Inauguration Day! What to do With Campaign Merch

Happy inauguration day all! To celebrate, I am wearing some campaign merch for potentially the last time.  I am a Kamala head for life, as a fellow Bay Area female attorney, and I sure did invest in her merch, especially when she was running for President on her own. 

My inauguration day LEWK, featuring "That little girl was me,"
purchased immediately after the second Democratic Presidential primary debate

I am an avid collector of merch, and have been since I was a child.  Take me to a concert or even a musical? I need to check out the merch tent.  $100 for a Britney Spears sweater that I could buy at target for under $20? Gimme, gimme more.  If someone creates a design that I like, for something I like, then I MUST have it on a t-shirt or sweatshirt. 

Can't forget my Kamala necklace by Awe Inspired

Now that I am 30, I am trying to be more intentional with my purchases and that starts with merch. I have a tendency to get carried away with merch because I know it will always foster some sort of connection with others who like the same thing.  Merch signifies to strangers something that you like, that you may have in common with them.  It can also do the opposite.  Campaign merch is very special, because you can basically only wear it during campaign season, and then maybe after but only if your candidate won.  Luckily for me, President Biden picked her to be his running mate and the merch has lived on!

My election day outfit. Linen suit: Banana Republic

I tried to limit the amount of Biden/Harris merch purchased, but I knew this had to be a historic election and I would want to keep some merch to remember it by.  I LOVED this tee that was based on a child's drawing for the campaign, and once they finally made it in adult sizes, I knew I had to have it.

Will I wear this shirt again? I haven't so far, not since election day.  I considered wearing it for Inauguration, but I already have so many choices and I wanted to focus on what is really historic about today, and that's our first female Vice President!!! That doesn't mean I won't wear this shirt again, I mean it's an accurate representation of our current administration and therefore should be wearable at any time!

My Joe hat (designed by Victor Glemaud) and my go-to voting dress by Tommy Hilfiger (similar)

This was an impulse purchase with the children's drawing Biden/Harris shirt.  I saw that a bunch of cool and upcoming designers had designed merch for Joe and I needed to have something from Joe's website.  The world tour shirt was already sold out, and was already played out by many celebrities, but I saw this bucket hat with a huge brim and thought it would be a good lewk for me with the brim turned up (my favorite way to wear bucket hats).  I needed to donate more money and get more merch in exchange! I haven't worn the hat since voting day, and Andrew was very worried about me wearing it out in public, so I probably won't wear it again.  It strikes me as a collectible though and I will keep it that way for the near future.

Etsy Sweatshirt and my messy former apartment

This was the biggest impulse purchase.  @Meena Harris, Kamala's niece, posted it on twitter and I immediately bought it. I love it! I never really wore it outside, given all the other merch I decided to wear outside instead, but I bought it while telling myself it would be my go-to sweatshirt in quarantine while the election was pending.  And boy, did I wear it every day! I still love it and I still have it folded with my other sweatshirts.  I plan to wear it tonight after work to continue to revel in the inauguration day celebration!

Anyway, back to the topic, the moral of the story is, if you have to buy merch, at least take cool photos in it.  Make sure it's something that you will be willing to wear again, even if you aren't attending an event for it.  And if you won't wear it again, make sure it's something you would want to keep and remember the event by! 

Take it from me. You don't need another sweatshirt.  I certainly did not and still don't!

Best,

Isabella