's painting Incarnation. Gaga ended the speculation, saying her dress was a statement about asserting her rights and against the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy at the time.

Black Panthers

Singers Beyonce and Bruno Mars used the halftime during a 2016 Super Bowl to show their skills — and their support for the Black Panthers revolutionary socialist movement that peaked in the late 1960s. Their Panthers' dress code included a powder-blue blue shirt, black pants, black leather jackets and a black beret.

Black Lives Matter

Many celebrities like Lewis Hamilton have donned T-shirts to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In this picture, taken at the Bahrain Grand Prix in November 2020, Hamilton wears a black T-shirt with the slogan "Black Lives Matter, Women's Rights Are Human Rights, Immigration Is A Good Thing, Science Is Real, Love Is Love."

Black for #MeToo

At the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, many actors wore black in support of the #MeToo movement, which emerged following 2017 allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. In her speech, Oprah Winfrey said of powerful, abusive men: "... for too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up."

'I really don't care'

Statement clothes can often backfire. Former US first lady Melania Trump wore this jacket with the slogan "I really don't care. Do U?" on a 2018 visit to the Upbring New Hope Children Center in Texas, which housed migrant children separated from their parents. Trump said the slogan was meant for the "left-wing media" and the people who were criticizing her, and not for the children she visited.

'Make America Great Again'

MAGA hats — as the red baseball caps with the slogan "Make America Great Again" are known — have been popular among Donald Trump supporters since it became the slogan for his 2016 presidential campaign. Rapper Kanye West showed his support for Trump by wearing the MAGA hat at a meeting with the former president in the Oval Office in 2018. West has since distanced himself from Trump.

Power to the people

Mahatma Gandhi gave up the modern Western pants-and-shirt outfit and adopted the traditional Indian dhoti. His new minimalist attire would, he felt, help him get closer to the Indian masses. He also wove his own cotton at his spinning wheel (pictured above in 1925) as a means of protest against the cotton British colonialists imported from Manchester and sold in India.

Vive la mode?

French Queen Marie Antoinette had extravagant tastes in clothes, hairdos and jewelry, which was said to symbolize the excesses of the French royals during the revolution. But this was partly an expression of her frustration at having no role to play in the government and also of her rebellious nature, said Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.

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