Kristi Noem's Full Style Transformation

From her early days as a rancher to becoming the first female governor of South Dakota to being appointed secretary of the Homeland Security Department in January 2025, Kristi Noem has steadily moved into the national spotlight. And along the way to becoming a fixture in the media, she's had nearly every aspect of her life dissected and debated. To name just a few hot topics: Kristi Noem's noticeable face transformation, her evolving personal style, her admission of shooting a family dog, and the rumor that she is romantically involved with her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski.

And as her career has evolved into ever-higher-profile roles, so, too, has her appearance gotten an upscale overhaul. Over the years, the secretary of Homeland Security's style has become refined and polished, compared with her more humble days as the governor of South Dakota, when her fashion choices seemed more dated and echoed a distinct '90s elementary-school-principal aesthetic.

Since being inducted into President Donald Trump's inner circle, Noem has adopted a markedly city-chic style. Gone are the days of bootcut pants and odd geometric-patterned dresses layered with basic cardigans. She's replaced them with tailored suits, sleek silhouettes, and designer touches like Gucci loafers. While her style transformation may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's an evident shift toward a more image-conscious and contemporary approach to dressing.

The year 2011 was a pivotal one for Kristi Noem, who had a hair look she really should have thought twice about, as she began her first term as the U.S. representative of South Dakota. At the time, her style choices reflected a more traditional, no-frills approach. She often kept it simple, favoring  bootcut pants, a base layer top under a blazer, and, of course, cowboy boots. Her hairstyle and apparel seemed dated even for the era and were anything but fashion-forward.

In 2013, Kristi Noem managed to look even more stylistically dated than two years earlier, leaning even further into a conservative feminine aesthetic that made her appear far more mature than her actual age. At the time of this Washington news conference, the then-congresswoman was only in her early 40s, yet the busy geometric-patterned dress layered with a basic beige cardigan, along with an out-of-fashion '90s hairstyle, aged her by at least 20 years. Even a simple change in hairdo could have dramatically modernized her appearance and made her look her real age.

While most women were dressing up leggings with structured outwear like bomber jackets or oversized hoodies in 2016, Kristi Noem preferred the athleisure look, leaning heavily into  monochromatic, utilitarian attire that fell flat and was far from intentionally chic. Under the lighting at the political rally where she sported one such example, the gray tracksuit appeared brown, making the look even blander. The then-South Dakota congresswoman appeared even more out of step by choosing a hairstyle that was a big contrast to the textured waves, modern bobs, and layered cuts that were trending at the time.

By 2017, Kristi Noem had earned Donald Trump's stamp of approval during his first term as president for showing her support for many of his extreme initiatives, such as the infamous Muslim travel ban. This championing of ultra-right-wing ideas coincided with a noticeable shift in her style that no longer felt so dated. Perhaps it was spending more time with powerful ladies like Ivanka and Melania Trump, who have long reflected a more refined and city-chic sensibility, that caused Noem to ditch the bootcut pants and busy prints in favor of cleaner silhouettes and solid-color dresses that seemed more polished and modern.

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By 2021, Kristi Noem had clearly learned a thing or two about the importance of power dressing and seriously embraced structured tailoring and garments with classic contours. She even added tweeds to her wardrobe, an enduring style that Melania Trump embraces; for instance, the first lady suited up in Dior tweed for Donald Trump's speech before Congress in 2025 and got high marks for her fashion power statement. Tweed is the epitome of chic, a fabric that has long been considered timeless and a mark of sophistication. Noem's hair also went through a major transformation: Gone were the flat, outdated styles, replaced by polished, salon-finished looks that refined her appearance.

Kristi Noem showed off a completely transformed style in 2023. It was clear she had no intentions of returning to her old ways of dressing. She fully adopted refined power dressing, debuting garments with fitted silhouettes that showed off her toned body and pairing them with polished heels and professionally coiffed hair. Her style emphasized clean lines and confident tailoring. From 2023 on, Noem was most often seen in formfitting outfits that strongly reminded observers of women from Donald Trump's inner circle. Although even the president's family has had some worst-dressed moments, including Melania when she donned a zebra-patterned coat.

Long gone are the South Dakota rancher vibes that Kristi Noem once projected during her earliest years in politics. Her style, which has continued to evolve during Donald Trump's second presidency, is firmly rooted in a modern, metropolitan aesthetic. She has further elevated her look and begun experimenting more, such as with the casual gray hoodie under a structured blazer that she appeared in at the Grand Prix in Las Vegas in 2025. At the same time, she has also fully embraced a high-glam makeup look, along with fuller hair and a lot of contouring, which aligns perfectly with the Mar-a-Lago aesthetic.

This light blue belted coat the Homeland Security honcho was photographed in, in January 2026, exemplifies the final stage of her style evolution. With its soft color, tailored silhouette, and cinched waist, the refined garment is perfect with the knee-high black boots that have replaced her cowboy footwear. The look is one of confidence and authority. It's obvious that Noem is never returning to her old and humble ways of dressing and has fully embraced the city-chic style.