‘Dressing up’ two democratic First Ladies: Fashion as political performance in America

Abstract

An American First Lady, argues Karin Vasby Anderson, ‘influences conceptions of American womanhood’ and by ‘virtue of their husband’s elections[,] First Ladies become sites for the symbolic negotiation of female identity’. The process of negotiation in female identity appears in various forms after women assume political power, for example: Golda Meir in Israel, Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom, Indira Gandhi in India and most recently, Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard (2010–13). While the position of First Lady is unique to American politics, the ways in which Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama each rejected a ‘suitably feminine’ image provides an important lesson for all women in power. Therefore, we argue here that this analysis of two Democratic American First Ladies and their employment or disregard of fashion informs the gender-based and race-based issues affecting women in political leadership through their choices in dress. When ‘dressing up’ both Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama struggled with issues of individual identity, subjectivity and power, and negotiated their First Lady roles in their fashion.

De influencer a primera dama: Mariana Rodríguez en las elecciones a la gubernatura de Nuevo León, México 2021

“…Un último tipo de encuadre es el de celebridad, en el cual las primeras damas son mostradas a partir de asuntos triviales como su peinado, forma de vestir, maquillaje, accesorios, joyería, posturas, entre otras lecturas acerca de su apariencia (Sullivan, 2018: Cruz-Gutiérrez, 2020, pero también sobre datos de su vida privada y personal como hijos, embarazos, viajes, valores familiares, habilidades gastronómicas y trabajo doméstico en general (Rall et al, 2018;Middleton, 2021). Se ha sostenido que, en ocasiones, el hecho de que las primeras damas sean presentadas como celebridades permite una mayor exposición al trabajo que desempeña la pareja política, ya que sus decisiones no solo son documentadas por la prensa política, sino también por la cultural o de entretenimiento (Widlak, Pont-Sorribes y Guillamet-Lloveras, 2016).…”