Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Says the pair of homemade gloves that looked up at President Joe Biden’s possession on Wednesday was not meant to be a fashion statement.
Sanders’ gloves and the rest of his attire at the opening quickly spawned countless memes on social media. The senator appeared to be wearing the same jacket that had previously appeared in a series of memes based on his fundraising ads for the presidential campaign, but his thick knitting gloves stood out more. During a CBS interview with Gayle King, Sanders insisted that his clothing choices were primarily aimed at protecting him from the cold weather.
“In Vermont, we dress in warm clothes, we know something about the cold,” said Sanders. “And we are not so concerned with good fashion. We want to keep warm. And that is what I did today.”
“Mission accomplished,” observed King.
The gloves were made by Essex Junction, Professor Jen Ellis of Vermont and given to Sanders as a gift a few years ago, according to the Vermont independent weekly newspaper Seven days. He was photographed wearing the gloves during the campaign in December 2019 and was seen wearing the gloves while wearing the same jacket he wore in Biden’s possession several times during the primaries.
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The multicolored earth tones and the knitted patterns on the gloves drew special attention and went viral when Sanders wore them during a women’s march in January 2020 in New Hampshire. They drew much more attention and generated several new memes during the inauguration.
“I made Bernie’s gloves as a gift a few years ago,” Ellis tweeted exactly a year before the opening, alongside a photo of several similar gloves. “They are made from reused wool sweaters and lined with wool (made from recycled plastic bottles).”
With the weather in Washington, DC hovering around 40 degrees during the inauguration ceremony, Sanders was not alone in wrapping up on Wednesday. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wore warm winter clothes and gloves, but considerably more formal for the event.
Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff wore Ralph Lauren suits and coats, according to Vanity Fair. Harris wore a purple winter coat and dress by designer Christopher John Rogers, while First Lady Jill Biden wore a blue tweed coat and dress by designer Alexandra O’Neill. Black face masks were worn by most at the ceremony, with Sanders wearing a disposable blue surgical mask.
The musician Garth Brooks was a notable figure to join Sanders in adopting a more casual look, arriving at the event wearing jeans and traditional brown cowboy boots, in addition to black blazer, shirt, mask and cowboy hat. He took off his hat to sing “Amazing Grace” during the ceremony.
Newsweek contacted Sanders’ office for comment.