- In work boots or a rumpled suit, Tim Walz has won some fans with his folksy fashion sense.
- Experts told BI his authenticity targets the very voters Harris needs.
- The Trump-Vance ticket is telegraphing more traditional power aesthetics, they said.
In his video introduction to the world as Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz wore white sneakers, khaki pants, a black T-shirt, and, of course, a signature camo cap.
The now-viral video cuts between Walz, holding his phone on a chair, and Harris, sitting in an office. Immediately, their sartorial differences were stark, with a polished Harris wearing in a muted blouse and navy blazer.
In the days since, Walz's style has graced headlines for achieving what is so often elusive in politics: a real sense of authenticity. Moreover, it's an aesthetic that could squarely appeal to the very voters Harris needs, experts told Business Insider.
The Minnesota governor's closet consists of Carhartt jackets, LL Bean barn coats, well-worn Red Wing boots, and hunting camo — all clothing that connotes his blue-collar, rural background, says Derek Guy, a menswear writer known for his popular X account.
But the VP candidate has a rare ability, Guy said.
"Tim Walz is one of the few politicians who looks good in casual wear and also looks natural in it," Guy told Business Insider.
When other politicians try to craft a working-class image — like when Donald Trump Jr. wore un-creased hiking boots — they can risk looking phony, but Walz doesn't face the same dilemma given his background.
And even when he's dressed up in a suit, Walz is dressed down, said Anne Higonnet, an art history professor at Barnard College who teaches a class on clothing and political power.
She called Walz "more rumply" than the average politician.
"When he does the folksy thing, he's actually at the upper bound of folksy, and when he's in a suit he's in the lower bound of suit," Higonnet said. "So he's got two registers that are very close together. Being so close to each other, they legitimate each other, because they're not so divergent."
The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
A perfect foil to Harris' polish
The Harris campaign is counting on Walz to court voters associated with the clothing he wears, particularly those hailing from the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
In a wrinkled suit or T-shirt, Higonnet said Walz appears to straddle class boundaries and could appeal to the blue-collar voters that Harris, with her San Francisco upbringing, risks alienating.
"Clothing-wise, what they're doing is a perfect expression of the tactical thinking behind the choice of Walz," she said.
That said, Guy noted Harris likely wouldn't be universally applauded for the same casual aesthetic, given a "gender imbalance" that necessitates female politicians dress more formally in order to command respect.
In addition to potentially resonating with swing state constituents who wore Carhartt before it became trendy, Walz's clothing has also proven popular with the Gen Z crowd that Harris' campaign is targeting, Guy said.
"It's not that he wears it in the way the guy in New York or San Francisco wears it, but he wears it in a more authentic way," Guy said. "He is the reference point for the looks that those guys in San Francisco and New York are copying."
Case in point: Campaign merch fashioned after a campaign camo cap sold out in 24 hours, Time reported.
Two distinct tickets, two distinct styles
While the Harris-Walz ticket is challenging traditional images of power in terms of both gender and class, Donald Trump and JD Vance are doing "the absolute traditional version," Higonnet said — in the MAGA vein of a 1980s power silhouette and red tie.
"The first two people who are in [the presidential race] are dressing in a more conservative image of authority and then the people who have suddenly come into the race are actually dressing 'change,' 'the possibility of change,'" she added.
While both Walz and Vance hail from rural middle America, Vance has also relied on a beard and careful tailoring to make himself look more authoritative, Guy said.
Accordingly, Walz has already started knocking his opponent for his perceived elitism, including jabs at Vance for attending Yale Law School and working as a venture capitalist.
Walz's class messages are as straightforward as his clothing — and now, that folksy appeal has been stitched into the presidential race.