The Fashion Of Oppression

Elon Musk with MAGA Hat on

Fashion has always been a means of personal expression amongst people throughout the ages; however, fashion has also been used to uphold social hierarchies. Clothing has been used as a mechanism for propaganda and social control. Historically, the oppressive Italian fascist regime of 1919 was symbolised by the black shirts, and dare we say that the Make America Great Again caps of the Trump administration will, in the future, be seen as a piece of clothing in which the culture and national identity of the United States of America will be stained by the cap being a symbol of hate.

How fashion has been manipulated to reinforce social hierarchies and ideologies.

• Sumptuary Laws

These were laws or regulations which controlled consumption with the aim to maintain social hierarchies within certain societies; such an objective was achieved by limiting what people from different classes could wear, buy or spend on. Sumptuary laws ensured that fabrics such as silk were reserved for nobility and prohibited those from the lower classes from donning them.

It is believed that during the 14th century knights could not wear ermine fur, and their spouses could only don jewellery upon their hair. However, knights of lower status were prohibited from wearing the colour gold.

Rich merchants who earned over 100 pounds a year were the only ones permitted to wear silks. (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AnTFQ-RDMes)

The Propaganda of Appearance

• Dress Codes as Identification

In oppressive systems, dress codes such as uniforms were used as a form of forced identification markers. They were created as a visual and bureaucratic hierarchy between the oppressor and the oppressed. 

Uniforms, whether they are military or school uniforms, exist to strip away the individual’s identity and reinforce the individual’s identification with the collective, in most instances, the oppressive regime. Uniforms in oppressive regimes function to visibly align individuals with the regime’s ideology – any deviation from the norm signals dissent or nonconformity and can mark someone for suspicion or punishment even if no explicit “mark” is applied.

• Markers of Discrimination

Yellow badge or Jewish distinctive dress: From the mediaeval period onwards, Christian and Muslim authorities required Jews (and sometimes Muslims) to wear distinctive patches, bands, or badges so they could be publicly identified and segregated. Canon law and royal orders in Europe formalised these requirements at various times.

Nazi Yellow Star and camp identification: Under Nazi rule, Jewish people were compelled to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing; in concentration camps, a system of coloured triangles and badges identified prisoners’ supposed categories (Jewish, political, "asocial", homosexual, etc.). These markers were central to the regime’s programme of exclusion and persecution.

Dress Codes to Reinforce National Identity

• Fashion in Fascist Italy (Italy, 1922–1943)

Mussolini used the arts, culture and the media to promote fascist Italy’s ideologies. In The Power of Dress: How Fashion Was Used in Fascist Italy to Promote a “New Italian” Identity (2022), an article by Bella Testa, the main aim of the fascist Italian state was to control every aspect of the individuals’ lives and have them identify with the state through the use of fashion. 

This meant that people had to wear Italian-made garments, and women had to adhere to strict femininity-conforming rules (feminine skirts) to contrast the trend of women wearing pants and more masculine clothing. The fascist regime feared that feminism and feminist ideologies would essentially take over in Italy and sought to counteract them by coming up with contrasting trends, such as promoting traditional gender roles and emphasising women's domesticity through fashion choices that reinforced their subordinate status in society. Italian fashion was used as a tool of social control primarily against women.

The Black Shirts Party and uniforms made the Fascist movement visible and intimidating; their sameness erased individual differences and implied disciplined strength, whilst military styling, in the form of medals, insignia, etc., linked civil life to martial virtues and presented Mussolini’s state as orderly and potent. These uniforms would be displayed in large rallies, torchlit parades, and choreographed mass events to invoke a feeling of national pride and unity amongst the civilians. 

• Fashion in Nazi Germany (Germany, 1933–1945) 

During the 1930s and 1940s, the company Hugo Boss was closely associated with the Nazi Party. The founder, Hugo Boss was personally an active member of the Nazi Party and donated money to the SS (Schutzstaffel). One of his earliest contracts was with the N.S.D.A.P. (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). He secured the right to make the uniforms for the SS, the Hitler Youth and the Brown Shirts (Sturmabteilung). (https://medium.com/@peterdeleuran/the-nazi-past-of-the-fashion-mogul-hugo-boss-ee6ca68a055)

Uniforms such as the Brown Shirts of the Sturmabteilung (SA), a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party who used violence and intimidation as cohesive means to aid Hitler’s rise into power, were infamously identifiable by their brown uniforms. This Nazi Party paramilitary organisation is also called 'Brownshirts' to echo Mussolini's 'Blackshirts'. (https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung).

The Schutzstaffel (abbreviated as the SS) was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It was one of the most powerful and feared entities in the Third Reich and it was the primary instrument of oppression and terror. The SS were known for their elaborate uniforms and other regulated attire for party members. Their dress codes did not serve an aesthetic purpose but were tools designed to forge unity, intimidate opponents, and signal belonging to an all-encompassing ideological machine.

• Fashion in the Soviet Union

The USSR did not impose a singular “everyday uniform” on all citizens; the Communist government rigorously regulated dress across environments, from the formal uniforms of military and party cadres to the modest, utilitarian styles promoted in factories, schools, and public institutions. This insistence on a uniform mode of presentation underscored the ideological drive toward collectivism and the suppression of perceived bourgeois individualism.

Fashion as a symbol of political and cultural identity in contemporary times

• The MAGA Cap as a symbol of hate

In July 2015, Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign with the slogan "Make America Great Again". The campaign trademarked the slogan and branded it on baseball hats, which became the staple of his 2017 presidency and now, yet again, his 2025 presidency. However, the hat has become associated with hate speech, xenophobia, misogyny etc.

In an article by Steve Bramucci titled The MAGA Hat Goes Beyond Politics; It's Become A Symbol Of Hate (2019), the author notes the way in which the hat no longer shows the political divide between conservatives and Democrats and has become synonymous with intolerance, misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. The iconography of the MAGA hat is now intrinsically linked to extremism. “The hat is PrejudiceWear™. It’s a marker of Trump’s vision of white supremacy.”

The red MAGA hat has been compared to the white hats of the Ku Klux Klan. According to the article White Hoods to Red Hats: How MAGA Revives the Ideological Legacy of the Klan in Trump’s America by Mitchell A. Sobieski, the MAGA movement is at its core the ideological and rhetorical heir to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). “While the MAGA movement lacks the overt violence and explicit racial terror of the Klan, its methods, symbolism, and goals echo a chillingly familiar story of white supremacy rebranded for the modern era.” Sobieski (2025).

Sobieski (2025) also notes that the Ku Klux Klan is infamous for its symbols like the white hood, the burning cross, and the Confederate flag and that these icons were not only tools of intimidation but also markers of identity, signalling allegiance to a cause rooted in white supremacy.

The MAGA movement has its symbols too. The red MAGA hat has become a cultural flashpoint, often viewed as a signal for exclusionary nationalism. MAGA rallies are replete with racist banners, neo-Nazi imagery, and slogans like “Build the Wall”—which echo the Klan’s obsession with racial purity and exclusion.

The Fashion of Resistance

• Civil Rights Movement and The Black Panther Movement

Alice Peters wrote the article Dressed for Resistance: The Black Panther Uniform. The Black Panther uniform of a black beret, black turtleneck, and black leather jacket was strategically worn with military precision, with each article of clothing representing their ideologies.

“The beret spoke to their militancy and unified commitment to revolution. Dark sunglasses helped conceal the identities of members from increasing police surveillance.” Alice Peters

The Black Panther uniform created the visual rhetoric of the collective Black body to represent a unified force against oppression which existed to protect Black communities from within.

• The Palestinian keffiyeh

The Palestinian Keffiyeh is embedded in the Middle Eastern culture, with its distinctive fishnet pattern, olive branch, and trade routes pattern. The scarf, originally worn by farmers to protect them from the scorching Middle Eastern heat, has today become a symbol for Palestinian identity and nationalism.

The scarf is worn in solidarity with the Palestinian people against the illegal occupation and genocide they are currently experiencing from the state of Israel. The Palestinian Keffiyeh became a resistance symbol in the 1930s during the Arab Revolt and has remained a symbol of defiance.

Clothing has always served as nonverbal communication, indicating social status, political alignment, and propaganda through colours, garment cuts, luxury materials, and slogans on accessories. Whether we like it or not, fashion is political.