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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Helen Sullivan (now); Chris Stein, Sam Levin and Maanvi Singh (earlier)

Biden says he gave ‘heart and soul to our nation’ as he passes torch – as it happened

Joe Biden speaks on the first day of the DNC.
Joe Biden speaks on the first day of the DNC. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

With that important DNC fashion news, this blog is closing. You can read our full story on Biden’s speech at the link below:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a prominent female politician in possession of a wardrobe will have her outfits divined for clues about who she is and what she thinks. Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, is no exception.

But the dissection of Harris’s choice of outfit took on a different tone after her surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Monday evening, with some asking simply: is she trolling us?

Harris wore a suit that could be described as tan: a colour that Barack Obama famously favoured during his two terms in office. It was an outfit choice that drove Republicans and right-wing pundits mad. Most famously when Fox News host Lou Dobbs declared that it was “shocking to a lot of people” that Obama wore a tan suit in 2014 to discuss escalating the US response to Islamic State in Syria.

The Harris-Walz ticket is not immune to poking fun at their Republican rivals. Their debut collection of merchandise included an accessory to rival the Maga hat: a Harris Walz hunting cap that raised a million dollars for the campaign within hours of its release.

And Harris has form when it comes to including references in her clothing and image: for her cover of Vogue, she appeared in front of colours that represent her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and wearing their signature string of pearls. She was also once known for wearing Converse All Stars.

Though the Republicans had, hours after Harris’s appearance, resisted taking the alleged tan suit bait, they have not been above sartorial slights. At the RNC, Republican party co-chair Lara Trump compared Harris to an $1,800 faux trash bag sold by Balenciaga.

Updated

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