She’s mixed the bouncy, glowing Breck locks of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” (the 1991 animated version) and Catherine, Princess of Wales with the pastel full-skirted wardrobe of a well-mannered debutante, some fleece and a cape or two. She “dresses to be princess of the world or first lady,” says Tom Broecker, the costume designer for “Saturday Night Live” and “House of Cards,” who has made it an art to study First Lady style and imitate. Ladies. “There’s so much intention and purpose behind everything.”
Acknowledging that is not to undermine her content — the work she’s done for mental health, cancer research, hurricane relief — but to acknowledge her that she understands a fundamental truth of modern campaigning. “Presidential campaigns are MRIs of the soul,” said David M. Axelrod, founder of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago and former senior adviser to Barack Obama. “People aren’t just evaluating your positions, they’re evaluating you as a person.” To that end, he said, “spouses play a really important role in filling that picture.”
Image is the operative word in this case.
The Camelot connection
While Ms. DeSantis has always been a considered dresser, a lesson from her days as a local anchor at WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida, when she and Mr. DeSantis met, she’s stepped up her style over the past year. On election night in 2022, she wore a one-shoulder gold and yellow floor-length ruffle dress that made her look like she was heading to a state dinner, rather than just taking the stage at the Tampa Convention Center.
However, it was her outfit on Inauguration Day in January that really foreshadowed the couple’s aspirations in the public eye: a mint green dress by Australian label Alex Perry, with a built-in cape flowing from the shoulders, worn with white gloves. In its color and line, it seemed to take its lineage straight from the Kennedy era. This was only compounded by the bright pink dress Mrs. DeSantis wore to her husband’s State of the State address, with a plunging neckline and more white gloves, another apparent nod to Jacqueline Kennedy, one of the most recognizable, respected and stylish first ladies in American history. Ditto the ice blue dress she wore to accompany Mr. DeSantis to Japan, another hooded style, this time with floral epaulettes on the shoulders.