The Maga look of the Trump women: when style becomes political

Kristi Noem and Co.

The Maga look of the Trump women: when style becomes political

Botox and Bible: Many women in the orbit of US President Trump stage hyper-feminine-and aggressive. The striking aesthetics is no coincidence.

You have a sun -tanned complexion, sprayed lips, wrinkles -free faces, black eyeliner, glued eyelashes and striking eyebrows. Your hair is very long, often artificially extended, parted in the middle and slightly wavy. “They are always thin and almost always white,” adds the “New York Times” about those women from the circle of US President Donald Trump, who shape this style.

Their appearance is now so characteristic that it has its own name: the “Mar-A-Lago Face”-the “Mar-A-Lago face”, named after Trump’s gigantic estate in Florida. Or simply: “Maga look”. Maga stands for “Make America Great Again”, the movement that gathers behind Trump.

Particularly known examples of the striking look are Trump’s Minister of Homeland Protection Kristi Noem, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump or the designated US ambassador for Greece and ex-fiancee by Trump’s son Don Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle. They have in common that they looked completely different a few years ago and made a transformation externally. The “New York Times” once called “Trumpification” at NoEM.

In principle, it is rather inappropriate to leave out about the appearance of other people – not to say: pretty wrong. But the look of women from Trump’s area is more than just a question of taste, the examination of the external appearance is not a pure style criticism – it is a political statement.

According to historian Kristin Kobes du Mez, the image of women, which is prevailing in Trump’s government, is closely based on the ideal of certain, patriarchal -shaped evangelical circles – a current that has further influenced in Trump’s second term. In this milieu, a dogmatic interpretation of the Christian faith combines with a nationalist vision of America.

Especially in the extreme parts of this movement there is open misery, explains MEZ – right down to demands to withdraw women the right to vote and to limit them to their role as mothers. There are room for women in public positions, but only under clear conditions. Femininity defines itself above all by external staging and political followers – as a counterpart to the demonstratively shown male hardness.

“There is a place for women in this culture – but only if they support the entire agenda 100 %,” says you mez. Aesthetics have a political function: it turns women into public faces of an authoritarian project. Figures such as Minister Noem or press spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stylized themselves with make-up, cosmetic surgery and emphasized feminine clothing on figureheads of the system. Even a visible cross on the necklace should not be missing.

This form of staged right -wing femininity has not only developed in conservative circles under Trump, says the historian. Sarah Palin embodied her as one of the first women on a national stage. The former governor of Alaska competed in 2008 as a vice presidential candidate at the side of John McCain for the Republicans: a former beauty queen in bright costumes, high -touped hair – and at the same time mercilessly in the attack on political opponents.

At that time, Palin said the difference between a hockey mother like her and a pit bull … lipstick. “Hockey Mom” ​​is an expression in the USA for a often severely involved mother who intensively supports her children – especially sons – in their sports career.

The women from Trump’s circle also combine feminines with tough appearance. Minister of Homeland Protection Noem, for example, posed hard, styled and pulled deep in the face in the Cecot high -security prison in El Salvador – and behind her dozens of bald men were free in a cell, the tattooed upper body.