Fashion has no place in politics.

On Aug. 28, 2014, Former President Barack Obama wore a tan suit during a press conference that was held to discuss the American military’s role in mitigating the ISIS issue at the time. As what happens when any politician does something deemed controversial, his constituents took to Twitter. (I’m not calling it X, sorry.)

“Shocking” was one label used to describe Obama’s outfit decision, and looking like he’s “on his way to a party in the Hamptons” was another interpretation.

Ten years later, the presidential candidate Kamala Harris came out at the Democratic National Committee wearing a tan suit. Twitter again, blew up, with supporters immediately understanding her homage to the former President, and haters begging people to consider whether or not her outfits seem “presidential” – whatever the hell that means.

The fashion police – albeit good cops alongside bad cops – have been all over Harris’ campaign outfit decisions. From her pearls to her Manolo Blahnik’s – it’s all been discussed.

I took to google trends, as one does, to see how differently internet users in the United States are interested in the two candidates' fashion choices. This difference could be chalked up to the fact that: Kamala Harris is a woman, she has a strong female base with the Democratic party, and her fashion choices are just more interesting to people who follow her. t’s also probably important to note that must of us have ever seen Trump in anything other than his navy suit red tie combo, (aside from that super weird AI photo of him in the Steelers player’s body that was posted on Truth Social the other day and I saw completely against my own will), making his fashion choices definitely less interesting.

But I see a larger issue with the public heightened attention to what politicians like Harris and Obama are wearing – their identities as underrepresented minority populations is leading to extra scrutiny masked as neutral fashion callouts.

Former presidents, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both wore tan suits during public appearances, but neither have been subject to continued talk throughout the past 20 years the way Obama’s has been.

If these “over-analyses” of outfit decisions were harmless, then this subject wouldn’t really mean much. But they aren’t harmless, and often they cause our implicit biases to rear their ugly heads.

Politicians like Clinton and Reagan were able to get away with their decision to wear a tan suit as president more than Obama was because they are white. The overinterest and over criticization of female politicians stems from the fact that they are female. We see the TikToks that blow up of female actors only being asked about their outfit decisions on red carpet premieres, while their male co-stars get to talk about their roles within the movie – the same thing is happening in politics, and I personally think it’s much more detrimental.

If this criticism occurred at an even level, if white, straight, male politicians were criticized at the same rate that BIPOC, female, LGBTQ+ politicians were criticized, then maybe it wouldn’t matter so much. But when there are already so many barriers these underrepresented groups have to overcome in order to establish themselves as capable and respectable people in power, disproportionate critiques in their fashion can cause serious injury towards their campaigns and candidacies.