Forget the Oscars, this is the real fashion contest

It’s neck and neck in the image stakes for Kamala Harris, Melania Trump and Usha Vance.

Former first lady Melania Trump joins Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on stage at the Republican National Convention. Picture: Getty Images

Will millennial women vote for Donald Trump because the wife of his running mate, JD Vance, wore flats and a “set-and-forget” taupe dress on the opening day of the Republican National Convention?

Her husband’s politics may or may not attract the 30 and 40-somethings, but don’t underestimate the optics of a partner who doesn’t need Botox – or at least not yet – and has the style of a woman with more on her mind than the shape of her eyebrows.

Usha Vance upped her look a little when, wearing a striking cobalt blue dress that apparently sells at department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue for $495 ($750) and proper shoes, she introduced the vice-presidential candidate to the convention a couple of days later.

But the footwear had ankle straps, for stability, and chunky heels: no stilettos for this busy lawyer and mother. Maybe she had advice from stylists, but she looked as if she dressed herself; appropriate but not over-engineered.

It’s the same trick that Kamala Harris pulls off.

There’s a woman genetically blessed who looks flawless at 59, with thick hair, a strong body, great teeth and a big, brilliant smile, who rocks a designer suit as if she’s not really trying.

She has doubtless had the same style for years and is very confident in her choices.

Understood that the Democratic contender is arguably unprepped for high office and that she has been underwhelming as Vice-President, but Kamala is a dream candidate in the image stakes.

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of J.D. Vance. Picture: Getty Images

The MAGA women at the Republican convention who sported shoes painted with the Stars and Stripes will likely see Harris’s style as elite and corporate, but many others will covet that effortless look. She is not particularly tall and needs heels to get to 170cm, but she has great screen presence. Just like Trump, who at 190cm will tower over Harris if they ever get to debate in September. Shades of those 2016 presidential clashes with Hillary Clinton (who is about the same height as Harris) in which Trump looked downright threatening against the Democrat?

Those encounters pre-dated the #MeToo movement. These days, no man, not even Trump, would get away with that sort of tactic against a woman, so we will see how he decides to play it, if and when he lines up with Harris. The former Republican president has a well-documented problem with women, with his history showing he sees many of them as objects of desire rather than equals. Yet the past few weeks suggest that Trump, with his uncanny ability to pick the zeitgeist, is having a makeover of his own.

Look no further than his wife Melania – tall, beautiful, hot – who is subtly changing her image as the Trump machine continues to normalise his policies and approach and build support across the class and culture lines.

US Vice President Kamala Harris. Picture: AFP

When she strode on stage at the end of Trump’s acceptance speech last week, Melania stunned in a schmick red suit. She looked supremely at ease, operating above the fray. No longer the trophy wife, she presents now as the woman calling the shots with the likely leader of the free world. Lucky I’m here, Donald, but don’t ever take it for granted.

Some of the women in Trump’s extended family are still overdoing the makeup and the false eye lashes (check out Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancee of Donald Trump Jr) but the newly elegant Melania may help her husband lose his louche image.

Those who see politics as a contest of ideas may dismiss analysis of the dress sense of those women who will be in the spotlight over the next few months.

But more than ever in the age of the internet and social media, politics is about performance, and for women, appearance remains crucial. It’s not fair that politicians like Clinton, who once couldn’t care less about her image, have to worry about what colour suit they wear, but there it is.

Clinton never looked comfortable or confident in her clothing. (Shame on the advisers who allowed that uniform of boxy trouser suits that looked as if they were bought at Macy’s, not Saks.) No matter how hard she tried she could never take her appearance out of the equation. That’s something Harris does manage to do; we note she looks good, then move on. But we DO note that she looks good, and that, ironically, is a positive as she seeks recognition and votes. For decades, women in public life have wanted to be treated just like the men for whom appearance is important, but only up to a point.

Yet in a highly visual society, female politicians have an advantage. If they get it right, their appearance can be a plus in the pursuit of power.

And that is something Harris and Melania Trump – and even Usha Vance – will surely understand in the months leading up to the poll in November.