Meghan McCain Outfits That Completely Missed The Mark

Meghan McCain isn't shy about giving her opinion, to say the least. She argued relentlessly with guests when she was a co-host on "The View" from 2019 to 2021, has had strong words for the royal family, given more than her two cents about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign, and publicly announced she can't stand Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, even as many others had nothing but heart eyes for the couple. 

A mother of two and wife to husband Ben Domenech, McCain has been in the national spotlight since her late father, Senator John McCain, ran against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. In her mid-20s at the time, she attended and spoke at numerous campaign rallies and events in support of her dad. Her duties in the political arena led to gigs as a contributor for MSNBC and Fox News before she joined "The View."

All of this is to say that the woman has been photographed and recorded a lot. We've seen McCain in tons of different outfits, some of them expensive fashion choices, but not all of them are worthy of a mention on the best-dressed list. In fact, there have been several occasions when she was more likely to wind up as one of the worst-dressed. As someone with strong opinions, we're sure McCain won't mind if we have a few of our own where her fashion missteps are concerned.

At the end of May 2023 (May 29, to be exact, days away from June), Meghan McCain posted a selfie of her dressed to go out for the day. She noted she was in Hollywood, where the temperature is usually mild, and the sun shines more often than not.

While we don't live and die by the rules about what time of year it's okay to wear white, there does have to be some consideration for fabric choices and whether or not they should be mixed and matched depending on the season. In McCain's case, the summery white pants, top, and open-toed shoes are perfectly appropriate for late spring/early summer.

Where she went wrong was in her choice of coat. It's unclear whether the navy-blue clothing item is made of velvet or wool, but it doesn't really matter, because neither fabric works with the rest of her outfit. If you're going to wear a summery white pants set and sandals, and you must pair it with something, a light trench coat is the way to go. If it was a particularly cold day in Hollywood, or she was afraid of getting a chill from too much A/C, and absolutely had to have the heavy coat draped over her shoulders, then she might have been better off in a pair of white jeans and matching white sweater. Pick a season and stick with it!

Maybe when Meghan McCain heard that satellite radio service SiriusXM was hosting the event she would be attending in New York in February 2018, she heard "radio," and figured no one would ever see what she was actually wearing. But, alas, we did, and we can't help but be confused by her pairing of two separates that had no business being worn together in the same outfit. 

Her floral top was bogged down by ruffles that began at the elbows and extended all the way down past her palms. The blouse by itself was fairly pretty and we could have overlooked the fussiness of it had she not doubled down on the busy factor by pairing it with an all-lace skirt. Add in the pure white color of the skirt, compared to the black top, and it looks as if McCain put on a half slip, and then forgot to add the actual skirt.  

She also appeared to be confused once again by the seasons — the skirt and strappy heels say summer, but the top is all fall with the dark color and long sleeves. A lesson to be learned: You can love a top, you can love a skirt, and you can love a pair of shoes, but that doesn't mean you should wear them all at the same time.

There's nothing wrong with a bit of saucy décolletage to bring a decidedly adult feeling to an evening out. When Megan McCain headed to City Winery in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 2015 to attend The Concert for Love and Acceptance, her cobalt blue jumpsuit was the right amount of dressy and casual.

Where it missed the mark was in the exposure of her lacy black bra. We don't mind her showing off her very pretty lingerie. However, what gives us a bit of the "really?" factor is how that lace was presented to us. McCain posed for photos, went on stage to give a little talk, and wandered around the facility. With the loose wrap-tied top, you would think the location and depth of her V neckline would increase and decrease, and shift from side to side. You would be wrong.

The V never really went higher, and never really went lower. It never really shifted from exposure on the left to exposure on the right. Which most likely means there was wardrobe tape involved, and that McCain stood in front of her mirror, tugging and positioning her top to get the perfect amount of lace into the public eye. She essentially turned what was supposed to be an easy, glamorous outfit into a nit-picky presentation. 

Tacky can be such an ugly word, but sometimes, it's the only word that truly works. In October 2008, Meghan McCain's father, Senator John McCain, ran for president of the United States. Ever the supportive daughter, she turned up at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, to introduce her dad at a campaign rally. 

McCain dressed conservatively for the event in a short-sleeve, knee-length black dress, black hose, and black pumps. She kept her accessories minimal, opting for a simple black bow to hold her curls back on one side. She also wore a necklace — and that's where it all went horribly wrong.

Pearls are always a classic choice, but in McCain's case, her three-strand necklace ended in a large pendant just above the scoop neck of her dress. The oval pendant was a portrait of the former president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Yes, the Abe with the tall black hat and beard who served in the White House in 1861. We're sure she was trying to pay homage to the 16th president and to invoke similarities between her father and the iconic leader, but she just wound up looking ... tacky.

Fashion maven Coco Chanel once said, "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off." It's good advice that Meghan McCain should probably have taken before she attended a town forum in November 2008. Standing next to her mother Cindy McCain in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in support of her father John McCain's presidential bid, she looked like a teenager who was desperately trying to appear older (she was 24 years old at the time). 

A double-breasted blazer was brass-buttoned over a skirt or dress with a patterned trim around the hem. McCain added a gold fan bow on one side of the jacket for extra panache. She also wore patterned stockings that she matched with a pair of black shoes adorned with silver bows. And, she added drop earrings to the mix, as well as a large, sparkling barrette in her hair. 

The combination of accessories was more than just one thing too much; it was a whole bunch of too much. She should have stopped after adding the hairpin and earrings, at the very least, leaving off the stockings, fan-bow, and shoe bows. And if she didn't want to follow Chanel's advice, she could have just looked to her mother Cindy as an example, who stuck with one rhinestone lapel pin, and non-pattered separates.