This is an installment of Visual Studiesslot paraiso, a series that explores how images move through and shape culture.
ImageImageIn terms of personality and policy, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are starkly contrasting figures. Yet they’ve often had one thing in common: a silhouette that features powerfully padded shoulders.
For 150 years, the size of a suit jacket’s shoulder pad — which exists today as a small, simple, triangular shaped piece of material stuffed with wadding — has fluctuated in response to fashion trends. But in this year’s election, the power shoulder has become a potent, multifaceted symbol.
The complex history of the power shoulder means it can convey confidence, power and authority. But it can also conjure swagger, playful subversion and an outsider’s defiance of an established order.
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