The Tired Dress Trend Sarah Huckabee Sanders Needs To Let Go Of

Over the course of her career, Sarah Huckabee Sanders' relentless allegiance to outdated trends has often suggested a studied indifference to the passage of contemporary wardrobe cycles. Granted, the Arkansas governor has never been much of a style bellwether. Nor was she ever expected to set the world of fashion ablaze. But even by her own standards, there's one particular dress style she clings to with remarkable devotion.

Her loyalty might be considered admirable, if only the trend in question wasn't quite so irredeemably bleak. Time and time again, she appears in variations of the same frock: a stiff, knee-length dress with three-quarter sleeves and a bow belt fastened dutifully at the waist, as if gift-wrapping herself for the nearest donor event. The look feels both aggressively dated and homely, flattening her rather than flattering her.

Perhaps more than elegance or edge, the look is chosen for its ability to offend no one, and impress even fewer. But in a political era defined by obsessive image management Sanders' wardrobe seems to have opted out of the conversation entirely — and done so with great conviction.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is hardly alone in her sartorial missteps. Among the MAGA cohort, style seems like a calculated resistance to taste itself. Kimberley Guilfoyle and Karoline Leavitt have both faced their fair share of online ridicule, as they have appeared to view fashion as a test of how much a single look can endure. But even in these circles, Sanders' style still manages to stand apart.

To announce the repeal of Arkansas' state grocery tax, she debuted a bright pink iteration of the dress on X (formerly known as Twitter) — a hue so conspicuous it all but shouted over the rumored signs of her Ozempic regimen. On the occasion of her father being recognized by the Arkansas legislature, she turned to a red, leather variation, as if to underscore the occasion with material better suited to a discount rodeo. Like before, she blasted the ensemble all over social media. 

Leather, it seems, holds a particular fascination for Sanders. The Capitol ensemble is hardly her only experiment; there exists, across her public appearances, a near-encyclopedic catalogue of leather offense. Each one is more mystifying than the last, and proof that Sanders needs to let go of the leather look. It would seem in fashion, much like politics, some commitments are harder to break than others.