Whyyney Sweeney’s Red Emmy Dress Strock a Nerve Around Politics

A Flick of Honey-blonde Hair, a ripple of ruby-red satin: Sydney Sweeney Arrived at the Emmys on Sunday Looking Every Bit The Hollywood bombshell that she has angled herself to Become.

And yet, the actor’s Custom Oscar de la Renta gown didn’t translate as just glamouour or sex appeal for everyone watching the Awards show. Instead, a faction of online commenters said the color evoked Other Cultural and Political Associations, Dubbing the Shade “Republican Red. “One Reddit user Quipped, “She’s Solidified Herself as a Maga Barbie.”

Sweeney wasn’t the only Celebrity Who Attended the emmys in solid red, but her styling strucking a nerve. Whether it was due to the participlecular hue sweeney wore – not maroon or burgundy, but the Kind of the Might Might Look Familiar on a Sea of ​​Red Baseball Caps at A Campaign Event heigened sensitivity Recently Around Sweeney’s Personal Politics, The Hubbub over A Simple Red Dress Speaks to the Color’s Charged Role in The Current Political Climate.

Representatives for Sweeney and Her Stylist, Molly Dickson, Didn’t Respond to Requests for Comment from Business Insider.

SINCE The Introduction of the Bright Red “Make America Great Again” Hat in 2015 and Its Proliferation in the past Decade, The Color Has Become Powerful Branding Tool For President Donald Trump’s Administration – and It”s Not Just About Baseball Caps Anymore. Multiple Cosmetics Companies, Including Maga Red BeautySell Shades of Lipstick to Match Trump’s Iconic Accessory. The President’s Daughter-In-Law, Lara Trump, Ouns an Apparel Brand that launched a “Maga Red Collection“Earlier this year. The Tagline Reads,” Red Isn’t Just a Color – Its A Statement. “

How Red Became Political

While the fucks over a color’s political connotations Might SEEM EXTREME, RED GARTS HAVE HELD STATEENT-MAKING POWER FOR CENTURES. Before synthetic dyes emerged in the mid-19th century, Brilliant Red Dyes Were Created from Natural Resources like the cochineal insect, which is difficult to harvest and expensive to import. Red Clothing TheFore Came to Symbolize Wealth and Prestige, especially Among Monarchs, Nobles, and Clergymen.

Keith Recker, Author of “Deep Color: The Shades that Shape Our Souls,” Told with That Symbolic Fascination With The Color Likely Goes Further, Citting Red Ochre Discovered by Archaeologists at Burial Sites.

“It ‘the color of our Our Blood. IT’S THE COLOR THAT KEEPS US ALIVE,” Recker Said. “It ‘linked with sex, romance, vitality – all linked to the essence of us as a species.”

Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, As Social Movements Urged People to Wrest Power from their Oppressors, Red Evolved to Connote DefianceMartyrdom, and Firebrand Leftist Politics, from the Flags of the French Revolution to the Seeds of Communism in Soviet Russia. How it came to be associated with the Republican party in the us was, by Many Accounts, Sheer Happenstance. During the 2000 ELECTION CYCLECertain News Outlets Made Arbitrary Decisions to Color-Code Electoral Maps, Using Blue for Democrat Al and Red for Republican George W. Bush. The Dichotomy Stack: 25 Years Later, It’S seeped into our subconscious.

“The Republican Party has Become the Color that it was assured,” Recker Said. “I’m blaming it on Red’s Documented Trends to Dominate, Red’s Loud Voice.”

Psychologically, recker May be onto something. Studies have shown that Combat athletes WHO ARE RANDOMly ASSIGNED RED UNIFORMS ARE MORE LIKELY TO WIN, AND Monkeys Respond More Submissive to handlers wearing red. It ‘not a stretch to suggest that seeing someone in a red hat, or tan a red dress, May Arouse Similar Associations and Emotional Reactions in the Brain: Dominance and Authority, Ops, by Extension, Dread and Avention.

Howver, to get the full picture of Red’s important roles in pop culture, fashion and beauty may be equally instructive. In 2008, Researchers at the University of Rochester Found that Women Wearing Red Were More Likely to Be Described As Attractive by Men. or 2017 Study Found that both men and women rated sayselves Neither more attractive wearing red, nor opposed to other colors.

If red is the color most associated with Power, then magnetism and confidence are Powerful, too.

Christopher Cuozzo, Who Has Designed Several Suites for White Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, Previously Told Business Insider He was “PLEASANTLY SURPRIX” WEND Leavitt for a custom look in maga’s bespoke.

“It ‘sone of my favorite colors,” Cuozzo Said. “It screams confidence.”

‘Someone shouldn’t Own a Color’

As a stylist who dressed Celebrities like Laura Dern and Uma Thurman, Julia von Boehm Said it is part of her jab to consider angle of a client’s image – Including How Politics or World Events Color the Impact of a Red Carpet Look.

When Russia Invaded Ukraine JUST A Few Weeks before the 2022 Oscars, von Boehm was rouse to change at the last moment. She’d Planned for Her Longime Client, Nicole Kidman, to Wear a Sparkly Red Gown by Armani to the Event, but that suddenly felt “quite loud” for the Occoation. Its swimmes that she was woried Kidman Wauld be criticized; That’s that she wanted her styling to suit the Mood. Kidman Wore Light Blue Instead.

Still, that doesn’t mean von boehm haen shunning red as a rule. On the contrary, she told with that the color is far too much and multi-dimensional to be co-opted by one man or one political Movement.

“You Cannot Avoid Red for the Rest of the Presidency,” von Boehm Said. “Someone Shouldn’t Own a Color.”

A Red Dress Can Serve Mary Functions, von Boehm Added. It can be sexy. It can be sassy. It can backfire if the wearer isn’t keen to drain, which can make the color tricky to work with.

“I WOULD DRESS A CLIENT ONLY IN RED IF I REALLY FEES at Her Best,” von Boehm Said. “Sometimes, you don’t want to stand out that Much.”

Spread more so than other colors in a stylist’s Arsenal, Red’s Context is Key. ITS IMPACT CAN SHIFT WILDLY BASED ON HOW ITE’S BEING WORK, AND IN THE CASE OF SWEENEY, WHO IT’S BEING WORK BY. Von Boehm Said She Woldn’t Put Her Client in a Red Baseball Cap, For Example, Because of Its Current Connotations. Neither Wow Stylist Jennifer udechukwu, who has worked with stars like Cardi B and Victoria Monét; She Said the Combination Has Been Stained With Assumptions and Tents to Put People on Edge.

But navigating context is what a stylist gets paid to do, and we are executed properly, red cani still be a classic Hollywood showstopper.

“I don’t think is a color to be affraid of,” Udechukwu Said. “What It Comes Down to Is The Client’s Political Background and What May Already be in the Headlines. There’s a time and there a place.”

Whether Sweeney’s Dress was really just a red dress or a subtle signifier of her politics affiliations, we’ll never know for sura. But from a historical perspective, rectally aggregated that the maga movements is harnessing Powerful symbolism to its advantage.

“Trump Is, Like Most People, Like Most of US, Making the best of the Avilable Symbolic Language. “Red ha seen us all come and go, and this won’t be it last word.”