Photo Senator Marco Rubio wore a much-discussed pair of boots while campaigning in Atkinson, N.H., on Sunday. Credit Mary Schwalm/Associated Press
This week "boots on the ground" took on a whole new meaning in politics.
A surprising focus on Senator Marco Rubio's shiny, stack-heeled ankle boots, first noted in a desultory Twitter post on Monday by a New York Times reporter, has grown over the last few days into one of the weirder firestorms of the presidential campaign, with rival candidates and the news media all adding tinder to the flames.
Senator Ted Cruz's communications director, Rick Tyler, wrote on Twitter: "A Vote for Marco Rubio Is a Vote for Men's High-Heeled Booties." "Rubio has those cute new boots and I don't want to be outdone," Senator Rand Paul said before an appearance on "The View." Carly Fiorina posted a Twitter message with a picture of her own pair of high-heeled boots, with the message "Yeah, @marcorubio, but can you rock these?"
On "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough called the footwear "shagalicious." Vanity Fair played a "guess the brand and cost" game. New York Magazine's The Cut compared Mr. Rubio to Harry Styles, the One Direction heartthrob. The Daily Mail twinned him with former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, a noted clotheshorse.
Continue reading the main story Graphic: 2016 Primary Calendar and Results In the end, Mr. Rubio's campaign told Politico that the boots actually came from Florsheim. Judging by the shoemaker's website, they look a lot like the Duke style (cost $135).
As sartorial politics go, bootgate has eclipsed any other fashion story of the election thus far, including any fashion story related to the two female candidates, Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina.
(Indeed, most of the talk about Mrs. Clinton's wardrobe has been contained to jokes scripted by the Democratic candidate herself.)
Note to male political candidates: Shoe's on the other foot now, boys.
Which actually points up an important lesson about the male wardrobe situation that politicians everywhere might consider.
Namely that it had become almost entirely predictable, especially vis-à-vis the current Republican field. Simply consider the party's last debate, wherein six of the eight male participants wore almost exactly the same outfit: red tie, white shirt, and dark two-button suit.
On the one hand, this means if you stay within the expected norms, you pretty much ensure that your clothes remain off the table as a subject of conversation and criticism. There is a reason, for example, that Presidents Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes all wore shoes by the same shoemaker, Allen Edmonds, for their inaugurations.
Continue reading the main story On the other hand, however, it also means that when any variable is changed it can provoke an outsize reaction, including broad analysis of the rationale behind the choice. Consider the mockery visited on former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas when he appeared in Clark Kent-like thick-rimmed eyeglasses in 2014. "Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted for Wearing Hipster Glasses," chortled The Huffington Post.
At which point you can either choose to embrace your point of difference, or retreat back into the straitjacket of familiar dress.
Such is now Mr. Rubio's choice.
The irony is that boots themselves as presidential or wannabe presidential footwear are nothing new. Even high(ish)-heeled boots are nothing new. It's just that when they have been worn in the past, they have almost entirely been cowboy boots (as modeled by Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan). The semiology of the cowboy being about as obvious as that of the Stars and Stripes pin.
Mr. Rubio's boots, by contrast, recall not the wild, wild West, but the sharp-shod melting pot. Which is a new thing.
It is also, however, his thing — his footwear, to a certain extent, conveys his message of himself as the face of the new American — and surprising clothing choices can work to a candidate's advantage if properly strategized.
Recall, for example, Rick Santorum's use of the sweater vest in the last election, a garment that began as an object of mockery, but which Mr. Santorum managed to make into something of a signature by embracing instead of avoiding its apple-pie nerdiness. He wore the vest so much that the campaign actually began selling Rick Santorum vests on his website for supporters to wear, a clever ploy that Mr. Santorum has unfortunately let slip during this election cycle.
Mr. Rubio, however, could, well, step into the gap.
