AHC: US Politician Clothing More Varied

This is not a world altering thing. But it is something like Neil Armstrong wearing red socks to the moon. It isn't big, but it is interesting how white socks became passe in that universe and red came into fashion. Dark blue and black suits are the accepted colors for what a politician wears in a two or three piece suit. It's hard for a politician to wear anything other than those colors. When Obama wore a beige suit, for example, people went a little wonky. I can't think of another politician than Reagan that has pulled off any color but dark blue and black. Ironically, he also wore beige and brownish suits (and this, once out of office).

So the challenge is to get politicians into other colors as acceptable, and even other types of professional clothing. It could be suits of traditional colors politicians just don't wear, like beige, brown, and grey. Or you could argue for more exotic colors, which are fashionable but not political, such as purple. As well as different modes of professional dress. Lord knows when the hipsters come of election age, this may be the future anyway.
 
Presidents DO occasionally wear non-suits to certain events, especially when it's outside and hot. For instance, Bush would occasionally go 'open collar' (no coat or tie) on some trips. That always meant that the Secret Service types would also be in sports shirts and such.

What I would love to see is a President dealing with some crisis and making an official statement in rolled up shirt sleeves and no tie. He could say, "I've got everyone working almost non-stop on this issue and we've all had to roll up our sleeves (literally) to handle the workload." If someone questions it, he could say, "I'm worried about the safety of the people of this country and you're worried about my tie!?!?!? I don't have time for this crap."

If a president regularly went without coat or tie at official events, some would say, "He's not presidential." However, if a president persisted in this, got results AND had his people (cabinet, etc.) do the same, it could really change the tone. After all, if you're the boss, no one's going to complain about what you're wearing.
 

Driftless

Donor
(I admit to despising suits and ties for most situations - so that colors my opinion)

Dark suit and necktie are practically uniforms - as is the little enamelware flag pin for the lapel (at least for male politicians). Elected women seem to have a slightly wider range of acceptable garb. That uniform has also served to informally separate the ruling class from the rest of us hoi polloi. The suit and necktie have come to imply that you don't do manual labor and therefore are superior. I think you get some resistance from both the people who make business wear(protecting their livelihood) and those who perceive that type of garb enhancing their supposed elevated status.
 
What about politicians wearing distinctive clothes or accessories and actively promoting them: this whatever is made by thingo down in east bumfuck from 100% home grown wool or something?
 
Could we get it where each politician has a special uniform, with various alterations for sex, place in the hierarchy, time in office, branch of government, and party?
 
This is not a world altering thing. But it is something like Neil Armstrong wearing red socks to the moon. It isn't big, but it is interesting how white socks became passe in that universe and red came into fashion. Dark blue and black suits are the accepted colors for what a politician wears in a two or three piece suit. It's hard for a politician to wear anything other than those colors. When Obama wore a beige suit, for example, people went a little wonky. I can't think of another politician than Reagan that has pulled off any color but dark blue and black. Ironically, he also wore beige and brownish suits (and this, once out of office).

So the challenge is to get politicians into other colors as acceptable, and even other types of professional clothing. It could be suits of traditional colors politicians just don't wear, like beige, brown, and grey. Or you could argue for more exotic colors, which are fashionable but not political, such as purple. As well as different modes of professional dress. Lord knows when the hipsters come of election age, this may be the future anyway.
This is not a world altering thing. But it is something like Neil Armstrong wearing red socks to the moon. It isn't big, but it is interesting how white socks became passe in that universe and red came into fashion. Dark blue and black suits are the accepted colors for what a politician wears in a two or three piece suit. It's hard for a politician to wear anything other than those colors. When Obama wore a beige suit, for example, people went a little wonky. I can't think of another politician than Reagan that has pulled off any color but dark blue and black. Ironically, he also wore beige and brownish suits (and this, once out of office).

So the challenge is to get politicians into other colors as acceptable, and even other types of professional clothing. It could be suits of traditional colors politicians just don't wear, like beige, brown, and grey. Or you could argue for more exotic colors, which are fashionable but not political, such as purple. As well as different modes of professional dress. Lord knows when the hipsters come of election age, this may be the future anyway.

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Maybe the wig as ceremonial/formal clothing persists or is re-introduced.
 
This is both tricky and easy. Tricky because there are some genuine reasons why dark suits have come into the forefront (they hide dirt easily and also a colour appropriate for rainy Britain) and why Red and Blue are the tie colours of choice (they don't clash with many skin/hair/eye colours). Easy because it's fashion and all you need is the right person making a different fashion choice to set the tone of political dress.

I have two suggestions to perpetuate historic political clothing, at least in America:

1. Have JFK wear a hat. The decline of the formalwear hat has been attributed to Kennedy not wearing one and a trend catching on from him. While this might not prevent the decline of the formal hat, it may stem it long enough that it would not be unusual to see a politician wearing hats to work. (Probably healthier for them vis-a-vis the sun as well)

2. Retain the use of Seersucker as an acceptable Southern Dress. One was to promulgate this would be to delay the arrival of air-conditioning to the US Capitol. OTL it was installed in the 1950s in the Capitol. Maybe perpetuate a stigma against air-conditioning in historic buildings because of the toxins in the chemicals and have the stigma linger even after the invention of Freon in the 1930s. Doing so would perpetuate the use of Seersucker suits by Southern Congressmen as regular wear rather than just on Serrcuker day. Maybe if you can tie it as a source of Southern heritage post 1959s/60s, you'd have a greater variety of dress in Congress.

The other thing is that if you can get quite a young Congress elected at just the right time, when fashions are rapidly changing such as the 60s, which comes in on a wave of newness and opposition to the old order then you can get clothes variety as a way to visually signal to voters that you represent newness and change.
 
If we were to have President Paul Simon , we could add bowties to the presidential wardrobe
Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt were known to wear bow ties not infrequently.

I think a lot of the uniformity (pun semi-intended) of male political garb arose from the "dress for success" move in the late '70s: for example, that's when you saw Gerald Ford show up for a debate in a navy three piece suit and dark red tie. The author of the eponymous book indicated that a navy pinstriped suit was the second most authoritative (the most being a black suit, which is very difficult to carry off if one is not a member of the clergy, for example). Brown suits are not a badge of authority except in the northeastern US, which I suppose explains Reagan's use of a brown suit from time to time.

If you wanted to start change, start small: say, with a shirt in something other than white. Go for the traditional prep oxford cloth colors (e.g., blue, yellow, pink) and work up and out from there.
 
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Wow, no mention of Carter in his sweater during the energy crisis; amazing.

Really, I saw the title and i imagined a fellow who was brash enugh to wear Revolutionary War outfits during the 4th of July, maybe makes an appearance in rolled-up sleeves for a speech (okay, Griffon did go that far), etc..

So, let's have someone else win the 1976 nomination - Scoop jackson seems to be mostly forgotten, let's have him win the Presidency in '76 and while not good enough to get re-elected due to the economy he doesn't do *that* badly. Carter is his VP but doesn't run in '84, then beats a bland Dukakis in 1988 after some time in the Senate or something.

Suddenly, you've got a guy who could serve two terms, the Berlin Wall falls in his first term and he not only decides he's going to wear sweaters to distinguish himself from the conservative GOP (as well as to show his desire to help push for energy conservation), he wears something (I don't know what, i know little about fashion) to associate himself with the Germans when meeting with them about re-unification. Nothing *too* wild, nd more in line with the Germans of the Weimar years (to stay away from the evils of the world wars), but enough so that after decades of suits from Nixon, Ford, Jackson, and Reagan, he's seen as a nice, refreshing candidate.

The economy dips in '92, but Dole is bland enough he manages to lose to Carter in a close vote as Perot draws votes from him, and so we get 8 years of a Carter Presidency where - as a Southerner - he's more used to a laid back approach with sweaters, bow ties like Vice President Simon, and some little things at each foreign stop that show an homage to that country. Even if it's just the color's of that country's flag. (a la Payne Steward in his NFL-themed clothes each Sunday, with the team colors of the team closest to that course.)

Edit: Rush Limbaugh had some wild ties IIRCX back int he day; maybe he makes those popular and the GOP has some candidates borrow from them during the GOP comeback in 2000 or 2004.
 
In most (US) cases, the president would be the trend-setter. I guess one thing that would signal a move in this direction would be if one of the presidential candidates shows up to a lot of events and all the debates in something other than suit and tie (or female equivalent). Presumably if they are then elected, they would continue the use of this attire for many events as president. If the president goes casual, his staff will move gradually in that direction.

Members of congress could independently make a change, but they do apparently have some rules for dress that they could run afoul of (http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...ds-members-of-dress-code-you-know-who-you-are). Also, if a representative did this regularly, people might assume they don't have higher aspirations (i.e. they're not dressing for the job they want -- president presumably).
 
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