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Do you think this sort of classic American look—the Ralph Lauren, the Oxford shirt—will forever be a MAGA type, or do you see that changing?
I don’t think the classic American aesthetic is completely MAGA. I think the Brooks Brothers look is like the ABC of menswear; It’s like a very classic American adapted look. In the postwar period, right after the end of World War II, there was a culture clash between the establishment lifestyle—the man in the gray flannel suit, the corporate job, and the conventional nuclear family—and the white picket fence. home and counterculture. It was this kind of liberal side of the political spectrum. They wore work clothes and chambray shirts, hippie clothes, motorcycle jackets. All this has become a counterculture.
But if you go back further than that, everyone from criminals to CEOs to liberals to Republicans wore special clothing. Ralph Lauren wouldn’t have built his empire if button-down shirts and penny loafers were only conservative clothing.
I think it’s interesting that the current state of Republican politics is trying to combine the Brooks Brothers aesthetic with gold sneakers. Do you see them coming together?
I think it’s a weird dichotomy right now because the MAGA movement and Republicans in general have always looked back on some idea of America. Although not every man wore a suit in the 1950s, the suit has historically been associated with a bourgeois lifestyle. And in general, a lot of conservatism criticizes bourgeois lifestyles, morals, personality, politics, etc.
There is now a populist wing of the Republican Party that is not tied to Reaganism or Bush. It’s very much about Trump. And his aesthetic is very different from what William Buckley wears. William Buckley would not wear gold sneakers.
I think they are different and contradictory, but people can hold conflicting ideas in their heads. We are in a time where politics is very tribal. And as long as it fits the story of our tribe, I think it fits that group. For Republicans, I think these two very conflicting aesthetics are now within the party.
The tech guys are new to the MAGA crowd, but many people have noticed a significant change in their looks, especially Mark Zuckerberg’s. Can you talk about what and who they are trying to point to?
I heard through the grapevine in my industry that (Elon Musk) used to have a stylist. I don’t think she has a stylist anymore. Mark Zuckerberg denies having a stylist, but I don’t believe him. He’s certainly been going through a style change in the last year and three months, I’d say. Jeff Bezos clearly has a stylist. I don’t think what they do has anything to do with politics. I think Jeff Bezos went through a style change after his divorce. And I suspect Mark Zuckerberg is tired of dressing like a college student. Elon has clearly ditched his stylist and doesn’t dress very well.
(Zuckerberg) is more like an MMA guy. He wears boxy tees and a gold chain. But she looks like someone who updated her look to be more fashionable. There are a lot of guys wearing that silhouette and gold chains, and I don’t know if that says anything about their politics.
We saw a lot of “spaghetti Western” vibes going on. How do you feel about it?
As a fashion trend, the Western look is actually more liberal because it is popular in big cities. Now conservatives dress like early 2000s metrosexuals and liberals dress like Bush-era conservatives. Conservatives in tight or skintight suits, then liberals like Carhartt knee highs, Western shirts, cowboy boots. Some of these are naturally on the right because it’s a Midwestern look.
But Elon Musk often wears cowboy boots, as does Jeff Bezos.
