Muted tones spoke loud, clear
This week, a calm, even-toned conversation between two carefully dressed Republican women, Cassidy Hutchinson and Rep. Liz Cheney, created one of the most explosive and riveting television events of the decade.
Americans were captivated listening to the testimony about President Donald Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6, 2021. But we were captivated visually, too, by the hundred tiny, but critical, decisions that had gone into each woman’s style choices. Everything — hair, makeup, jewelry, wardrobe and nail care — seemed to communicate calm, control and, especially, neutrality.
The witness’s outfit was a nonevent. Hutchinson, an aide in the Trump White House, wore a fitted white blazer over a scoopneck black top; a tiny, jeweled circle pendant on a chain close to her neck; and small stud earrings. The look was studiously neutral, eschewing any hint of spectacle or flash.
She wore her shoulderlength dark hair smoothly blown out with a slight flip at the ends. She wore minimally visible makeup — what appeared to be light bronzer, but no discernible colors of lipstick or eye shadow. Her manicure was also a completely colorless embellishment — a demure pearl white.
Viewers caught a glimpse of this manicure at one of the hearing’s most dramatic moments: when Hutchinson recounted being told that Trump, enraged at being kept from joining his armed supporters, had allegedly lunged at his Secret Service agent’s throat.
In explaining this, Hutchinson offered a discreet pantomime of the action, placing her own hand lightly on her clavicle. That one moment encapsulated the startling power of Hutchinson’s appearance before the House select committee: She was telling a frightening story, but she unspooled her memories in the most reserved, unthreatening, visually calming way imaginable. Her demeanor and her look were at distinct odds with the details of her testimony — and this disjunction itself, this striking contrast, threw her words in sharp relief, intensifying their impact.
Hutchinson’s measured demeanor and muted look mirrored that of her interlocutor, Cheney, the vice chairwoman of the committee. Throughout all the hearings Cheney has maintained the same unchanging facial expression, tone of voice and level affect.
She keeps her whiteblond hair in a side-part style, with slight waves. She has stuck to a series of jackets in neutral tones, her crystal blue spectacles, pearls and the Capitol Police lapel pin she wears in solidarity with the officers.
That both women chose neutral tones, and such restrained, muted, almost unremarkable outfits, seems intentional, inviting viewers to focus more on the words than on appearances, and leaving little room for anyone to criticize their choices. Hutchinson in particular must have known that her credibility hinged on the way she would be perceived as she stepped into the national spotlight the first time.
Women’s choices in matter of dress and grooming are always more fraught than men’s. There are so many more decisions to make and hence so many possible avenues of visual communication — and, of course, miscommunication. And particularly for young women in the professional world, the daily task of constructing a look at once attractive and “serious” can feel like traversing a minefield.
Some female politicians, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, play with arresting clothes, jewelry and bold makeup to make a statement. Many of the women of the Trump administration favored an overt, high-glam style — a “beauty pageant” vibe said to be favored by the former president.
At the hearing, Hutchinson’s image was distinctly different from that aesthetic. She dressed as if ready to blend into the corridors of power, to do her job, to convey depth over surface.
Trump claimed not to know who Cassidy Hutchinson was. Perhaps he didn’t know her. Perhaps she had a style less visible to him than that of other young women in his orbit. But we all certainly know her now. And the nation is unlikely to forget the day Cassidy Hutchinson, with her precise, low-key style, told her disturbing story.*