6 times Kamala Harris wore clothing with a hidden meaning

Close your eyes and conjure an image of Kamala Harris. What’s she wearing? 

Odds are the vice president was dressed in one of her signature monochrome suits, accented by mid-height heels and a strand of pearls. Harris is one of the most visible champions of the personal uniform trend—neutral, relatable, powerful. And simple, because anyone who has to broker a peace deal before breakfast needs the option of thinking less about whether or not her shoes go with her bag.

LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 19: Senator Kamala Harris is seen at ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ on March 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images)

Perhaps due to her uniform approach to clothing, Harris has largely avoided the fashion scrutiny that’s plagued woman politicians in the past. But that doesn’t mean her outfits have lacked thought. Here are six times her clothing told a powerful story without Harris needing to say a word. 

The Pussy Bow 

You may have never heard of the lavallière shirt, but you’ve certainly seen one. It’s a shirt with a prominent bow at the collar, originally made fashionable in 19th century France by women, artists, students, and intellectuals who identified as part of the country’s political left. Gibson Girls rechristened it the “pussy cat bow” in the late 1940s, and since then the shirt has always been a choice. Take, for example, first female prime minister of Britain Margaret Thatcher, who was known for wearing pussy-bow blouses as an echo of her male colleagues’ neckties. (Here are three that Christie’s sold for around $3,800 at auction in 2019.)

Kamala Harris has adopted the pussy-bow blouse as an accent to her neutral suits, and with increasing frequency since becoming the Democratic frontrunner for the presidency. Which may not seem notable, except that her opponent—former President Donald Trump—was caught on a hot mic bragging about ‘grabbing women by the pussy’:  

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy.”

Harris, who has repeatedly challenged Donald Trump to debate her face-to-face and who the L.A. Times called the “most targeted American politician on the internet,” is a known champion for women’s rights. Prior to being elected Vice President of the United States, she was the California Attorney General—and before that, she prosecuted murder, rape, assault, and drug cases in Oakland. She gained national attention for her work on overturning California’s gay marriage ban, and officiated the first gay wedding in the state. 

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – NOVEMBER 07: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes the stage before President-elect Biden addresses the nation from the Chase Center November 07, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. After four days of counting the high volume of mail-in ballots in key battleground states due to the coronavirus pandemic, the race was called for Biden after a contentious election battle against incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images News/Getty Images)

Try the style: Ralph Lauren Georgette Tie-Neck Shirt ($109.99), Nancy Yang Dot Print Short-Sleeved Shirt ($114), Quince Washable Stretch Silk Tie Neck Blouse ($79.90)   

The Pearls

As a student at Howard University—a historically Black university in Washington, DC—Harris joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Alpha Kappa Alpha was the first African American sorority founded in the US, having been started at Howard University in 1908. Its members have included author Toni Morrison, actress Phylicia Rashad, civil rights leader Bernice King, and NASA computer pioneer Katherine Johnson.

The sorority’s original leadership is referred to as “The Twenty Pearls,” and pearls continue to be a shared symbol for its members today. 

For Inauguration Day 2021, Harris asked Puerto Rican designer Wilfredo Rosado to design her a special pearl necklace. The result was a piece featuring pearls from the South Sea, each surrounded by a halo of gold. Rosado was reported as saying that the chain-link design was meant to represent “toughness and also fashion”—two staples of Harris’ career. 

Harris has many favorite pearl necklaces, including a gumball link strand, and a traditional pearl necklace punctuated throughout with turquoise, both designed by fellow Californian Irene Neuwirth. She’s frequently seen wearing a gold and white mother-of-pearl necklace, designed by Marco Bicego, at meaningful events like a gun violence forum in Las Vegas, and at her first presidential organizing event in 2019. 

San Francisco, CA – August 23, 2019: Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaking at the Democratic National Convention summer session in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock)

Try the style: J.Crew Baroque Pearl Necklace ($78), Anthropologie Spaced Pearl Delicate Necklace ($48), Chan Luu White Freshwater Pearl Toggle Necklace ($115)  

Monochrome

Costume designer and fashion historian Shelby Ivey Christie called attention to Harris’ penchant for monochrome in a post on X. “Monochromatic dressing in the Black community is very purposeful + is/was a tool used to communicate political + spiritual beliefs,” she wrote.

Writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2018, Cassie Owens wrote about the ways that monochromatic dressing has held meaning among Black musicians, church choirs, and clergy members, communicating a “larger history of Black sartorial storytelling.”

Harris’ monochrome palette conveys a calm, collected, powerful neutrality in her businesswear, lacking distraction or style choices that spark conversation (in other words, she’s messaging that she wants the world to comment on her actions, not her clothing). 

In addition to her pearls on Inauguration Day 2021, Harris wore a purple monochromatic shift dress and overcoat designed by Christopher John Rogers—a Black fashion designer from Louisiana. In an Instagram post featuring a photo of Harris on the historic day, Rogers wrote: “Thank you, Madam Vice President. We are so honored and humbled to have played a small part in this historic moment.” 

WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 9: (L-R) U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. President Joe Biden and Las Vegas Aces Nikki Fargas arrive for a ceremony to celebrate the WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces in the East Room of the White House on May 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Las Vegas Aces defeated the New York Liberty 70-69 in Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals on October 18, 2023 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images News/Getty Images)

Try the style: Vera Top & Pants, Amanda Uprichard ($180), Carmel Pleated Wide-Leg Pant ($130) & Franci Cashmere Padded-Shoulder Top ($170), Banana Republic, Jumpsuit With Belt & Zip ($159.99), Mango.

White & Purple

The color of Harris’ 2021 Inauguration Day outfit was likely no accident. Purple has long been seen as the color of bipartisanship, combining Democratic blue with Republican red. In 2016, Hillary Clinton notably wore purple while delivering her concession speech after losing the presidency to Donald Trump. As an attendee at the 2021 inauguration, Clinton again wore purple, as did Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who had been an early candidate for the 2020 election.  

The color also pays special tribute to iconic politician Shirley Chisholm, according to CNN’s Abby Phillip. Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress and made history again as the first Black major-party candidate to run for president. She often wore purple during her campaign, which Phillip said had inspired Harris’ own political career. 

Purple is additionally one of the official colors of the American women’s suffrage movement, along with white and gold. It represents “loyalty, constancy to purpose, and unswerving steadfastness to a cause,” according to NPR. A newsletter from the National Woman’s Party, published on December 6, 1913, further outlines the meaning behind each hue.

On Nov. 7, 2020, Harris donned a white suit for her victory speech, joining a long line of female politicians who have worn the color in honor of the suffrage movement. During former President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address, dozens of Democratic congresswomen wore white in solidarity with the women suffragists who came before them to send a powerful visual message to Trump. 

It’s important to note that, while the suffrage movement was monumental in earning women the right to vote in the US in 1920, Black and minority women didn’t gain this right until several years later. 

Perhaps that’s why it feels even more significant for Harris, who is Black and Indian, to represent the shoulders on which she stands today through multiple kinds of messaging—including fashion. As Einav Rabinovitch-Fox stated for Business Insider, “By wearing white, black suffragists showed they, too, were honorable women—a position they were long deprived of in public discourse.”

Left (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images) & Right (Photo by San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Contributor)

Try the style: 19th Amendment Centennial Pin ($18), Etsy. 

Black & Minority Designers

Following in the footsteps of former First Lady Michelle Obama, Harris has a history of using her visibility to promote Black and underrepresented designers in her fashion choices. 

At the 2021 inauguration, she wore clothing and shoes from three different Black designers—Christopher John Rogers, as mentioned above, Kerby Jean-Raymond, and Sergio Hudson. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden joined Harris in wearing clothing from the Pyer Moss studio, where Kerby Jean-Raymond is a designer, as a tribute to the “suffering caused by the pandemic with the outfits they wore to the event.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pyer Moss studio used around $10,000 to purchase PPE (personal protective equipment) for health care workers on the front lines. They also converted their studio space into a PPE donation center, according to Business Insider.

Try the style: The Hutton Blazer in Pique ($58), Ann Taylor. 

The Accessories

It isn’t just Harris’ outfits that are imbued with meaning. She also sports a variety of accessories that hold their own significance, like the “Future is Female” socks she wore in her niece’s TikTokVideo. She’s also worn a Freedom of Expression medallion, a GLAAD lapel pin, and several other meaningful accessories throughout her political career. As the person who officiated the first gay marriage in California, she’s shown a particular fondness for wearing clothes and accessories that celebrate LGBTQ+ rights.

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Try the style: The Future is Female socks ($14), Gumball Poodle.

Kamala Harris’ path to the presidency may have had a quick start late in the campaign season, but her values have been on display—in big ways and small—all through her historic career.