Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is breaking ground on many counts with her candidacy as Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate ― including her choice of shoes.
Harris set Twitter abuzz on Monday when she arrived in Milwaukee for a campaign stop wearing Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars. Commentators praised Harris for ditching the heels ― the custom for women in politics ― and opting for more practical sneakers.
Chuck Taylors, Chucks and Converse trended for hours after videos, viewed millions of times, were posted showing the senator disembarking her plane.
Harris has long been a fan of Converse and has worn them to numerous past events. Last year, during her own run for president, she told The Cut she has a whole selection.
“I run through airports in my Converse sneakers,” she said. “I have a whole collection of Chuck Taylors: a black leather pair, a white pair, I have the kind that don’t lace, the kind that do lace, the kind I wear in the hot weather, the kind I wear in the cold weather, and the platform kind for when I’m wearing a pantsuit.”
She was seen rocking her Chucks throughout her stop in Milwaukee. (And she had a face mask, too.)
“Sneakers are a form of footwear finding their way into many women’s closets as part of a larger challenge to outmoded concepts of femininity,” Elizabeth Semmelhack, the author of “Sneaker X Culture: Collab,” told The Guardian last week of Harris’ Converse. “The sneakers are acting as the sartorial equivalent of being willing to roll up her sleeves.”
The Guardian’s deputy fashion editor Priya Elan noted that the shoes were “a small sartorial detail, but it is linked to the larger cultural moment in which we live.”
Check out what commentators thought of the “badass” shoe choice: