A men’s jumper by the all-American preppy label J Crew has sent thousands of Maga Americans into meltdown. From a fashion point of view, it couldn’t be more innocuous. It’s got a crew neck. It’s made from wool. It has a Fair Isle pattern at the upper yoke. There’s nothing asymmetric about it, no fringing or tassels, no slogan blasted across the front; no “Make America Kind Again”. So what’s the big deal? Reader, the jumper is pink.
The main storm broke underneath a tweet by conservative social media commentator Juanita Broaddrick, in which she asked: “Are you kidding me?? Men, would you wear this $168 sweater?” The consensus among her followers was a resounding no, and not because of its price. “No man in my family would wear it!” wrote “MOMof DataRepublican”. “My husband wouldn’t use a pink bathroom towel,” assured another. Another X user was even more passionate: “HELL NO. I’m a man, not gay and won’t be dressing up as a Golden Girl anytime soon.” Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican congressman, called the sweater “something a sorority girl would wear in the 80s”. I think he meant it witheringly; I read that and think it sounds quite fun.
For others, it was a case of pointing out who would wear such an enfeebling jumper as this. “I’m sure you’ll be seeing these at the anti-Ice protests,” wrote one X user, with another saying he would wear it “if I was going undercover in dudes for Kamala”. One person went so far as to Photoshop Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom’s, head on to the J Crew model’s body.
That some quarters of the right have taken such umbrage at a J Crew jumper is interesting. It’s a label which is traditionally more aesthetically aligned with the old-school conservative right. It’s preppy and, in The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J Crew, author Maggie Bullock describes prep as “the bedrock of straightforward, unfettered, ‘American’ style” – the “leisure uniform of the establishment”. In the Trump era, however, even this can become the source of conflict: an aesthetic clash between traditional conservatives and the Maga neo-right.
Not to deny that pink has had a complicated history, but you’d be forgiven for thinking we were past this kind of uproar about the idea of men wearing it. We live, after all, in a post-millennial pink world, where not only have the likes of Harry Styles and Tyler, The Creator worn pink – and looked great doing it – but also those who aren’t known for being quite so fashion-forward, such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Daniel Craig, before his association with fashion brand Loewe. Even rightwing men like Nigel Farage and Donald Trump himself have seen fit to take themselves seriously as the Billy Big Bollockses they think they are while wearing pink ties.
Yet the hand-wringing this jumper has provoked about the state of American masculinity seems to be keenly felt. The contradiction of course is that any masculinity that feels shaken by a spot of pink on some knitwear is more fragile than it would care to admit.
And what is it about pink? Yes, pink is now all about Barbie and cotton candy, but there was a time, over a century ago, when blue was considered more feminine and pink was associated with boys. As a trade publication called the Infant’s Department reported in 1918, “pink, being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl”. The lines seem to have been drawn in relation to kids’ clothes and expanded and evolved from there.
Ultimately, J Crew will probably be enjoying this free publicity. But, unlike that other recent example of a clothing brand shamelessly stirring the culture war pot (ahem, American Eagle) – this doesn’t feel like a deliberate play for airtime. (Interestingly, shortly after American Eagle’s campaign launched, its stock rose by almost 18%. At the time of writing, the jumper is still available in most sizes.) J Crew is unlikely to be weaponising pink as a way to cause a stir over the perceived emasculation of American men. More likely is that they didn’t honestly see that it would be a big deal. Because, honestly, it’s not.
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