How some Republican women look is now facing backlash, as media outlets seize on the rise of the “GOP aesthetic” as a symbol of deeper political tensions.
The style drawing so much scrutiny is distinctive: long curled hair, bold brows, body-hugging dresses and (sometimes) cosmetic procedures.
In a discussion published by Vox, Gabrielle Berbey, a producer for the outlet’s “Today, Explained podcast,” called the look “Mar-a-Lago face,” a high-gloss aesthetic closer to reality TV than traditional D.C. polish.
Ms. Berbey described the trend as “a whole new era of extremeness” disguised as traditional beauty standards. Critics also argue the hyper-feminine look masks what they believe to be the harshness of Trump-era policies.
“You get caught up in the glam and ridiculousness, and you don’t notice what’s actually happening,” Ms. Berbey said.
The Guardian blamed the emerging style on the rise of the “womanosphere,” a network of influencers blending anti-feminist messaging with lifestyle content. Figures like Gen-Z Daily Wire commentator Brett Cooper, Candace Owens and outlets like Evie Magazine encourage young women to embrace thinness, fertility and political conservatism.
Ms. Cooper, who gained 900,000 YouTube subscribers this year, mocked the backlash directly, tweeting in response to The Guardian: “Thin, fertile, and Republican? Sounds hot lol.”
Another user shrugged off the criticism on X, posting: “Shocking that this would be a winning message with women as opposed to telling them to be fat, barren, and liberal.”
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, an OB-GYN specialist, told The Guardian that the Republican women’s style is about reinforcing traditional power structures under the guise of celebrating beauty and health.
“It’s all tied together with the goal of shaming women who have sex and who might get pregnant, and ensuring that they really are forced into the idea of this nuclear family because it preserves current power structures,” Dr. Lincoln said.
Conservative women’s magazine The Conservateur has embraced the look, recently hosting a sold-out “America Is Hot Again” party in the District, according to Glamour.
Editor-in-chief Caroline Downey reportedly told guests that her publication celebrates “what is objectively beautiful,” contrasting it with mainstream outlets that “glamorize evil.”
Critics say the “womanosphere’s” glossy surface masks a promotion of early marriage, homemaking and the reversal of reproductive rights.
Evie Magazine, for instance, mixes Cosmo-style features with warnings about birth control and IVF. Influencer Alex Clark’s wellness platform Culture Apothecary couches anti-contraception rhetoric inside pastel-colored health advice.
“Though they have different tactics and tones, like their cohorts in the manosphere, they play with the idea that calling women fat or ugly is fun and transgressive — framing it as part of a virtuous quest to rid society of woke, feminist ideals,” wrote The Guardian’s Alex Sillman.
But for some women who buy into this “hot” ideal, dressing up is less of an effort to ingratiate into a political regime than it is to look attractive to their husbands — and society at large.
“At the end of the day, a lot of [our aesthetic] is [seen] through the male gaze,” Wheeler, an “America is Hot Again” party guest, told Glamour. “You want to make sure that you’re a flower blooming for you as much as for the outside world.”
