Deconstructing the meaning behind Kamala Harris's fashion choices

US Vice President uses clothes to convey a wider message in her race to the White House

In recent months, there has been a noticeable shift in Kamala Harris's wardrobe, leaning towards sharper and more polished looks. AP

When Joe Biden stepped down from the presidential race in July this year, it cleared the way for Kamala Harris to launch her own bid for the White House, but gave her little time to prepare for what that might look like.

Of course, Harris has had decades to hone her personal style. Before being the first female US vice president, she was the district attorney for San Francisco, and then the attorney general of California. Harris was also a junior US senator from California from 2017 to 2021.

Here, The National looks back at coded colour choices, her go-to designers and subtle meanings that can be inferred through some of her styling decisions.

Focus on approachability

Harris has long adopted the trouser suit as her professional go-to, opting for boxy jackets and blouses as her daily uniform. Practical, neutral and unthreatening, and with the men around her all dressed in suits, it follows that any woman looking to be treated as an equal would dress the same.

Hilary Clinton, former US secretary of state, senator and first lady, has spoken of adopting a similar strategy during her time in politics. In her 2017 memoir What Happened, she wrote that wearing a suit was an "anti-distraction technique". She added: Since there wasn’t much to say or report on what I wore, maybe people would focus on what I was saying instead."

Harris has favoured suits on the loose side and is happy to dress them up with a mid-height heel or down with a T-shirt, or, as seen at a recent campaign event in Pennsylvania, with trainers.

Hidden meaning behind colour and styling decisions

Her most famous dressed-down appearance was probably on the February 2021 cover of Vogue, where she's seen wearing a trouser suit, white T-shirt and a pair of Converse trainers. At first glance, it looks like a woman standing in front of a haphazard pink and green background, which was criticised at the time for being messy.

However, like many of Harris's sartorial decisions, closer inspection reveals hidden meanings. Shot by Tyler Mitchell, who became the first black photographer to shoot a cover for Vogue when he photographed Beyonce in 2018, the colour choice is a tribute to Alpha Kappa Alpha, Harris's sorority at Howard University. The sorority is famous for being the first inter-collegiate African-American Greek-letter sorority in the US. Her pearl necklace is also a nod to the sorority, whose founding members are referred to as the Twenty Pearls. A total of 20 pearls are visible on Harris's necklace in the image.

Ultimately, the image was criticised for being too casual, yet the messaging was still clear. The laid-back approach to professional attire conveys Harris's willingness to connect to those who look for formality in politicians, as well as voters who seek approachability.

To celebrate winning the election in November 2020, Harris opted for a white trouser suit by American-Venezuelan brand Carolina Herrera. Fashion commentators read into the significance of the colour choice, linking it back to the 19th and 20th century suffragette movement. In the UK and US, among other countries, the colour was worn by women fighting for the right to vote. In choosing the colour for such a significant event, Harris made a strident point, linking the significance of her appointment as the first female US vice president to their movement a century before.

For her inauguration in January 2021, Harris chose to support black American designer Christopher John Rogers. She wore a purple coat and dress for the day time event. As a blend of red and blue, the colour signalled her acknowledgement of both sides of the US political divide, while expressing a willingness to seek a middle ground. In the US, red is typically the colour of the Republican Party and blue, the Democratic Party's. Along with gold and white, purple also has US suffrage connotations – a colour often used in the movement's badges, signs, sashes and coats, it was chosen as a "colour of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause," according to a 1913 edition of The Suffragist.

For the evening event of the inauguration, she wore a tuxedo coat and black sequinned dress by black designer Sergio Hudson, that heralded a new era by offering – quite literally – a modern update of tradition.

Hiring 'low-key' stylist Leslie Fremar

In the first year of her vice presidency, Harris chose to step out wearing brands that were either American, or headquartered in the country, including Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung and Altuzarra. More recently, she has expanded her wardrobe to incorporate European names. Italian fashion house Valentino dressed her in a polo neck and sequinned skirt for a Japanese state dinner in April this year, while Harris showed her fashion chops in custom-made Chloe, for the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in August. Made by creative director Chemena Kamali, it suggests Harris has some serious fashion connections.

In recent months, there has been a noticeable shift in Harris's wardrobe, leaning towards sharper and more polished looks. This can be attributed to the stylist Leslie Fremar, who was brought on at the start of Harris's presidential campaign. Having worked with Julianne Moore, Lea Seydoux, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Connelly, Fremar is also the former director of celebrity relations at Prada, and was once assistant to Anna Wintour at Vogue.

Fremar been tasked with "crafting a low-key chic look" for Harris, according to news site Puck, while steering clear of being elitist. The changes she has implemented are subtle, but significant. Suits are better fitting, to create a more polished feel. One such example is the duck egg blue suit Harris wore to attend the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference in September. Another is the dark navy suit Harris wore to meet President Sheikh Mohamed in Washington last week.

For the September televised debate against Donald Trump, Harris opted for a black trouser suit with a white pussy bow blouse. A rare chance to get Trump and Harris side-by-side, Fremar seized the opportunity to make Harris look presidential, in a suit that was well cut but not showy. The choice to keep her jacket closed provided a polished contrast to Trump's go-to loose navy blue suit with his jacket left open.

A colour-coded presidential campaign

Harris's clever use of colour has been a key part of the styling for her presidential campaign thus far. For her September Unite for America television rally appearance with Oprah Winfrey, she opted once again for purple, pairing a suit with a black shirt, which gave the sense of control, while harking back to the tenants of loyalty, purpose and steadfastness to a cause. Later in the month, she opted for a chocolate brown suit for a Las Vegas rally. According to colour theory, with its link to nature, brown conjures a sense of strength, warmth and dependability. To meet with students at the Community College of Philadelphia, she teamed a tan suit, which signifies openness, with a black T-shirt, for approachability.

The tan suit has been a conversation point in her campaign so far. On the first day of August's Democratic National Convention she wore the aforementioned tan suit by Chloe. Former president Barack Obama made the comparison himself and Harris on social media, posting side-by-side images of them both, the image of him taken in 2014 during his presidency.

"How it started. How it’s going," Obama wrote on Instagram. "Ten years later, and it’s still a good look!"'

At the time, Obama's suit choice was described as "unpresidential" by conservative commentator Lou Dobbs. For Harris, the suit could have an opposite affect, drawing a direct parallel between herself and a former president.