Second Lady Usha Vance joined her husband, Vice President JD Vance, at the White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping. The appearance comes just two months after the birth of their fourth child. What a lot of people can’t stop talking about, however, is the dress she wore for the dinner and, more specifically, the designer who styled her.
On September 24, designer Oscar de la Renta shared a photo of Usha standing beside her husband at the White House event. In the photo, she wore a custom gold dress. While people generally had no issues with the actual dress, the post was pretty divisive, and some of the designer’s followers said they would be unfollowing the account after seeing it.
The designer shared some details about the dress, along with a few close-up images.
“@slotus, Usha Vance, wears a custom strapless column gown of gold bugle beads, finished with an Encolure repliée neckline for the China State Dinner at the White House,” Oscar de la Renta wrote on Instagram. “Discover the craft behind her gown in our New York City atelier.”
To some commenters, the dress was a true “work of art” that looked amazing on Usha. “Wow! Stunning work,” a commenter wrote. “Stunning craftsmanship. Stunning look—especially after giving birth recently !” But others were disappointed that the designer styled Usha in the first place. “you put the fashion in fascism,” one account commented on the post.
Another commenter called the post “disappointing,” while someone else wrote, “you can always say NO…” There were also critics who clearly didn’t hate the dress, but still had issues with the designer’s post—and Usha’s husband. “Beautiful,” another person said. “I wonder if they can fashion you a husband with a soul.”
It sparked a pretty intense debate.
Because some people seem to think there’s nothing wrong with styling different people regardless of political affiliation. Several people actually praised the designer for styling Usha and sharing the photos publicly. Others simply thought Usha’s dress seemed like a non-issue.
“Not a fan of Vance but I commend the brand for staying true to themselves and dressing all administrations on both sides of the aisle,” one commenter noted. Someone else wrote, “The fact that people can’t put aside politics and just compliment a beautifully crafted dress is crazy.”
At the same time, multiple critics felt the designer was making a statement by posting this. “Who you dress and share by choice says everything about your values,” one of them argued.
Unsurprisingly, some people had more of an issue with JD.
And his outfit. Discussions about Usha’s dress escalated and made their way to other platforms. On Reddit, while people had a lot to say about Usha’s dress, they were also quick to comment on how JD looked at the event. One Redditor noted that JD appeared to be wearing “possibly one of the worst fitting tuxedos (they’ve) ever seen.”
“Why are the flaps deep cut?” someone else questioned. “Why are his sleeves f—ing slim fit? They end like three inches up on his arm. His pants are so weirdly tailored why is there so much extra material that it’s clumping together?”
The photo of Usha and JD together also led to even more speculation about their marriage, as some commenters noted that it didn’t exactly make them look happily married. “They look terrible and are so uncomfortable being near each other,” one critic wrote.
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