It is worth noting, however, that there are some men further to the left, both in politics and around it, who have reembraced the suit: Zohran Mamdani and Hasan Piker. On one hand, this has served a similar purpose as Ossoff’s and El-Sayed’s choices: It has distanced them from looksmaxxers and other conservative-leaning young men. On the other hand, a suit for Mamdani and Piker signifies what suits have always represented: that these are grown men doing important things.
The men are not the full story, however. Bottoms and Haaland came as they are, nodding to the communities they represent. The former wore a bright fuchsia suit and matching blouse, a callback to the lively and monochromatic dressing that is a deeply embedded and celebrated tradition in Black church culture. Haaland’s jewelry—firefly earrings and a beaded necklace—nodded at the style of accessories that is representative of Native style and fashion. If there is something that fashion clearly signifies, it’s community and belonging.
It is a running punch line that the left is more closely connected to fashion—it’s the wine-and-cheese crowd, the elites. (Hillary Clinton, during her bid for the presidency in 2016, was dragged online and by the press for wearing an Armani jacket that reportedly retailed for some $12,000 while delivering a speech that touched on income inequality.) While it’s true that fashion designers are often more enthusiastic about dressing progressives than they are about dressing conservatives, in the era of Trump and the MAGA look, this has become a half-baked story.
Olivia Reingold, a staff writer at The Free Press, made a post on X last night while reporting from an event for the Michigan Democratic Party. “So far at Abdul El-Sayed’s election night event I’ve spotted, Valentino heels, a Chanel bag, a Moncler jacket, Rolex watches, and a YSL bag among other designer items,” Reingold wrote, captioning an image of a woman holding a gold quilted Chanel handbag and a pair of Valentino Rockstud leather pumps.
When one takes a closer look, however, the image has several discrepancies. The style and make of the Chanel Flap bag is inconsistent with others the brand has sold, and the Valentino shoes in question appear askew in proportion; their straps have several punched holes that the authentic Valentino style does not. This could mean that the products in the image are not authentic, but there is another suggestive tell: The bottom strap on the left shoe appears to cut through its connecting strap rather than around, a classic mistake made when artificial intelligence is used to create or alter an image. A run of the image through several AI detectors, including SynthID, a digital watermarking approach created by Google DeepMind that detects media generated by OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, and Kakao, suggests the use of AI. SynthID detected that “this media was made or edited with OpenAI.” (Vanity Fair has reached out to Chanel and Valentino to advise on the authenticity of the products and to Reingold regarding the potential use of AI in the image.)
