Presidential Meets Promotional

Political Fashion

As of Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Hillary Clinton is determined to be the frontrunner—in presidential candidate merch, that is.

The presidential hopeful is mocking her penchant for pantsuits with a campaign tee featuring an illustration of a pantsuit. You know, like those wacky tuxedo T-shirts. Or the ones that say “This IS my Halloween costume.”

Clinton has a long history of swatting down fashion questions as silly, at best, or sexist, at worst. So her campaign T-shirt, whimsical and self-deprecating as it is, is an interesting choice.

As others have noted, presidential campaigns will always include superficial questions mixed in with the serious ones. Surely, you remember Rick Perry’s cowboy boots and Rick Santorum’s sweatervest? Or Sarah Palin’s Naughty Monkey pumps and John Edwards' thousand-dollar haircut.

From a fashion perspective, the presidential season is no match for Christmas or Easter or Back-to-School. But you can still expect the media (including me) to struggle to find a fashion angle once the race is officially on.