It’s fair to say that no one expected the fashion to be so attention-stealing at President Donald Trump’s inauguration this weekend.
First, Oscar de La Renta and Dior drew ire for creating inaugural looks for second lady Usha Vance and first daughter Ivanka Trump ― a pointedly different approach to fashion houses’ reluctance to dress Trump family members during his first administration.
Then, there was first lady Melania Trump’s very Carmen Sandiego-esque hat, which shrouded half of her face during the inaugural ceremonies and made it impossible for her husband to swoop in for a kiss. (When “form meets function,” “The Daily Show” joked on X.)
And most notably, there wasLauren Sánchez and The Bustier That Must Be Stopped.
At Trump’s swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, Sánchez was seated beside her fiancé, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The TV journalist wore a white Alexander McQueen blazer with a peekaboo push-up corset bra ― a look that many online, both on the right and the left, took overstated offense to.
Here is a sampling of the catty, mean-girl, pearl-clutching found on X and Bluesky since Monday morning:
“Good grief, Lauren Sanchez. Put them away for one day.”
“Good Lord. How did Jeff Bezos go from Mackenzie Bezos to the puke of slimy gross trash that is gold digger Lauren Sanchez?”
“#LaurenSanchez is the perfect example of ‘Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.’ Set a better example.”
Naturally, Megyn Kelly weighed in, too. “She has no class. No dignity. No respect,” the former Fox News host wrote on X.
Not since that scene in “Selena” has a bustier caused such a stir.
As Caitlin Flanagan of The Atlantic joked on X. “The nation has come together over Lauren Sanchez. Just when you think we’re a come as you are nation that nothing could shock us, suddenly there’s something that makes us all shriek as one, Sister Kathleen on a dress code violation. NOT THAT.”
Yes, it was an unconventional choice of dress for an inauguration ― one that caught Zuckerberg’s eye and instantly made a meme out of him ― but given everything else that was unconventional about Trump’s swearing-in, is a bra really what we should be focused on?
A bra, and not the tech moguls ― Bezos of Amazon, Zuckerberg of Meta, Sundar Pichai of Google, Tim Cook of Apple, and Elon Musk ― who got literal front-row seats at Trump’s inauguration, signaling just how far in bed big tech is with the federal government and how likely it is that Trump will put an end to all those pesky governmental investigations into their businesses?
A bra, and not the fact that many of Trump’s Cabinet picks ― notably seated behindsaid tech bro oligarchs ― have faced sexual misconduct allegations, just like the president they’ll serve the next four years?
A bra, and not the the historic series of executive orders Trump signed Monday night in an effort to “take America back”? The sweeping legislation includes attacks on the long-established principle of birthright citizenship and withdrawing the U.S. from both the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization, an agency that plays a key role in the detection, prevention and treatment of pandemics? Word is that the White House office in charge of preparing for the next pandemic may be shrinking, too, just as bird flu in the U.S. is on the rise.
A bra, and not Trump making good on his campaign promise to roll back federal support for racial equity and protections for transgender people? (Including an order declaring that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female.)
Yes, a bra: the ultimate distraction from everything. (It was definitely a distraction from calling out the inappropriateness of Sen. John Fetterman wearing shorts and a hoodie to the same supposedly staid event.)
What’s interesting to Kimberly Voss, a professor of journalism at the University of Central Florida, is that Sánchez’s suit wasn’t even that showy compared to what the journalist usually wears to functions, which Women’s Wear Daily has called “sensual power dressing.”
“This is what she has worn in public since she was publicly identified as Bezos’ girlfriend,” Voss told HuffPost. “I don’t think she’s wearing an outfit for publicity or attention.”
“With so many political issues to contend with, her low-cut top is not relevant,” she said. “She should be able to wear what she wants, and if a man or men leer at her, it is on them.”
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the author of the book “Dressed For Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism,” doesn’t think Sánchez’s suit should have grabbed so many headlines, either.
If anything, the fact that Sánchez chose to wear a white pantsuit ― a look that politicians have frequently worn as a nod to suffragists ― suggests that she more than understood the assignment, Rabinovitch-Fox said.
“It is much easier to criticize her and her appearance and to disregard the shameful behavior of all that were around her like Zuckerberg peering down at her cleavage,” the professor wrote to HuffPost.
“This is basically misogyny 101, and it is not surprising that it’s coming from the likes of Megyn Kelly,” she added.
“With so many political issues to contend with, her low-cut top is not relevant. She should be able to wear what she wants, and if a man or men leer at her, it is on them.”
– Kimberly Voss, professor of journalism at the University of Central Florida
It’s also worth acknowledging that Sánchez is Latina and that her fashion critics here are largely white women.
“People feel uncomfortable with any woman who flaunts her sexuality like Sanchez does, and it is often being registered as ‘bad taste’ or ‘trashy’ or ‘bimbo,’” Rabinovitch-Fox said. “And given the fact that she is there only because of her partner just makes it an easier target.”
In the row Sánchez was seated in, she was the least important person to talk about. The fact that people are focusing on her and a hint of a bra says volumes about the culture we exist in at the moment.
“Instead of taking on why the richest men in the world, who also control the media, were the guests of honor in the inauguration and what it says about our democracy, we are engaging in frivolous discussions like what Sanchez was wearing,” Rabinovitch-Fox said.
Cristen Conger, an author and host of the “Unladylike” podcast, agrees that we’re all looking at the wrong thing.
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“I think it’s a convenient distraction from more pressing questions, like: If Joe Rogan, Logan Paul and Matt Gaetz are all there, how is an unbothered woman in a bustier the undignified one?”