Jill Biden’s ‘recycled fashion’ is garnering attention

Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States, is garnering attention with her “recycled” fashion that she wore more than once. Unlike other first ladies in history who used their fashion for diplomacy in public occasions, she wore clothes that she had worn before in a different manner, showing her modesty.

“Dr. Biden apparently wore only a single new garment during the entirety of her trip to Japan,” reported The New York Times on Monday (local time). “That Dr. Biden would just say no to this cycle is as big a break with recent tradition.”

The first lady was wearing a red cape dress when she landed at the U.S. air force base in Tokyo on Thursday. She wore it last month when she visited the Florida vaccination site with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. The floral pattern skirt suit worn to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his wife Mariko on Thursday and the polka-dot one-piece dress worn at the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday both had been worn in a visit to the G7 summit in Cornwall, the U.K. last month.

The only new garment that she wore during her stay in Tokyo was the Ralph Lauren navy jacket and white pants at a swimming stadium where she supported the American national team.

“By rewearing her clothes, she is underscoring their value; the idea that when you find a garment you love, that makes you feel effective and like the best version of you, you keep it,” aded The New York Times.


abro@donga.com