Robin Givhan

money doesn't buy you taste.

Yes, the gilding, all of that.

In many ways, it reminds me of, and not to malign

teenager or an elementary school person.

But it sort of reminds me of what someone sort of imagines a wealthy person's home looks like or what it means to dress expensively.

It's a very kind of basic, unsophisticated take on it.

And it is one that is much more attuned to

You know, sort of the bright, shiny object as opposed to any sort of thoughtful consideration of what it is that is particularly expressive of who you are.

And, you know, I remember that.

many, many, many years ago interviewing Donald Trump.

And one of the things that he talked about was how often his name was mentioned by a certain generation of rappers.

And, you know, I declined to like fact check that because I'm not going to go through the entire oeuvre of like 1990s rap to see if that's true.

But, you know, I do think that it seemed plausible only because his style represented this kind of sort of throw money at it wealth.

And I think his style sort of reflects that kind of

Well, I mean, I don't know that I have enough skill to say whether or not something is, you know, fascist or reflective of that or not.

I mean, I do think that we see elements of fashion being used as a way of underscoring a kind of pure or acceptable...

version of femininity, masculinity, patriotism, nationalism.

I mean, I think that when you look at the way that both the men and the women of the current administration comport themselves, you certainly see a

that there's no place for ambiguity.

There's no place for sort of a gray zone, a middle ground.