Outdated Trends We're Begging Kristi Noem To Ditch

Kristi Noem can't get away from outdated trends. It's not like she's ambivalent about her look and overall appearance; Noem puts a lot of effort into her external comportment, so much so that Noem's often gotten roasted for her outrageous cosplay outfits. Clearly, she loves to get herself ready and dressed up — sometimes too much. Noem has been seen running around dressed like a prison warden, a nurse, an ICE patrol officer, and has rocked camo and military-style fits that have no practical relevance to her job.

Formerly the secretary of Homeland Security, Noem got fired from the position on March 5, 2026 by President Donald Trump. He moved Noem to the position of Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas after ongoing scandals and deaths from excessive force used by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While outfits and outdated trends seem initially irrelevant to Noem's role, her recurring love of out-of-style looks and pieces speaks to her larger inability to read the room. It shows a lack of sociability and engagement with others, something that seemed to plague the larger arc of Noem's time as the Secretary for Homeland Security.

Over Kristi Noem's time as the Secretary of Homeland Security, she showed up to events wearing massive hoop earrings countless times. Sometimes, the hoops were large and simple; on other occasions, they were decked out with beads and pearl embellishments. This favorite and repeated accessory of Noem's got so much attention that Slate poked fun at her excessive use of hoop earrings. While statement earrings that take center stage in a look are great, the ways in which Noem wears hoops gives her outfits a dated feel. The trendiest earrings of the moment are smaller huggies and pearl studs. While hoops are popular in some younger circles driven by Y2K nostalgia, Noem's use of statement earrings clash with her otherwise loud outfits.

Kristi Noem loves a trucker hat. While baseball hats are always in style on women, the boxy trucker hat is a trickier piece of headwear to pull off. It's just one part of Noem's full style transformation, where she went from dressing more demurely as the governor of South Dakota to opting for a riskier, bolder wardrobe when she was appointed secretary of Homeland Security. Of course, part of the problem with Noem's trucker hat is that it fits so well into her love of cosplay. In this case, the trucker hat looks like a dated version of Noem's everyday, working woman persona. Bonus points for the huge hoops, too.

Kristi Noem wore a blue sheath dress to the White House for a meeting on natural disaster preparedness in June 2025. What made the dress look outdated were the large, 3D flowers that were scattered across Noem's neckline. Fans of "Sex and the City" will recall how many times Carrie Bradshaw wore 3D flower decals, but that was back in the late '90s and early 2000s. While Vogue recognized the merits of 3D floral trends for spring 2023, the fact that Noem was still wearing floral appliqués in the summer of 2025 felt out of touch. Also, the impractical dress seemed comically out of touch at a meeting on natural disaster preparedness.

Kristi Noem tried to add a touch of casual effortlessness to a blazer look while in Las Vegas at the F1 Grand Prix on November 22, 2025. Of course, Noem added hoop earrings to the look; this time, they were double hoops. The blazer and hoodie combo became popular after fashion house Veronica Beard released their "Dickey Jacket" in 2010. The blazer featured a hoodie that could be zipped off to offer different looks. But since Noem wore this look 15 years later, it's safe to say that it was more than a little dated.

Kristi Noem opted for an out-of-date color palette when she visited Fox Business Network Studios in May 2024 in New York City. Not only did it wash her out — particularly against the busy, blue background — but the color of the blazer was the wrong tone. Trending blazer-based outfits for spring 2024, according to Cosmopolitan, centered around either neutrals or very showy patterns. Similarly, Marie Claire noted in 2025 that sugary pastel mints were being replaced by bolder tones, like grass green. Noem's washed-out mint blazer was both unflattering and out of style.

Kristi Noem cannot let go of the pencil dress. While she's worn the style on many occasions, she was spotted wearing a short, blue version of this frock in June 2022 in New York City, along with nude pumps. Noem's outfit looked like it was taken right out of "Gossip Girl," when Elizabeth Hurley played Diana Payne in Season 5 back in 2011, so it was really out of style. To add further complication, the sheath dress has also become MAGA-fied, as many women in Donald Trump's inner circle opt for this style of dress. This is likely because they're sexy with a professional edge, and are reminiscent of a Fox News anchor.