Truss’s £4.50 earrings v Sunac’s £450 Prada shoes: What does your outfit say about you? | Fashion

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With Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss set to become the next Tory leader, it’s not just what they say that’s getting column inches. Their words speak volumes.

Last week, the stories on what the candidates wore were in opposite corners — with vastly different budgets. Truss’ £4.50 earring Claire accessories were contrasted with Sunac’s big-budget style choices, including a £450 pair of Prada loafers, and a £3,500 bespoke suit.

If politicians’ clothes are always scrutinized – Theresa May’s slinky leopard-cat heels or Barack Obama’s rolled-up sleeves – the debate over what Sunak and Truss wear comes against the backdrop of the cost of living. It’s all about price, and what these things are trying to mark. It begs the question: How will style status symbols work in 2022?

Liz Truss arrived for the BBC's Conservative Party leadership debate last week.
Liz Truss last week. Nadine Dorries highlighted her choice of earrings. Photo: Reuters

Even in times of high cost of living, fashion luxury brands retain their power and remain popular among consumers. Financial results for the fashion brands for the first half of 2022 were released last week. Revenues rose 48% at Moncler, whose short jacket with a bear logo on the sleeve costs £1,235. At LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, revenue rose 19 percent in the second quarter of 2022, including luxury handbags. A classic Louis Vuitton Speedy with monogram is £1,030. Meanwhile, Sunac’s favorite Prada saw its first-half sales rise 22 percent. The famous Cleo shoulder bag – with the Prada triangle logo – is £1,800.

Fashion historian and author of the book Emma McClendon says, “Clothes have been heavily incorporated into millennials because clothing is a social language.” Mode of power: the power of fashion. “It’s a way of making our bodies socially readable.” Symptoms change over time. “The way you show strength and power may be different in 2022 than it was in 2016 or 2012,” she says.

The status symbols of any given moment are defined by what appears to be the dominant elite. In the digital age, that Silicon Valley affluent is more likely to be staffed by coaches and trainers than traditional institutional outfits. Mark Zuckerberg, not a style icon in the usual sense, orchestrated this change. McClendon said his daily attire was “really awake and punching the nose with the proper Wall Street sense of success.” Because ultimately, that’s how each era or each individual is trying to define success and power.”

Sunak has bought into the meaning of Silicon Valley. In the year

There will also be discussion in class about status symbols and who is “allowed” to wear these desirable items. This will change over time. Twenty years ago, Danielle Westbrook was on the cover the sun Burberry’s head-to-toe check sparked fury – and the fashion house reduced the amount of checks it used to use for fear of alienating its high-end customers. Fashion writer Daniel Rogers, who has written about the impact of Westbrook’s outfits, says the look is less disturbing now. Because the internet and social media have blurred all those markers, it is very difficult to identify whether a person is middle class, working class or upper class.

Kim Kardashian at Paris Fashion Week in early July.
Kim Kardashian at Paris Fashion Week in early July. Photograph: Pierre Sue/Getty Images

But he sees in the public that women still stir up anger for stepping outside the perceived boundaries. “Kim Kardashian is an example,” he says. “Before Kanye, when you started wearing luxury houses like Givenchy, people were like, ‘Why does this Page Three girl get that?’ It really drives a lot of people away [ideas of] Room. It’s something that’s so ingrained in us, so for someone to cross those boundaries, for a lot of people, that’s offensive. [because it’s] Disrespect for the natural order in the world.

Indicators are more complicated as status is now associated with “cool” and authenticity is often associated with working class culture. “There are pop stars or public figures who try to take the working-class trope and fit it into something that seems more authentic,” Rogers said.

Rachel Worth, author of the 2020 book Fashion and classHe says this is not new. She points to the French Revolution, when “it was dangerous to wear high-end fabrics like silk. When it seemed ordinary and working class politics became correct.

Worth, whose forthcoming book focuses on sustainability, argues that the current state of affairs can come from knowing your carbon footprint. “These things go in cycles,” she says. “In the 19th century, the second person was too great even for workers. Looks like we’re back there.

Caroline Stevenson, head of cultural and historical studies at the London College of Fashion, says: “It’s fashion to know where your clothes come from, curate your wardrobe and show appreciation for the finer things.” in life”

In public, this is either – like the Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex – wearing dresses or like Carrie Johnson – renting clothes. She wore a rented dress to marry the Prime Minister last year. In this context, Sunak and Truce’s standout new items, whether fast fashion or high-end, can be seen as bad looks, in the same way that Kylie Jenner used her private jet to travel 17 minutes between two California airports. Being labeled a “climate criminal” in a viral tweet.

McClendon says what the two candidates wear has different positions. If Sunak’s are “the classic symbols of wealth – sweaters, designer duds,” then the truss earrings are “the opposite.” [symbol] … In a democracy there is a sense of authority, a sense of authority representing the people.

Charlie Porter, The Artists wear, Truce believes in her choice to wear fast fashion pieces with her cheap, fun policies. “[She] He is campaigning to cut taxes for short-term good feelings,” he said. “The hope is more disposable income in light of rising fuel and grocery bills. Disposable income usually means shopping. Shopping makes people feel good in the short term, often at the expense of what might benefit them in the long run. Sunak’s luxury goods, on the other hand, “can still be used as objects of desire and desire to sway the rich.

She added: “I think we’re in a very complicated time in terms of wealth because there’s both a prolonged pandemic, inflation, financial problems and sustainability.” This complicates ambition. Style status symbols are alive and well in 2022 but, as usual, it’s far from simple.

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