Caroline Leaper
Deputy Fashion Director
02 October 2024 8:13pm
Was JD Vance’s debate night tie supposed to read as a shade of raspberry pink, or Republican red? It’s a question that preoccupied Twitter users the morning after the vice-presidential nominees debate, in New York on Tuesday night.
In certain lights and in still photographs the tie looks red — in other clips the lighter grain in the raw silk material made the accessory look pink. Vance may, of course, have assumed he was just reaching for another red tie in his wardrobe.
Still, the choice was analysed by viewers who took to social media to decode all its possible meanings. Was he attempting to present himself in a softer hue than Donald Trump, who typically opts for the boldest red ties? Was he aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month? Perhaps a donation to the charity is to follow.
Many saw the tie as a symbol, suggesting that Vance’s publicity team may have strategically told him to wear it to counter some of his previous comments that had offended female audiences, including referring to Kamala Harris as a “childless cat lady”.
“JD wearing a pink tie tonight because they know he’s repelled millions of women… and they think this look will make him less offensive to females,” one user wrote.
“If you wear the pink tie, everyone will forget that women hate you,” wrote another.
Fashion commentator Derek Guy observed that “Vance would have been better served by a more conservative tie. Fuchsia raw silk is something that you wear to summer garden parties, not debates.”
Meanwhile Mr Vance’s opponent, Governor Tim Walz, wore a beaded friendship bracelet — which audiences also believed was pertinent, as the singer Taylor Swift (who has popularised the bracelets this year on her Eras world tour) has personally backed the Democratic Harris-Walz partnership.
Are accessories enough to win over voters? If they weren’t measuring their impact before, the communications teams on both sides should be tuning in ahead of all appearances now.
The post What JD Vance is trying to tell voters with his pink tie appeared first on The Telegraph.
