These Everyday Outfits Are Secretly Signaling MAGA Support Without You Realizing It

Style watchers say long dresses with puffy sleeves ― sometimes called gigot or leg-of-mutton sleeves ― have become another hallmark of MAGA-coded style, particularly with pastel palettes and soft florals. 

“There’s a strong visual nostalgia at play,” Chan said. “As Carolyn Bessette’s 1990s minimalism resurfaces with pencil skirts, tall boots and headbands, it sits alongside an even more idealized ‘trad wife’ look that borrows from the 1800s or 1950s ― pastel dresses, Southern femininity, and a lifestyle narrative centered on domesticity.”

She pointed to the rising demand for equestrian boots and knee-length skirts, which she sees as signaling “polish, tradition and control rather than rebellion.” Silhouettes are shifting with longer hemlines, buttoned-up shifts and modest proportions. It all mirrors “a broader cultural return to traditionalism,” Chan noted. 

“On social media, especially TikTok, aesthetics like trad wife, clean girl, coquette and old money amplify this look and repackage conservative values as aspirational and nostalgic, particularly for younger audiences,” Chan said. “What this really shows is how fashion has become a quiet but powerful way of expressing social and political alignment often without people even realizing they’re doing it.”