A devil is in the details about Kamala Harris' wardrobe

One day. It took just one day into her interregnum as US Vice-President-elect before the pundits began to analyse what Kamala Harris, the first woman to hold this position, not only said, or did, but wore.

I don't care if Harris' outfit was "suffragette white", as Marie Claire pronounced in a headline. When Harris stood on that stage beside Biden last Saturday, surely we should have focused on her words, her mere presence, rather than her clothing choice.

Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, on stage with Joe Biden after the pair claimed victory on November 7.Credit: AP

Marie Claire is a fashion title and deserves a little leeway. But The New York Times, august publication of record, unpicked the whole of her attire in one article, which detailed, among other relevant points: "She said it — 'while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last' — and she signalled it, wearing something she had not worn in any of her moments of firsts since she joined Mr Biden as his No. 2 (or, indeed, in the months before when she was running for the Democratic nomination herself): a white pantsuit with a white silk pussy-bow blouse. Two garments that have been alternately fraught and celebrated symbols of women’s rights for decades, but which over the last four years have taken on even more potency and power."

OK, so the threads of history can be unravelled in the threads we wear today. I get it. I've seen The Devil Wears Prada, and the dressing down that Meryl Streep as magazine editor gives Anne Hathaway, a junior assistant who thinks fashion is beneath politics.

I love clothes and could spend hours learning about fabrics and cuts and colours and designs. But I also get that there is a double standard here. Nobody is dedicating an article to President-elect Joe Biden's suit and choice of tie, for instance – blue, as it happened; a more calming colour than red, and the Democrats' standard, and a nice match for his twinkling blue eyes. Kudos to The New York Times for at least giving it a cursory mention, but let's not fool ourselves in thinking there is any comparison here.

Perhaps I missed the feminist memo, but are we really going forward like this in 2020? Has this annus horribilis made us hanker for familiar, outmoded stereotypes? And if so, are we going to keep this up for the next, let's say, eight years? Dissect every wardrobe choice Harris makes?

I may be out of date, but wouldn't I love Harris to tell the world, as former first lady Michelle Obama told the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, from all reports a fabulous husband: "Get out of my closet!"

Rita Glennon is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald.