America's independent fashion designers embraced by incoming administration

America’s fashion industry, particularly its independent designers, look set to be embraced by the incoming Biden Harris administration, with bold fashion choices making headlines.

First Lady Dr Jill Biden wore a purple coat along with matching facemask from Jonathan Cohen, a young luxury ready-to-wear label based in New York, at a send-off event on the last day of the Trump presidency.

Vice President Kamala Harris opted for a look from Pyer Moss at a Covid-19 memorial service, the Kerby Jean-Raymond founded label on the eve of the inauguration. At Wednesday’s swearing in ceremony, Harris wore designs from Christopher John Rogers and Sergio Hudson, along with her signature pearls, as she officially became Madam Vice President. Rogers is a Brooklyn-based Black designer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while Hudson is a Black designer from South Carolina.

Just four years ago America’s most prominent designers publicly distanced themselves from associations with First Lady Melania Trump. Household names including Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and Philip Lim, stated they preferred to not dress the incoming First Lady at the time. Designer Sophie Thelleat in an open letter wrote: “As one who celebrates and strives for diversity, individual freedom, and respect for all lifestyles. I will not participate in dressing or associate myself in any way with the next First Lady. The rhetoric of racism, sexism, and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by.”

On Wednesday incoming First Lady Jill Biden wore an “ocean blue tweed coat and dress” from emerging American designer Alexandra O’Neill’s Makarian label, confirmed Forbes. O’Neill said in a statement the colour blue signalled “trust, confidence, and stability.”

The choice of wearing Ralph Lauren could spell stability and “sober reliability”

President Elect Joseph Biden wore a navy Ralph Lauren suit and overcoat on Wednesday, a sartorial choice that could perhaps be translated to mean “sober reliability and even predictability,” men’s fashion author Michael Zakim told the Guardian. Whatever the language of fashion spells, the America’s fashion industry looks set to be wholeheartedly embraced.

Image via White House website