Adorned in American dreams: Cultural memory and the style of the American far-right

Abstract

In 2017, various conservative, far-right and alternative-right (alt-right) groups banded together in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Unite the Right rally in efforts to protest the removal of a Confederate era monument in the city and to demonstrate unity among these activist factions. The rally served as a nucleation point for the examination of a new trend of political fashion as images of mostly white males dressed in white polos, button-front shirts and variations of khaki trousers decorated headlines. This shift into a seemingly bland smart-casual style marked a contemporary intrigue into how right-wing activists engage with fashion. Yet, the selection of such an aesthetic amid the increased US political turmoil of the time was neither random nor a fashion faux-pas, rather a reflection of far-right ideological perceptions of Americanness. In this article we explore a critical conjuncture of fashion and far-right political activism by examining the smart-casual uniforms of two contemporary far-right groups, the Patriot Front and the Proud Boys. Through a lens of cultural memory, this article demonstrates how the curated smart-casual style of far-right groups reifies their ideology through the presentation and abstraction of the myths and histories of American national identity.

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