The Corny Comforts of the Biden Inauguration

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Press releases from designers, touting dresses and coats designed proudly for this occasion. Performances by Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez. Powerful women dressing in coordinating colors to make a statement. You didn’t have to look very long at Wednesday’s inauguration of Joseph Biden as the 46th president of the United States to find symbols of a return to what NBC called “radical normalcy.”

Indeed, the coiffed pomp of the semi-somber event felt like a moment for the fashion industry—and the “fashion diplomacy” semiotic industrial complex that surrounds it—to pick up right where it left off four years ago. President Biden’s speech was shot through with realism and sobriety, but when it came to the visuals, attendees and performers settled right back into those old tricks and gestures that telegraph a reliable balance of regalness and everyman stateliness.

The official theme of the inauguration was “America United”—but you could just as easily have called it A Return to Corniness.

I don’t mean this unkindly. Corniness was the leading aesthetic of American political life before the Trump administration ushered in four years of camp, which differs in its total commitment to brash and vindictive bad taste. Corniness was Laura Bush nicknaming her husband “Bushy”; corniness is the ubiquitous flag pin as a barometer of patriotism. It’s trying a little too hard, smiling a little too earnestly, dressing a little too obviously—like Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama all wearing purple to signal the unity of red and blue, left and right. Corniness is quoting Nora Jones in the inaugural address, as President Biden did; corniness is Garth Brooks asking the audience at home to sing along to “Amazing Grace” with him. Corniness is J. Lo in glittering snow-white Chanel, like a high priestess of Meatpacking District nightlife, singing “This Land Is Your Land,” and Lady Gaga singing the national anthem in a big ball skirt (in the middle of the day?!) with a giant gold dove brooch (holding an olive branch!) and a coordinating gold microphone. (Gaga has always rode the line between corny and campy, but she’s too aware of her own place in history and pop music to be truly camp.)

Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Rob Carr / Getty Images
Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

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Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst / Getty Images
Vice President, Kamala Harris, during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

Vice President, Kamala Harris, during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images

Corniness is comforting, and decent, and old-fashioned. With clothes, it often means sartorial tricks, or gestures, that express little other than sentimentality. It can be effective, and on Wednesday, it nearly was, but for many of us, it will be a long time before coordinated purple suits and Garth Brooks trying to unify America in song will make us feel anything but scared and exhausted. It is change, not normalcy, that many Americans seek.

Still, it is encouraging to see a new mix of designers given global exposure. Vice-President Kamala Harris has officially christened a new era of American fashion by wearing Pyer Moss and Christopher John Rodgers—both brands owned by Black designers—over the past 24 hours, permanently etching their names into history. Jill Biden, in a dress, coat, and matching mask by the new-ish brand Markarian, looked fabulous, though she has always worn clothes remarkably well. Still, when I read in a press release that “the color blue was chosen for the pieces to signify trust, confidence, and stability,” I couldn’t help but think of my local bank branch. (Former First Lady Melania Trump, making an elaborate Irish goodbye in the presidential chopper, channeled Jackie at John F. Kennedy’s funeral, in a shrunken Chanel jacket and Dolce & Gabbana skirt. The Chanel jacket debuted on the runway in early December, for the house’s Metiers d’art collection, which means it’s not yet in stores—but private client status trumps politics.)

Dr. Jill Biden arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

US-POLITICS-INAUGURATION

Dr. Jill Biden arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Jim Lo Scalzo / Getty Images

The two best looks of the day came not from American designers, but courtesy of an Italian fashion master: Miuccia Prada. First was Ella Emhoff, the Vice President’s step-daughter, who has become a cult figure online for her interest in slow fashion and quirky knitwear. (Get ready to see a lot more of the aesthetic my colleague Noah Johnson calls “bardcore.”) After wearing a Thom Browne shirt and tie with silk skirt last night, she attended the inauguration in a plaid Miu Miu A-line coat, embellished with crystals across the shoulders, with a sweet, white lace collar and a big tortoiseshell button—festive, appropriate but not scene-stealing, and a perfect employment of Mrs. Prada’s nerdy-girlish diffusion line. The second was a young woman I clocked before the proceedings began, standing tall on the stage filming the crowd with her camera in a striking banana-colored coat and a fat red headband. How bold of her to wear yellow!, I thought—and realized shortly thereafter that she was the inaugural poet, the 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, dressed in head-to-toe custom Prada. That thick headband, a cult object since Mrs. Prada debuted it in Spring 2019, is one of several talismans representing the new generation of Prada acolytes, who worship the designer for her intellectually biographical designs just as their elders did in the ’90s. For the millennial and Gen Z cognoscenti, Prada represents the peerless blend of intellect and glamour.

Doug Emhoff's daughter, Ella Emhoff, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

Doug Emhoff's daughter, Ella Emhoff, arrives for the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, speaks during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, speaks during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Alex Wong / Getty Images

The other fashion highlights were also the less stage-managed ones: Nikolas Ajagu, the husband of Kamala Harris’s niece, wearing the ultra-rare Air Dior sneakers, and Bernie Sanders, bundled up in his old Burton jacket and mittens made by a local Vermont school teacher from old sweaters (and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles). These attendees weren’t practicing political theatre. And even though Sanders wore a coat he's definitely worn before, it didn’t scan as a wished-for return to the Time Before Trump. Instead, the best fashion at the inauguration was a demonstration of fashion honesty. These attendees had an awareness of the limits of political clothing—and of the power of showing us who they are.

Senator Bernie Sanders during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.

US-POLITICS-INAUGURATION

Senator Bernie Sanders during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021.
Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

An earlier version of this story stated that Amanda Gorman is 23. She is 22.

Originally Appeared on GQ