She has the shiny, bouncy Breck hair of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” (the 1991 animated version) and Catherine, Princess of Wales, combined with the pastel full-skirt wardrobe of a well-bred debutante, some fleece. and a cape. or two. She’s “dressing to be the princess of the world or the first lady,” said Tom Broecker, the costume designer for “Saturday Night Live” and “House of Cards,” who has made something of an art out of studying and replicating the style. from the first. ladies. “There is so much intent and purpose behind it all.”

To acknowledge that is not to undermine his essence, the work he’s done for mental health, cancer research, hurricane relief, but to acknowledge that he understands a basic truth of modern campaigning. “Presidential campaigns are MRIs for the soul,” said David M. Axelrod, founder of the Institute for Politics at the University of Chicago and a former senior adviser to Barack Obama. “People are not just evaluating your positions, they are evaluating you as a person.” To that end, he said, “spouses play a very important role in completing that picture.”

Image, in this case, being the operative word.

The Camelot Connection

Although Ms. DeSantis has always been considered a dresser, a lesson from her days as a local host with WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida, when she and Mr. DeSantis first met, has enhanced her style over the last year. On election night 2022, she wore a floor-length gold and yellow one-shoulder ruched dress that made her look like she was on her way to a state dinner, rather than just taking the stage at the Convention Center. from Tampa.

However, it was their outfit on inauguration day in January that really foreshadowed the couple’s ambitions in the public eye: a mint green gown by Alex Perry, an Australian label, with a built-in cape that flowed from the shoulders. shoulders, worn with gloves. In his color and line, he seemed to draw his lineage straight from the Kennedy era. This was only compounded by the bright pink dress Mrs. DeSantis wore to her husband’s State of the State address, complete with a portrait neckline and more white gloves – another apparent nod to Jacqueline Kennedy, one of the most America’s recognizable, revered and stylish. American history. The same goes for the ice blue dress she wore to accompany Mr. DeSantis to Japan, another caped style, this time with floral epaulettes on the shoulders.