Kamala in Chucks: Statement Shoes with a Statement

There’s a familiar scene in my house each workday. I run at full speed through a series of outfits, check the temperature to determine if tights are warranted, and review my meeting guest's LinkedIn to determine which outfit, shoes, or even which purse, notebook, and pen - will help me feel empowered in the room.

I don’t think I’m alone. I’ve helped many friends choose the right blazer to match an occasion. So last week, when Kamala Harris, Vice Presidential Nominee, hit the internet by storm for wearing Chuck Taylors to a few events, it mattered to me.

I’m 37 but look younger, and I am a woman. We live in a society where those two factors mean that I’m not taken seriously by default. My decade of field experience and two master's degrees don’t seem to make much of a difference.

If I show up without a blazer in certain rooms, I’m assumed to be someone’s daughter visiting home from college. More than once, I’ve been asked to get the coffee for a director, while on contract as the planning consultant. My strategy, each day, is to figure out which costume will read as “capable grown up” to a room of people older than me. The consequences of not doing so are serious: not getting the contract, not passing a plan, or even just being spoken over.

So, when Kamala shows up in her Chuck Taylors - Chucks that match mine perfectly! - she’s doing something important. She’s dressing for her, and demanding to be taken seriously as a professional regardless. This shouldn’t be brave, right? To present ourselves as we feel, to be comfortable in our clothes. But in a world where “professional” and “serious” and “capable” are defined by a few men in Gucci shoes at the very top, the decision to wear punk rock sneakers over Louboutins isn’t apolitical.

It’s an act of feminism to demand to be seen as a skilled professional, with experience and good judgement, sneakers or no. 

So, Kamala, in your honor, I’m wearing my Chucks to meetings.