The Rise In Trad Wife Fashion
Why Current Trends Make Donald Trump's Win Unsurprising
While I love to have a bit of silly fun every week and give critiques about celebrity looks, give easy entry into the fashion conversation, etc. I will never stop intellectualizing fashion and looking at it through a theoretical/historic lens. Those are always my favorite posts and, if anything, you can expect more of them in the future. I will never stop, because it’s important to remind people that it is always more than “just clothing,” and the rise in the trad wife lifestyle, Nara Smith cosplay included, is a prime example of politics and fashion intersecting culturally.
People are shocked that Gen Z leans far right, when, other than, like, Hasan Piker, young boys are listening to podcasters and streamers that are incredibly right wing, and young girls are being convinced that a trad wife is a happy wife— all at an age where they are so impressionable. They can barely read books and write essays, let alone distinguish truth from propaganda.
I’ll be honest, in my research, I was very shocked to see how few articles there were about trad wife fashion. I did stumble across one W Magazine piece, though, that did make me blink at my screen a few times. I will not be linking it because I don’t know how crazy y’all are with sending people things, but in talking about being excited to dress like a trad wife this past summer, the writer said, “Funny that I’ve found solace (freedom, even—although that does sound dramatic, considering we’re talking about clothes here) in the past, a time when women were much more restricted in their wardrobes, among other things. But I’ll save the discussion of why I yearn for the aesthetics of a conservative age for my therapist—when I saunter up to her office in a fabulous ’50s-redux look.”
Girl.
The trad wife phenomenon traces back to the religious alt-right, specifically in the bible belt, as a reaction to progressive feminism and the dismantling of traditional gender roles. However, now, it’s floral dresses and baking cookies, while living a soft life with your husband and kids as you rediscover your femininity. The trend is reminiscent of 1950s housewives— think nipped waists (okay, funny that Melania just wore a Christian Dior Bar jacket), flowing skirts, lace, gingham, and modest necklines— symbolizing a romanticized ideal of domesticity and submission.
Although this looks for stability, it actually reveals the underlying pushback against gender fluidity, intersectional feminism, and egalitarian partnerships. Angela McRobbie argues that post-feminism can be seen as “an undoing of feminism”— a way of claiming femininity that reinforces old gender roles in a seemingly new, “empowered” way.
If we’re just looking at the fashion industry alone and the ways in which ideas of femininity are translated onto the runway, there is nothing inherently wrong with the Sandy Liang and Molly Goddard’s of the world. The issue comes into place when we assign these clothes with the, “I’m just a girl” moniker. We feed into the silly, helpless, dumb girl narrative. Sure, sometimes the designers themselves completely lose the plot or give a collection that is more performative than subversive, but it’s mainly the audience that is not at all applying critical thought. These collections are created by brilliant women who are often aware of the ways in which certain styles are portrayed and digested, but we also have to be aware of the audience.
It is possible to radicalize and subvert traditional fashion trends— think anti-prep— but we have to be in a place where that trend is actually being intellectualized instead of just seen as a superficial aesthetic. The girls are NOT reading!! From seeing these TikToks and articles, the aesthetic seems comforting, familiar, apolitical, and seeped in vintage nostalgia, but it’s not just about personal style, it’s also collective social signaling.
So, Donald Trump won. But how? Even most pro-choice people aren’t that anti-abortion, I mean, most states voted in support of abortion rights! Some states saw wins for democrats in the senate where Trump won the popular vote! How?!
Well, in times of chaotic uncertainty, people will turn to nostalgia and tradition to find comfort. Trump taps into an idealized past. This sentiment is alluring for people who feel disconnected from or even threatened by the rapid social changes around them, to those who feel like the middle class is being ignored. Now, of course, you and I know that Trump will do nothing to help the middle class, but Americans are fucking stupid, and although both candidates ran bad campaigns, it do not at all benefit Kamala Harris to ignore her base voter— something the Democratic party seems to be constantly oblivious to. While the white women she was pandering to didn’t buy her proposal, Trump at least appealed to the anger they feel in a stagnant life.
Elizabeth Wilson argues that fashion often serves as a barometer of social tensions, revealing underlying anxieties and aspirations. The “trad wife” style offers a visual language to expressing these anxieties— a yearning for a time when roles and values seemed more fixed. Those cotton prairie dresses sure do align with the sociopolitical ideologies of voters who seek stability and simplicity over complexity and change.
I don’t say all of this to say you have to burn all your DÔEN and Hill House pieces and stay at least six feet away from a bell shaped skirt at all times, but it’s just meant to urge you to be more critical.
I feel like I am going insane, but I can’t say I am at all shocked. I hope you are all taking care of each other and yourselves. It’s okay to grieve and to feel complete and utter despair. Let it all out, but don’t let it consume you.