Former President Barack Obama, who was famously criticized by Republicans for wearing a tan suit in 2024, gave a cheeky nod to Vice President Kamala Harris's own fashion choice at the Democratic National Convention on the 10-year anniversary of his so-called scandal.
Harris chose to wear a tan suit at the DNC in what observers perceived as a pointed jab at Republicans who made a big show of Obama's suit when he was in office. At the time, GOP critics said the suit betrayed a “lack of seriousness," even though prior presidents have worn similarly-colored suits without comment.
Obama posted photos of himself and Harris side-by-side and wrote the following on X, formerly Twitter, while linking his followers to IWillVote.com, which people can use to make sure their voting registration is active:
"How it started. How it's going. Ten years later, and it's still a good look!"
You can see his post and the images below.
@BarackObama/X
People loved his reaction.
Harris's decision to wear the suit prompted Hannah Holland, the producer for Velshi on MSNBC, to observe that her "fashion choices will be picked apart and analyzed in ways Barack Obama could never even fathom" and that she "may as well wear a tan suit."
Holland said Harris's fashion choices signal a "sign of a new era of political dressing" that "is not representative of the bygone 2010s 'Lean In' girl boss dressing or 1980s suiting as a means to battle in-office sexism," noting that "selecting clothing that exists outside of what is attractive to a patriarchal society is a weapon that women have used to protect themselves for generations, as a means to demand respect and safety."
The dress code at the DNC and other campaign-related events is typically confined to red, white, and blue suits and ties, dresses, and skirt suits," a tradition that the New York Times pointed out "is patriotism in the most obvious sense."
The publication said Harris's suit is ultimately a "choice that said something about a focus on individual stories, rather than group flag think."
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter