Thread by @TaffetaV

I've taken a lot of crap for thinking so much about clothes ("shallow", "frivolous", "girly stuff"), but suddenly because of Melania last night LOTS of people thinking they're supersmart to notice that sartorial matters are serious nonverbal communication

So let's talk about it

OH, so you NOTICED that her look was "military inspired"? Good for you. Yes, it's an Alexander McQueen from this year, and you're not wrong. But this is obvious stuff. Olive drab, epaulets, structured shoulders, brass buttons, that little double belt.

OBVIOUS.

If, as a designer, I presented a director with this for a fictional version of this exact scenario? I would be fired because I'm a HACK.

There's zero subtlety here. You're not a genius for noticing, and she (or her stylist) isn't one for wearing it.

Same goes for this one - a $39 Zara jacket (she usually wears fancy high end designers), in olive drab, with a LITERAL message spelled out on it. This isn't subtext, it's just fucking TEXT.

She wore this to visit children in cages.

I think My First Lady looks great, but her "VOTE" necklace is only marginally more subtle.

But also? It's a necklace design from ByChari, a small independent company owned by a Black woman, who sold out right away.

Also also she's not a monster and you gotta vote.

The QUEEN of the low-key message is...well, the actual Queen. Elizabeth II is deeply focused on the details of embellishment, color, and provenance as a way to communicate VERY clearly. This is well documented and she's been at it forever.

And that biddy can throw some SHADE.

Often, she uses pieces of jewelry to send a message. On the first night of 45's visit to London a few years ago, she wore a sentimental piece: a teeny delicate flower, chosen and purchased for her by the Obamas.

A personally meaningful gift, not a formal political one.

This is significant, not only because it's a shout out to the previous administration, but because it's NOT a state gift, which is rather more typical for her to wear to this kind of thing.

Nothing the Queen wears is ever, ever, an accident.

Another night of 45's visit, during some stupid dustup when he was bitching about Trudeau and liberal snowflakes, she wore what's known as the Sapphire Jubilee brooch -

A state gift from Canada. In the shape of a snowflake.

Sometimes in fashion, things are EXACTLY as they seem; sometimes there's more than meets the eye.

This is why I don't listen when people tell me my interest in clothing/accessories is frivolous.