Look of the Week: A nod to Obama? Searching for symbolism in Kamala Harris’ tan suit

When the vice president appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening, it evoked one of the shade’s defining moments: Tan-gate.

In American politics, a tan suit is no longer just a tan suit. So, when Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention wearing one on Monday evening, the country’s collective memory — or social media’s, at least — instantly recalled one of the shade’s defining moments: Tan-gate. A decade ago, almost to the day, President Barack Obama enraged a handful of conservative commentators by briefing the press in a light-colored suit. Critics felt his sartorial choice was out of keeping with the gravity of the topic being discussed (namely the US military’s response to a then-flourishing ISIS). At the time, New York Rep. Peter King told CNN that the suit was a metaphor for Obama’s “lack of seriousness.” Vociferous birtherist Lou Dobbs meanwhile, slammed the outfit as “un-presidential” on Fox News, suggesting on air that it may be transmitting some sort of hidden message, possibly to America’s enemies. Whether or not Harris intended to evoke a moment now associated with Republican-baiting is a matter of debate. Perhaps that was the point. But when the vice president entered the stage to Beyoncé’s “Freedom” wearing a tan pantsuit and laughing (another source of jibes from her opponents), she almost appeared to be daring critics to call her un-presidential. Posting to X, comedian John Fugelsang wrote that the outfit would “trigger all the right people.” Meanwhile, former spokesman for Jeb Bush and expert in opposition research Tim Miller suggested she was “baiting Fox (News) into an entire week of tan suit coverage.” Novelist Michael Marshall Smith described the wardrobe decision as “deep cut trolling.”