Lady Gaga does nothing accidentally, so it’s safe to assume her latest vintage-inspired getup is probably about so much more than just creating an Instagram-worthy look. Spoiler alert: It is.
This week the artist donned an elaborate floor-sweeping tulle skirt and bolero jacket complete with tossed-off corset and elegantly plumed fedora. Her message? Exercise the right women have had for less than a century and get your butt to the voting booth. The “Vote” button pinned to her hat might seem pretty straightforward, but with Gaga, nothing is that simple. Like any true fashion icon, she achieved her iconic status with ensembles that transcend the aesthetic and make major subliminal statements—political, cultural, you name it. As such, Gaga’s all-white look goes way beyond the obvious and touches on some major historical feminist trends.
First, there’s the tossed-off corset, which is pinned to her rear in a literal kiss-my-ass-patriarchy gesture. That’s one interpretation of the recent corset resurgence we love. But the bigger significance of her elaborate ensemble is the color: White was the color of the suffrage movement, and this historic election is bringing back the symbolic hue in a big way.
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The color white and the women’s movement have a long history. Back in the early 1900s, suffragists donned the color as the official symbol of their hard fight for voting rights. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro donned a white getup to accept the Democratic party’s vice presidential nomination and become the first woman to be on a major party ticket. This fall, Hillary Clinton showed the same respect donning a killer white pantsuit to accept her glass-ceiling-shattering nomination and also to make her final appearance on the debate stage. That’s one hell of a power suit. And the whitewashed-wardrobe movement is spreading. According to the Boston Globe, women across the country are wearing white to both pay homage to the women who came before them in the battle for equal rights and to show their support for Clinton’s historic campaign.
In other words, screw the outdated Labor Day rules and dust off your favorite white ensemble to head to the polls tomorrow. No matter what your political affiliations, respecting and exercising your right to vote is always on trend.
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