Not one month after Charli XCX fatefully tweeted “kamala IS brat,” the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago is positively coated in red, white, blue, and Brat green. Pins and T-shirts alike endorse Kamala Harris for president in that telltale sans-serif font over a chartreuse ground.
Other attendees are proudly wearing “Cat Ladies for Kamala” badges—a reaction to footage of Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance complaining that America was being governed by “a bunch of childless cat ladies”—or using pins to make all manner of statements, whether broadcasting the issues important to them, the caucuses they belong to, the number of elections they’ve voted in, or the number of conventions they’ve attended.
Hometown pride has emerged in various forms, from the Lone Star shirts the Texans wore on Day 1 to Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan’s Jamie Okuma dress honoring her Ojibwe heritage. Day 2 of the convention included a ceremonial roll call of states, commonwealths, and territories, allowing delegates to symbolically reaffirm Harris’s nomination, and many jumped at the chance to rep their homes through fashion: While the entire Wisconsin delegation donned cheese hats, delegates from the Northern Mariana Islands wore traditional wreaths called mwarmwars. Westernwear has also played a huge role in DNC fashion, with cowboy hats and boots galore.
Above all else, the convention has proven itself an ideal forum for people to represent their home state and take pride in their values. That’s what everyone, from politicians to delegates, came to the DNC to do—their clothing is only amplifying their messaging.
