Liberals are freaking out over conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren’s new ‘Freedom’ fashion line, designed for those who love “God, Guns and Country” — but let’s be honest, lefties have been making fashion political for a long time
Lahren recently launched her line of yoga pants and workout tops with Alexo Athleticwear, prompting a social media meltdown.
The conservative pundit claims she has been pegged as “too controversial” to have her own fashion line — but who made the rule that only liberals get to make political statements with their sartorial choices?
The Twitterati also condemned Lahren for the “gun holsters” which were apparently designed into the pants — though, a quick glance at the Alexo websites clarifies that there are no gun holsters in Lahren’s leggings (that’s in contrast to the brand’s “Signature Carrywear” pants, which were indeed designed with gun-holstering in mind).
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Promoting the workout gear, Lahren even said it was “important” that her line did not have a pocket for a gun because there "a lot of young people who aren’t ready to have a gun holster in their pants” — but that didn’t stop the alleged “gun pants” from taking over Twitter.
Lahren is far from the only one dipping her toes into the world of political fashion.
In fact, fashion and politics are overlapping more than ever — and “protest dressing" has become increasingly popular. That’s even more so, it seems, in the age of Donald Trump.
Pink “pussy hats” were the symbol of the Women’s March protests following Trump’s election in 2017 (an allusion to his infamous “grab ‘em by the pussy” comment). The “pussy hats” can be found for sale online in a variety of styles, but the official 'Pussyhat Project' has templates for protesters to follow to knit, sew or crochet their own pink headgear.
Entire brands have been built around anti-Trump politics. Cosmetics company 'Lipslut' (which describes itself as giving "a middle finger to the current socio political landscape") sells a “F*ck Trump" lipstick and donates 50 percent of its earnings to civil rights organizations. The company also began selling a “F*ck Kavanaugh” lipstick to protest the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh (who faced rape allegations) to the US Supreme Court last year.
Political fashion ranges from the explicit to the more subtle. Female Democrats dressed in all-white during Trump's 2019 State of the Union address to Congress, a nod to the suffragette movement and what they said were the Trump administration's efforts to “roll back women’s progress.”
Activist fashion might at first seem more of a left-wing tendency, but Lahren’s line of yoga pants shows that in an era of extremely polarized politics, conservatives might be more willing to “own the libs” with their own fashion statements, too.
Lahren’s peer and fellow conservative pundit Candace Owens sparked controversy last year after designing t-shirts calling for a 'Blexit' — an exodus of black Americans from the Democratic Party. Rapper Kanye West was dragged into the controversy after Owens suggested that he helped design the shirts, though he denied having "any association" with the so-called Blexit campaign.
Given the popularity of political fashion symbols on the left over the years, it would seem a little bit hypocritical to get worked up about one conservative pundit’s foray into fashion design.
But, perhaps the real concern is less about Tomi Lahren's yoga pants and more rooted in worries that the liberal monopoly on political fashion will be lost to young conservatives.
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