The second round of Democratic party primary debates kicked off this week, and in honor of the event, WWD decided to grade the participants’ fashion choices thus far on the campaign trail.
As the piece said, “numerous studies have shown that looks can result in a major swing of votes from one candidate to the next,” current Oval Office occupant notwithstanding. And while Getting Fits Off isn’t the level any of these candidates are aspiring to — thank whatever it is we need to thank — some are doing better than others.
Kamala Harris, Tim Ryan, Tulsi Gabbard and Beto O’Rourke, for instance, scored the highest, all receiving A- grades. Harris, WWD said “looks very commanding and stylish but not overwhelming,” Ryan got points for a slim suit and his polka dot tie, Gabbard’s choices were described as “elegant, simple and powerful” and O’Rourke is just skinny, mostly.
Below them, the writers gave Jay Inslee (B+) props for a leather shoe-dad jean look, liked that Elizabeth Warren (B+) matched her cardigan to her toenail polish, weren’t mad at John Hickenlooper’s (B+) “ceo off-duty” vibe and graded Bernie Sanders (B+) on a curve, it would seem.
Elsewhere, Amy Klobuchar’s kelly green look earned her a B and Cory Booker’s windowpane suit-blue tie combo got him the same, while Kirsten Gillibrand got B- marks for “taking a cue from the country chic aesthetic of Elizabeth II,” which feels mean in a very Ladies of London kind of way.
Joe Biden got a B for wearing the same thing everyone wears, plus an Apple Watch and a bracelet — WWD called this evidence of a “dynamic side,” which fine — and Pete Buttigieg also got a B for his J. Crew 2012-core white shirt-dark jeans-desert boot swerve, because it works.
If you haven’t seen a name, assume they got a C or worse — Andrew Yang’s soccer scarf got a C-, for instance — except for Juliån Castro, who got a D for an allegedly “bartender”-esque black pant-white shirt alphet.
But to be fair, whatever bar Donald Trump is setting can be cleared with Literally Any Clothes That Fit or Fun Colored Garbage Bags, so that’s good. But also to be fair, that didn’t matter last time.
You can read more about it at WWD.
