It’s hardly new, the idea that personal style can communicate conservatism: consider James Spader’s never-worked-a-day linen looks in Pretty in Pink, or the power dressing of Wall Street or its even darker companion, American Psycho. But the look of the MAGA crowd is something different, Robin Givhan argues in our 2026 Style Issue. Forget androgyny, an embrace of all body types, or shoes you can comfortably stand in. And, like any other uniform, it lets people know who you are. “If you are a MAGA believer, the aesthetic offers reassuring cultural guardrails,” Robin writes. “If you are a nonbeliever, the aesthetic is akin to an electrified fence sorting, separating, and punishing those who won’t fall in line.” Find her full assessment, which will have you nostalgic for the gentle days of The Official Preppy Handbook, below.
While many MAGA clad people might call out Hollywood as offensively liberal, insiders are wondering if the industry’s promises of inclusivity are being rolled back. When VF’s Rebecca Ford spoke with award-winning actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II about the cancellation of his lauded series, Wonder Man, she asked why he believed his show—as well as other Black-focused projects, such as the reboot of Blade—had lost Disney’s support. “I think the optics are obvious,” he responded, just one candid answer in a wide-ranging interview you can listen to on our Little Gold Men podcast.
Or you could listen to a very different interview, one “people thought that they would never live to see,” radio host Michael Cohen said. This week, Cohen reunited with his former boss and nemesis, Donald Trump, for a conversation broadcast on Trump-aligned billionaire John Catsimatidis’s New York station. VF’s Dan Adler reports on how the pair found their way back to each other after years of scorched-earth battles.
And before you go, did you catch Andrew Zucker’s conversation with the founders of controversial surveillance company Flock? How about the latest in the Rob and Michele Reiner murder case? And, finally, for you Swifties out there, here’s an insider’s guide to Taylor Swift’s favorite London haunts.
