7 Politician Outfits That Went Viral For All The Wrong Reasons

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language," fashion designer Miuccia Prada told The Wall Street Journal in 2007, and the words still ring true today. When you're a politician, people pay attention to not just what you say and what you do, but also what you wear. It might seem superficial, but there's no avoiding it — fashion plays a role in politics.

Politicians almost certainly choose their clothes with a specific image in mind. They're often dressed to impress as they attend campaign and political events and complete their official duties. They might be trying to project power or they might be trying to look more relatable to their voters, like when Lauren Boebert wore a cowboy hat to meet with constituents. Or, they could flip the script and go for a more casual, "I don't care" kind of look — we're looking at you John Fetterman. Of course, that choice also makes a statement.

No matter the reason behind a politician's outfit choice, sometimes those outfits get lots of attention, but not the kind for which the politician was probably hoping. There's certainly no shortage of worst-dressed politicians (just look at Donald Trump's inauguration). With the advent of social media, any fashion fails can and will get endlessly shared and mocked online. From campaign events to red carpet appearances, these outfits from politicians on both sides of the aisle basically broke the internet, and not in a good way.

On August 28, 2014, Barack Obama held a press conference at the White House where he talked about the state of the economy and international affairs and people went wild. It wasn't as much over anything he said but the simple fact that Obama was wearing a tan suit. News outlets and social media commenters around the world chimed in with their thoughts on Obama's suit. Even GQ got in on the critique, calling it "sad," "terrible," and poorly fitted.

The drama of the tan suit has continued; it will pop up every once in a while, often to remind people about the outrage that many Republicans seemed to have over Obama's suit. Comedy Central's The Daily Show even put together a supercut of the most dramatic pearl-clutching reactions to Obama's suit three years after it happened. The suit was said to signal that Obama was, among other things, "a wimp" and "a Marxist," via X (formerly known as Twitter). Of course, some also made the argument that they'd love to go back to the days of a presidency where a tan suit was the biggest controversy. One person wrote on X: "Whether it's Donald Trump physically attacking an employee at Arlington National Cemetery so that he could stage a completely inappropriate photo shoot or Barack Obama wearing a tan suit at a press conference, both leaders betrayed our most sacred institutions."

Obama himself brought up the (in)famous tan suit in a social media post during the 2024 election. He posted a photo on X of him wearing said suit next to a photo of Vice President Kamala Harris in a tan pantsuit, saying: "How it started. How it's going. Ten years later, and it's still a good look!"

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress, she made history as the youngest woman to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Since then, she's made waves both on and off Capitol Hill like when Ocasio-Cortez caused controversy with her dress at the 2021 Met Gala. The white, off-shoulder gown had "Tax the Rich" written in red on the back. Some people loved the dress and its message; however, there were plenty of people who thought that it was peak hypocrisy. One person at the time wrote on X: "AOC began her political career storming [P]elosi's office along w/ climate activists demanding direct action, and now she's wearing a designer "tax the rich" dress at the met while everyone there fawns over her. it's over, that project failed, you're just doing celeb cultism now."

People are still talking about it on social media years after the event. In January 2025, one person posted on X, "Remember that time [AOC] wore $10k "tax the rich" dress at a $35k per ticket event where all the wait staff and help had to wear a mask but she, and other attendees, didn't."

In 2023, the Office of Congressional Ethics even investigated Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala attendance. Specifically, officials examined whether Ocasio-Cortez had paid to borrow the dress or to cover the costs of hair, makeup, and transportation for the event; if she hadn't, it could have been considered an unacceptable gift. Payments from Ocasio-Cortez for the event were delayed, but they were eventually made.

Lauren Boebert, who's worn a number of inappropriate outfits, seemed to try and respond to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's dress with one of her own. In November 2021, she wore a single-sleeved red dress with the words "Let's go Brandon" in white on the back during a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Boebert seemed to get mad that people were comparing it to Ocasio-Cortez's look, so she posted on X that it wasn't a copy, but instead one of her own: "I did MY version of a "Let's Go Brandon" dress." For those who aren't sure about what "Let's Go Brandon" means, it's a derogatory phrase to describe then-President Joe Biden.

It's not a phrase, it's a movement! #LGB pic.twitter.com/MpeKAEVfWB

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) November 5, 2021

The similarity between the dresses is pretty much impossible to be just a coincidence, despite what Boebert said. Either way, Boebert's look was not good. It was giving high school homecoming, desperation, and all-around cringe. Social media critics came after her. One person said, "Ocasio's dress looks like it's couture. Lauren's dress look[s] like she used a white sharpie on last year's Christmas party dress." Another wrote, "Why you ever thought this was appropriate is still mind boggling!"

She re-wore the dress at a December 2021 Colorado Republican event and got people to chant the slogan on the back. One person on X thought it was a clear indication of her character, "further illustrating her lack of education, maturity, and class."

When Donald Trump dressed up as a garbage man for a campaign event in October 2024; it became one of those viral moments where plenty of viewers were left scratching their heads as to just what was going on and why. People flocked to social media to give their thoughts on Trump's choice to wear a bright orange and yellow safety vest paired with suit pants and dress shoes to sit in a garbage truck with his name on it and then kept it on to deliver a speech in Wisconsin.

Trump's look stood out for featuring one of his orangest makeup moments with some people thinking the vest matched his face. One person pointed out on X: "This is not how garbage people dress, dumba**, this just shows how out of touch he is with people who work for a living." Another said, "I can't decide if he's a traffic cone or candy corn for Halloween."

Less than two weeks before the questionable orange vest look, Trump ditched his suit jacket and donned a McDonald's apron for another campaign stunt. He made fries and then served food from the drive-thru window to pre-screened "customers." Some thought it showed him as particularly out of touch. Others noted that he wasn't wearing a hair net or a hat, which is standard McDonald's practice. Others joked that Trump could be McDonald's new Hamburglar character, considering his criminal convictions.

George W. Bush went viral during Donald Trump's inauguration in 2025 with the faces he was making. It's not his first time pulling focus at one of Trump's inaugurations. During Trump's first inauguration in 2017, people couldn't help but notice the problems that George was having as he sat in the audience. It had started raining at the event, and George was trying to stay dry by putting on a poncho. But the clear plastic garment seemed to be putting up a fight. Next to him, Laura Bush managed to get hers on OK. But George just couldn't get his arranged, and he finally just sort of propped it on top of his head. As the photos made the rounds online and in mainstream media, people got a laugh at George's struggle.

One person posted on X: "Bush vs. Ornery Poncho is the greatest thing that happened today. I can't not love him. " Another person quipped, "I thought the speech had driven the poor man to try and suffocate himself while Cheney tried to stage an intervention." Dick Cheney was seated behind George at the event.

In 2022, Jenna Bush-Hager talked on Today about how she'd warned her dad to keep it cool and not make the news. "And then he put the poncho on his head," Jenna said. "He was trying to get the poncho and we were like, 'Why are you doing that?' I don't know why he did that,'" according to People.

At Joe Biden's 2023 State of the Union speech, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, tried to make things all about her. She heckled and called him a "liar" at one point, via Fox5. That combined with her bizarre outfit choice meant she was all that a lot of people could talk about. She was dressed in white with a long alpaca fur-trimmed coat and carrying a large white balloon; it was apparently meant to be a commentary on the Chinese spy balloon, which was making news at the time. Of course, that take wasn't really that obvious. Rather than spurring conversation about the spy balloon situation, it turned out to be one of Greene's most inappropriate outfits with the politician getting torn apart online and on late-night shows for the outfit.

One person on X said: "You look like some Dollar Store version of a Disney villainess who goes around the world ruining birthday parties while screaming at little kids and stealing their balloons. As an aside, how many baby seals were sacrificed to make that coat, Marge?" They weren't alone. "I originally mistook her for Cruella in the 101 Dalmatians movie," another posted.

Seth Meyers came after Greene's outfit choice on his show. He referred to her as, "a Real Housewife who wasn't allowed into a reunion show," via "Late Night with Seth Meyers." He also said, "she looks like an old rapper's first wife."