- Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, has been making regular appearances at televised press conferences.
- Birx’s TV appearances have led to a growing Instagram fan base that pays close attention to her variety of scarves.
- In a 2019 podcast interview with The Strategerist, Birx explained that she travels frequently for her career, and her hefty scarf collection helps her pack lightly while giving her different outfit combinations.
- Insider spoke with Victoria Strout, the creator of an Instagram account that documents each of Birx’s scarves, about why people are finding joy in the public health official’s personal style.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Dr. Deborah Birx has become a familiar face to those who tune in to the frequent White House coronavirus news briefings.
Birx – a physician, former US Army colonel, and global health expert who’s devoted much of her work to leading HIV/AIDS research in the US – was appointed as the response coordinator of the coronavirus task force by Vice President Mike Pence, who introduced Birx as his “right arm” in navigating the crisis.
Throughout her regular appearances in the administration’s coronavirus news briefings, Birx has shared personal anecdotes about her family, giving human examples to show the importance of social distancing. She’s also spoken about coping with grief and loss amid the pandemic.
In March, she urged young adults to stop gathering in bars and at parties, and predicted that millennials could be “the core group that will stop the virus.”
Some viewers of the news briefings have taken a liking to Birx's way of communicating, and many have also found joy in her seemingly never-ending collection of scarves.
Many press conference viewers have taken note of Birx's scarves
In almost all of her White House press conference appearances, Birx seems to be wearing a different scarf. Some days, she opts for a floral neck-tie. Other days, the scarf is of the solid-colored variety. The options seem to be endless, and some fans of Birx have apparently taken a liking to her accessories.
One press conference audience member, Victoria Strout, started an Instagram account dedicated to Birx's scarves. The account, called @DeborahBirxScarves, includes screenshots Strout has captured of Birx from the news briefings - and it's amassed almost 30,000 followers in less than a month.
Foto: Strout's Instagram account has turned into a "Brady Bunch"-style collage of Birx's scarves. Source: DeborahBirxScarves/Instagram
"I don't have a background in fashion or politics, but I've always had a slightly nerdy side that's enjoyed studying government and staying politically aware, so I've been watching almost every press conference from the beginning," Strout, a marketing manager from Fort Worth, Texas, told Insider.
"Hearing Dr. Birx walk through the latest data was always a highlight for me. I appreciated the straight-forward way she communicated, and felt like she provided a sense of assurance in the midst of a lot of unknowns," Strout said.
Strout would often discuss the news briefings in a group chat with a couple friends, and they would inevitably start talking about Birx's scarf choice of the day, she said.
"One Sunday afternoon I thought, 'You know what, I'm just going to compile all the screenshots I've taken of these scarves.' I created the account, sent it to those two friends, and it just continued to grow from there," she said.
In the above photo from the April 18 White House coronavirus press briefing, as Strout pointed out in an Instagram post, Birx wore a Hermès "Retour a la Terre" scarf. Strout isn't always able to pinpoint Birx's exact scarf maker and design, but oftentimes, users comment on the post to share their findings.
"I knew it! I called it as an Hermès as soon as I saw her," one user wrote in a comment.
Seeing the success of her fan account, Strout is working on other resources to add to @DeborahBirxScarves - such as tutorials on how to tie a scarf inspired by Birx, and a running Instagram Stories index known as "Dress Like Deb," which details specific accessories Birx has worn.
Birx's affinity for scarves helps her pack light when she's traveling for work, she said in a 2019 podcast interview
In a September 2019 episode of The Strategerist, a podcast produced by the George W. Bush Presidential Center, host Andrew Kaufmann interviewed Birx about her role as the US Global AIDS Coordinator and her decades-long career in public health.
In the podcast, Birx reminisced about how she once made a 180-slide presentation to convince the White House that the US Army needed to be part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief.
At the end of the episode, she also touched on the important, and perhaps unexpected, role scarves have played throughout her career, which has involved frequent travel.
"You're always on the road. You're having to travel all the time in this role. You're one of the world's most expert packers," Kaufmann said to Birx.
"I never take more than a small carry-on," Birx said. "It doesn't matter if I'm gone for one day or four weeks. I've just figured it out."
She said that her penchant for packing light and using scarves to accessorize was inspired by her male colleagues.
"I learn from them," Birx said. "You know, they take the one suit, they take a few shirts, but they take a whole bunch of ties. So I take relatively plain dresses - black and other colors - that you can then change the scarves on, and through that, it looks like it's a totally different outfit."
The fan base of Birx and her scarves is growing to become a vibrant online community
Initially, Strout's Instagram account dedicated to the health official's accessories was simply a fun glossary of sorts. However, she said it's turned into a community of people who have a shared interest in Birx's press conference appearances, as well as her personal style.
"I was concerned at first that the account would be perceived as shallow because it focused on scarves rather than the incredible accomplishments of someone like Dr. Birx," Strout said. "But it's been so refreshing to interact with a community that acknowledges what Dr. Birx brings to the table, and also the happy moment enjoying a beautiful scarf can bring to someone's day."
"I think we need both of those things right now," she said.