Hollywood’s awards season, also known as the season for scouring worst-dressed lists to laugh at the dumb excesses of out-of-touch celebrities, is in full swing. But there’s another event where out-of-touch people who think they’re better than the masses like to gather in the early spring: the annual State of the Union address. And like its Hollywood cousins, the SOTU address is rife with examples of bad wardrobe choices.
It was Democrat Sen. Ed Markey’s accessorizing that was ugly as sin and as tone-deaf as this week’s Grammys. Markey showed up to the SOTU in a pin emblazoned with the word “abortion,” complete with a heart — which he probably didn’t mean as a nod to every heart that abortion violently stops.
The independent Arizona senator evoked comparisons to Big Bird, a Teletubby, the Chiquita Banana lady, actual bananas, and Carol Burnett’s iconic Scarlett O’Hara impression in her bright, butterfly-wing dress that could be seen in every wide-angle shot of the chamber.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell showed his true colors at the address — wearing a garish blue and yellow tie that not only highlighted his allegiance to Ukraine by pursuing a proxy war financed with hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars but also revealed his allegiance to horrible color combos.
OK, we expect Bono to dress like this, and we’re grateful Paul Pelosi decided to put some clothes on. But sitting together, the pair just looked like “a mob boss with his son — the formerly high-priced corporate lawyer who is now acting consigliere,” as my colleague David Harsanyi put it.
The first lady’s shiny dress was giving evil grandma vibes, with the raised collar and weird sheen that didn’t photograph well and was vaguely reminiscent of blackout curtains. It wasn’t the worst outfit of the bunch, but it was no supermodel look. (Too bad we’ve never had one of those as first lady.)
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, however, seemed to like Jill’s look just fine.
Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.