One scroll through social media and you’ll see politics in unexpected places. Not just in debates, news clips, or protests, but in the everyday clothes people wear. Cowboy boots. Thrifted clothes. Hoodies embroidered with “Ceasefire Now.” Keffiyehs are integrated into everyday outfits. T-shirts designed with “Protect the Dolls.” Streetwear. What we wear has always carried some political message, but in today’s society, fashion is more than our individual choice of clothing; it’s a statement in politics.
This connection between clothing and politics is hardly a recent development. Historically, clothing has been an integral part of our political culture. The suffragettes wore white dresses during their marches, the Black Panthers wore leather jackets and berets as a form of resistance, and hippies wore black armbands and tie-dye shirts to showcase their disapproval of the Vietnam War. Fashion has always been about covert communication, signaling solidarity with a movement, even if not immediately apparent.
Building on this legacy, today’s youth are using fashion in similar ways. Hair has been turned into a powerful political image. Natural curls are an expression of pride and rebellion against Eurocentric beauty ideals. One of the boldest forms of defiance in a conservative environment is the application of bold hair dyes as a tangible symbol of identity and resistance. This reflects what many people know: not everyone can lobby or write laws, but everyone can choose an outfit.
This modern evolution of fashion is particularly visible in the United States, where personal style choices carry layered political meanings. Recently, conservative youth have been pushing for ‘tradwife’ aesthetics and patriotic branding. The traditional housewife appearance, complete with baking aprons, demure floral dresses, and pearl necklaces, extends beyond style and points to nostalgia over fixed gender roles. The normalization of this style in media is a cause for concern.
Consider the recent American Eagle Great Jeans/Great Genes ad by Sydney Sweeney: she looks directly at the camera, unbuttoning her denim, and a voiceover that says, “My genes are blue”. The campaign was condemned by critics as promoting a notion of genetic purity and creating a set of Eurocentric beauty ideals (blonde hair, blue eyes, thinness, etc.). Though the brand justified the advertisement as a pun on jeans, the message was launched in a cultural context where fashion is frequently politically.
To youth observing all this happen online, the ad does not merely sell denim but strengthens the conflict between inclusiveness and conservatism. Meanwhile, liberal youths push for individualism, embracing bold colors and second-hand clothing as anti-consumerism statements. Around the country, clothes have become a visible argument about the kind of future we want. Fashion speaks and speaks loudly.
Ultimately, the discussion reveals that fashion is not only about expressing oneself but also about the type of society that young people are envisioning, be it a regression into old-fashioned structures or a shift towards various inclusivity and independence.
