It’s fair to say that no one expected fashion to attract so much attention during President Donald Trump’s inauguration this weekend.
First, Oscar de La Renta and Dior sparked anger by creating the inaugural looks for second lady Usha Vance and first daughter Ivanka Trump — a very different approach to the reluctance of fashion houses to dress members of the Trump family during its first administration.
Then there was first lady Melania Trump’s very Carmen Sandiego hat, which covered half of her face during inaugural ceremonies and prevented her husband from rushing in for a kiss. (When “form meets function,” “The Daily Show” joked about X.)
At the inauguration ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, Sánchez sat next to her fiancé, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The TV journalist wore a white Alexander McQueen blazer with a push-up corset bra – a look often found online, both on the right. And the left was exaggeratedly offended.
Here’s a sample of the pearl-clutching mean girl found on X and Bluesky as of Monday morning:
“Damn, Lauren Sanchez. Put them away for a day.
“Lord. How did Jeff Bezos go from Mackenzie Bezos to the gooey garbage vomit that is gold digger Lauren Sanchez?
“#LaurenSanchez is the perfect example of ‘Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.’ Give a better example.
Naturally, Megyn Kelly also spoke out. “She has no class. No dignity. No respect,” the former Fox News host wrote on X.
Not since that scene in “Selena” has a bustier made so much noise.
As The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan joked about X: “The nation rallied around Lauren Sanchez.” Just when you think we’re a nation like you are and nothing could shock us, suddenly there’s something that makes us all scream at once, Sister Kathleen, about a violation dress code. NOT THIS.
Yes, it was an unconventional clothing choice for an inauguration – one that caught Zuckerberg’s attention and immediately made him a meme – but given everything other This was unconventional about Trump’s swearing in, is a bra really what we should be focusing on?
A bra, not the tech moguls – Amazon’s Bezos, Meta’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Apple’s Tim Cook and Elon Musk – who literally had a front row seat at Trump’s inauguration , indicating just how big tech is in bed. is with the federal government and how likely is it that Trump will shut down all these damn government investigations into their companies?
A bra, not the one many members of Trump’s Cabinet choose — including sitting behind the tech oligarchs said — have they been the subject of sexual misconduct allegations, just like the president they will serve for the next four years?
A bra, not the historic series of executive orders Trump signed Monday night in an effort to “take America back”? This sweeping legislation includes attacks on the long-standing principle of citizenship rights and the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization, an agency that plays a key role in detection, prevention and treatment of pandemics. It is said that the White House office charged with preparing for the next pandemic may also be shrinking, just as bird flu in the United States is on the rise.
A bra, and is Trump not keeping his campaign promise to roll back federal support for racial equity and transgender protections? (Including an order declaring that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female.)
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Yes, a bra: the ultimate distraction All. (It was definitely a distraction from calling out the inappropriateness of Senator John Fetterman wearing shorts and a hoodie at the same supposedly low-key event.)
What’s interesting to Kimberly Voss, a journalism professor at the University of Central Florida, is that Sánchez’s suit wasn’t even that flashy compared to what the journalist usually wears to functions, which Women’s Wear Daily called it a “sultry and powerful outfit.”
“This is what she has worn in public since she was publicly identified as Bezos’ girlfriend,” Voss told HuffPost. “I don’t think she wears an outfit for publicity or attention.”
“With so many political issues to resolve, her low-cut top is irrelevant,” she said. “She should be able to wear whatever she wants, and if one or more men leer at her, it’s on them.”
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and author of the book “Dressed For Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism,” also doesn’t think Sánchez’s trial should have generated so much controversy. indignation.
If anything, Sánchez’s choice of a white pantsuit — a look politicians often wore in a nod to suffragists — suggests she more than understood the mission, Rabinovitch-Fox said.
“It’s much easier to criticize her and her appearance and ignore the shameful behavior of everyone around her, like Zuckerberg scrutinizing her cleavage,” the professor wrote to HuffPost.
“This is basically misogyny 101, and it’s no surprise that it’s coming from Megyn Kelly,” she added.
“With so many political issues to resolve, her low-cut top is irrelevant. She should be able to wear whatever she wants, and if one or more men look at her, that’s on them.
– Kimberly Voss, journalism professor at the University of Central Florida
It’s also worth recognizing that Sánchez is Latina and her fashion critics here are largely white women.
“People feel uncomfortable with any woman who displays her sexuality the way Sanchez does, and it’s often called ‘bad taste,’ ‘trashy,’ or ‘bimbo,'” Rabinovitch-Fox said. “And given that she’s only here because of her partner, that makes her an easier target.”
In the row where Sánchez sat, she was the least important person anyone could talk about. The hyper focus on a hint of a bra says a lot about the culture we exist in today.
“Instead of asking why the richest men in the world, who also control the media, were the guests of honor at the inauguration and what that says about our democracy, we engage in frivolous discussions about what that Sanchez was wearing,” Rabinovitch said. said Fox.
Cristen Conger, author and host of the “Unladylike” podcast, agrees that we’re all watching the wrong thing.
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“I think it’s a convenient distraction from more pressing questions, like: If Joe Rogan, Logan Paul and Matt Gaetz are all here, how is an indifferent woman in a bustier undignified?”
