Opinion | Donald Trump’s Suit Didn’t Look So ‘america First’

Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States gave the world its first official look at a MAGA movement returned to power — including its sense of style.

Some of the attendees of the ceremony — and the spate of events surrounding it, like last night’s vice presidential dinner — appeared polished.

Others were, well, Sen. John Fetterman.

While there was plenty of striking women’s fashion worth commenting on, I stuck to my lane, and focused on the men. From the sartorial scores to the fashion faux pas, here’s everything that leaped out to me as a menswear writer.

Donald Trump’s Suit Put Italy First

Ever since George Washington took his oath of office in a morning coat, ruffled shirt and knee-length trousers, it has been an American tradition for presidents to wear American-made clothes on inauguration day. Joe Biden took his oath of office in head-to-toe Ralph Lauren; the suit, tie, overcoat, and even COVID mask were all made at Hickey Freeman’s factory in Rochester, New York. Similarly, Barack Obama wore a suit, overcoat and, later that day, a tuxedo from Hart Schaffner Marx, each piece made at the company’s Des Plaines, Illinois plant just outside of Chicago.

As of this publishing, no one has disclosed who made Donald Trump’s attire for his 2025 inauguration. During his first term, Trump mostly wore suits from the luxury Italian brand Brioni, the jackets distinguished by their heavily padded shoulders, a departure from the softer silhouettes that define classic American style. From the square-shouldered silhouette, I’d guess that today’s suit was also made by Brioni. At the very least, it imitates the look of the Roman tailoring label. Trump is often criticized for wearing oversized attire, but this sort of cut actually flatters his figure: The padded shoulders extend his shoulder line, allowing him to achieve a V-shaped silhouette. It’s perhaps notable that he also opted for a different tie today, switching out his signature, power-red satin neckwear for a blue-and-red motif in a possible nod to bipartisanship.

While I doubt it from the garment’s silhouette, I’d like to hope that Trump had an American clothier make his Italian-looking suit. Since his first term, Hart Schaffner Marx has closed its Des Plaines factory; Brooks Brothers shuttered its Southwick plant; and the Hickey Freeman facility was recently renamed Rochester Tailored Clothing after also nearly closing, its jobs almost shipped to Mexico. At a time when American manufacturing is on the decline, it would be nice to see an American president continue the tradition of wearing American-made clothes — not just during their inauguration, but throughout their time in office.

JD Vance Got Everything Right — Except the Sleeves

The inauguration ceremony itself wasn’t the only place Americans got a peek at the new administration’s sense of style. At the vice presidential dinner held in his honor last night, JD Vance wore a single-breasted, peak-lapel dinner suit with black onyx dress studs, a bow tie and a formal shirt. The suit was presumably cut by his tailor, Romualdo Pelle, a 90-year-old Italian immigrant in Ohio, who provided Vance with much of the tailoring he wore on the campaign trail. The garment fit impressively — a jacket that mostly bisected him halfway from his collar to the floor, trousers that draped cleanly from his hips to the hem and a jacket that buttoned without a pull. But the jacket sleeves were a touch too slim, causing them to catch on his shirt and ride up his arm, revealing inches of shirt cuff. Here’s a tip for the Vice President: When trying on a tailored jacket, let your arms hang naturally by your side. You should see a quarter to half inch of shirt cuff when your arms hang naturally by your side, even after you’ve moved your arms. Still, Vance gets points for wearing formal pumps. As men’s formalwear becomes a dead language lost to time, patent leather formal pumps — distinguished by their little bow — can look feminine to the uninitiated, but they’re still the most elegant and confident choice for men attending black-tie events.

Biden’s Sneakers Walked All Over a Classic Suit

In the last 10 years, Joe Biden has been one of the better dressed men in Washington, not because he’s particularly stylish, but because he’s been able to avoid the worst of recent menswear trends as a consequence of his age. While men’s tailoring has shrunken to diminutive proportions, Biden has stuck to the same silhouette for much of his political career. His jackets and trousers hang cleanly; the shoulder line and buttoning point flatter his build; the gorge — which is the seam that connects his jacket’s collar to the lapels — is never too high or low. It’s a classic silhouette that has flattered men forever.

Welcoming Trump today, Biden wore his usual single-breasted navy suit with a dark tie and white spread-collar shirt. The French cuffs were a thoughtful nod to the formality of the occasion. Given his age, Biden may be the last American president to wear a pocket square with any regularity — the last president to do so was Ronald Reagan, indisputably the most stylish U.S. politician in history. However, Biden’s age is also a double-edged sword, allowing him to avoid the worst of menswear trends, but also putting him in black-soled dress sneakers, presumably for comfort. Leather-soled, black dress shoes — ideally oxfords — would have been more appropriate for a suit. But like with Sen. Mitch McConnell, who often also wears dress sneakers, grace should be given to someone’s style once they reach a certain point in life.

John Fetterman Needs to Suit Up

Temperatures in the nation’s capital hovered around 20 degrees, with a wind chill at times dropping it into the teens. Still, it apparently didn’t faze Fetterman, who sauntered into today’s formal events clad a black hoodie, basketball shorts and rubber running shoes. The garage-cleaning outfit has become something of an albatross for the 55-year-old senator, with his attire sometimes grabbing more attention than his work. I’ve written before about my suspicions of “respectability” in dress. Still, one wonders why Fetterman was able to put on a suit and tie for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address in front of Congress, but not for today’s ceremony. Even at last year’s White House Correspondents Dinner, he broke out his “formal hoodie” — a cream-colored pullover cheekily screen-printed with the V-shaped section of a tuxedo’s pleated shirt, black bow tie and red boutonniere. For the new year, Fetterman should invest in a custom suit — dark worsted, single-breasted, notch lapel — so people stop talking about his clothes.

Ted Cruz Clocked Out With a Pricey (But Casual) Watch

There was once a time when men observed the distinction between town and country, dividing their wardrobe between the casualwear they reserved for sport and leisure, and the formalwear they donned for business and evening activities. Those days are long gone, as evidenced by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s attire at today’s ceremony. For one of the most formal occasions in American politics, Cruz wore a navy suit with a light blue shirt, which is a bit more casual than its white counterpart, and most importantly, a chunky Hublot chronograph attached to a rubber sports strap. The slightly more casual shirt and chunky sports watch spoiled the elegance the suit would have otherwise conveyed. People often mistake “expensive” for fancy,” but as a matter of style language, the senator would do better by wearing a cheaper $500 Seiko time-only dress watch on a leather strap than a $11,200 Hublot status symbol meant for jeans.

Vivek Ramaswamy Shrink-Wrapped Himself in a Slim-Fit Suit Out of the Early 2000s

With an outfit like this, Vivek Ramaswamy might be running for President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, because his slim-fit, shrunken suits look straight out of that long-ago era, the early 2000s. His trousers today hugged his thighs so tightly, you could almost make out the text messages on his phone. The jacket barely covered his rear; the trousers tapered so sharply, they made his feet look like giant éclairs. Vivek should use some of his fortune to visit a reputable tailor — an American one, ideally, such as Leonard Logsdail in NYC. These tiny suits do him no favors, as they make him look boyish in figure.

Make Elites Tailored Again

This year’s inauguration felt like the Seinfeld finale, where all of the side characters from past episodes made an appearance. In this case, they were celebrities popular with the bro-y set: MMA fighter Conor McGregor arrived in Washington in a plum-colored suit that was suctioned so tightly onto his body, it looked like he needed a vacuum sealer to put it on. Joe Rogan looked funereal in his somber black suit, black dress shirt and inky black tie — mixing it up with some navy or charcoal might have made him look a little less like he was on his way to a burial. Influencers Logan and Jake Paul wore charcoal outerwear to brace the cold.

But the most notable celebrity appearances came from the tech industry: CEOs Elon Musk (X), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple) and Sundar Pichai (Google) crowded together during this morning’s inaugural church service. Zuckerberg wore a basic navy suit that could have been improved with slightly higher trousers. Bezos, who typically looks better in tailoring, wore a surprisingly short suit jacket that pulled at his midsection. Musk wore what appeared to be a single-breasted peak-lapel Tom Ford suit that was considerably better than the short, charcoal overcoat, grey jeans, white shirt and dark necktie ensemble he sported at Sunday’s Trump rally. Overall, the collection of lackluster suits demonstrated just how uncomfortable elites have gotten with tailoring in an era defined by casualwear.