Sonya Lennon: Let's not put Kamala Harris' clothes under the microscope

Global commentary subjects women in power to a banal commentary on their sartorial choices. Let's not do that to Kamala Harris, says Sonya Lennon

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris: The white suit trouser suit is iconic, it speaks stridently to the suffrage movement who adopted it as a powerful symbol of “the quality of our purpose.” 

There’s a new woman under the microscope. Extreme powerbroker, global celebrity, glass ceiling smasher and mould breaker, Kamala Harris is a new breed of ultra role model.

The mantra ‘Be the first, but not the last’ tells of a deep held value, one of a strong suite we can only assume, the maternal gift of empowerment. She is now empowered, the question is, where does the woman end and the icon begin?

We all develop tropes and ticks that become signifiers of who we are to the world, whether we are public figures or not.

Personally, the oversized glasses, big hair and strong lips have become my caricature, I’m ok with that, until I’m not.

Usually these cues are subconscious, they tell stories about who we are through our visible choices. Other social cues can derive from the physical attributes of our race, religion and sexuality.

The world, in turn, (meaning us), uses these visual cues to make judgements based on both conscious and unconscious biases. We place people in predetermined groupings based on how they look, within the first seven seconds of seeing them, although snap judgements happen within a fraction of a second.

I once sat in an interview for a significant multi-annual grant for Dress for Success Dublin, a not for profit which empowers women to economic independence through the power of messaging. The panel was impressive to my rookie self. My interviewer told me that ‘I didn’t look like a social entrepreneur’.

I’m quite sure someone kicked him under the table and that it wouldn’t happen now, almost a decade later. What he said was not acceptable, but he had a point. How I presented was perhaps not the predetermined stereotype. As such, it added a barrier of uncertainty at a pivotal moment vital to my success.

The issue of personal presentation can not be underplayed.

Let’s talk about Kamala, let’s not talk about fashion. It’s a red herring.

Even though it is nominally my industry, I don’t believe we sell fashion at Lennon Courtney at Dunnes Stores.

We sell confidence, we sell solutions and a playful statement of control. Global commentary subjects women in power to a banal commentary on their sartorial choices.

This enforced frothiness is ugly and unwanted and plays out as a sneering judgement, attempting to undermine the very utility of the woman.

Teresa May was reduced to legs and shoes, she must rue the day she adopted her predilection for attention grabbing footwear. Angela Merkel short circuited the discourse by playing the game by her own rules, adopting a uniform and refusing to engage.

But is it ok to take nice things and turn them into a whipping stick that disempowers the woman? The nice things don’t take away the power, the discourse takes away the power.

Sonya Lennon

But maybe, just maybe there is a line to be walked, allowing the woman to be powerful and well presented, attractive even, without friction. That could propel that woman to the status of icon.

Icons don’t just happen and Kamala Harris’s image choices are all the more interesting because of how considered and authentic and underplayed they are.

She owns these careful choices, they don’t possess her, she possesses them, something we can only admire in someone who holds such power.

Imagine what it feels like to wake up every morning knowing your every decision is being scrutinised. Every meeting, every stroke of the pen matters. Not only are you second in command in the highest office of America, you’ve been hailed by half the country and a large proportion of the global audience as a shorthand for hope.

So what are those decisions and what is their significance? As glamour magazines and, so help us, dedicated websites now document, her curated wardrobe has shown consistency and deep symbolism, not in a post rationalised, conspiracy theory way, but in a pragmatic upfront way which doesn’t shy away from its purpose.

In a long tradition of shouldering up to the men in the room, she understands the primal power of form and silhouette, the classic tailored trouser suit is her preferred weapon.

Nothing overly fancy apart from one notable exception. The choice will be a dark neutral, apart for one notable exception, worn with a simple shell top, or sometimes even a t-shirt, apart from one notable exception.

When your entire persona is built on a take no prisoners, ‘I’m speaking’ platform, certain choices take on an added importance. 

Accepting her newly elected position of Vice President of the United States of America was an auspicious occasion, one which would be captured in history. Critical choices needed to be made.

The white suit trouser suit is iconic, it speaks stridently to the suffrage movement who adopted it as a powerful symbol of “the quality of our purpose”.

It’s also synonymous with the powerful sexuality of a Studio 54 era Bianca Jagger and is of course the colour of hope and renewal. That’s quite the symbolic cocktail. But maybe that was just the moment that was.

Kamala Harris, soldier for her country. Utility - the clarion call of the feminist, let us have our utility, in leadership on screen and in discourse, don’t deny us the licence to use our power.

Vice President Harris has utility, in her words ‘I’m speaking’, and in the symbols of her physical presentation. A noted lover of Timberlands, Converse and functional, androgynous casual wear, she exercises her utility at all times, her fitness for purpose, her use, her worth.

It is a rare thing to find a woman as comfortable in the armour of a power suit, as she is in the relaxed uniform of faded jeans, white t-shirt and Cons. This tells its own story. She is Action Woman and may just have the attributes to wield power and womanliness in harmony. Wouldn’t that be something.

• Sonya Lennon is the founder of Dress for Success Dublin and the annual #WorkEqual campaign which runs through the month of November with a series of events aimed at accelerating Women’s equality in the workplace.
• To register for the free lunchtime events featuring renowned international experts visit www.workequal.ie 
• Sonya is also the co-founder of Lennon Courtney at Dunnes Stores and is currently studying a Masters in Business Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in IADT.