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Hala. They are already talking about the clothes of a politician again, judging her by the way she dresses. When will the same thing happen to male politicians?" It is the first idea that many can suggest an article like this that you just started, focused on the image of the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz. Answer. To begin with, this article is not a criticism, but an analysis of an element, clothing, which seems to us to be part of the discourse of any politician. The clothes, yours, mine, Pedro Sánchez's, Santiago Abascal's, Yolanda Díaz's, speaks. And she is never 'innocent', naïve. As my admired Katja Eichinger says, clothing "constitutes a rich symbolic language through which we create and communicate meaning. It has an immediate impact on how we feel in our body, making it very intimate, and at the same time making us social beings. Fashion is an important and truly fascinating part of our daily culture. And we all participated. We cannot NOT communicate through our clothes. As Oscar Wilde wrote, 'only superficial people do not judge others by clothing.'"
It should be added that we would also love to devote space to the clothes of male politicians, but, unfortunately, the most that can be said about it is that it is very predictable, unnewsworthy. We are on the campaign trail, so we take off our tie and take out our jeans (ironed, of course) or our shirt with elbow pads. And that's it. Yawn. And it's not that they do it out of disinterest. Rather, it reveals the aspiration to appear disinterested, natural. Ana Iriberri, director of AI Image Consultants, confirms: "Our world is increasingly visual, for good and bad, so without a doubt, the image we transmit and here clothing is an essential factor, it is increasingly important. And this is something that we appreciate most clearly in the case of politics, where it is imperative that the image is in line with the message we want to convey."
Yolanda Díaz knows what clothes are for
But why does Yolanda Díaz's clothes catch our attention so much? At this point, so many headlines have been devoted to the evolution of his style as to write several doctoral theses. There is quorum in that once dressed casual and low cost, and now in a much more measured and stylish way. That it has evolved concentrates many of the articles that have been written about its style. And criticism, by the way.
But let the first stone be thrown by those who have not evolved in their style over the years or have not adapted it, even minimally, to the culture of their company or their profession. Those who criticize his change seem to be unaware of the above, and are usually the same ones who turn you green when you change your musical tastes (like when your mother reproaches you that before -40 years ago, come on- you liked Miguel Ríos and now you don't, ahem). One changes, that's axiom. Sometimes, even wanting to.
Luca Costantini tells in 'Yolanda Díaz. The seduction of power' (ed. La Esfera de los Libros), by addressing the rivalry between Irene Montero and the second vice president, how 2020 is a key year in Díaz's makeover. "Goodbye to the red sucker of Sánchez's investiture. Now the minister wears white, and she wears very elegant clothes." Also, he explains, "he changes his trusted hairdresser for one in the Plaza de Cascorro in Madrid (...). She's blonder every day." The above would not have gone unnoticed by anyone, including the Minister of Equality: "Montero can't take it anymore. And he gives the order: he wants clothes like Yolanda Díaz's." That is, in the political sphere the growing 'power' of Díaz's image would not have gone unnoticed or considered harmless at all.
Ana Iriberri agrees about Yolanda Díaz's transition in that, in its beginnings, "it showed a more informal, less worked image. As she has been gaining on the one hand presence, when moving from regional policy to the national level, and especially when it comes to gaining weight or responsibility, already as minister or second vice president of the Government, she has known how to refine, creating her own sophisticated style that has made her for a long time one of the best dressed politicians in our country. "
Next to nothing. From zero to one hundred in three years.
How is the style of Yolanda Díaz
Without having thrown herself into the formal suit jacket that many politicians, especially in the conservative area, turn into a daily uniform, Yolanda Díaz has sophisticated her choices (her blazers, by the way, are counted on the fingers of one hand). She likes light colors, especially neutral ones, and white blouses and shirts with a certain volume, jeans and light dresses, with a marked waist and midi skirt abound in her wardrobe. If you have to bet on an intense color, you usually do it for red, rarely pulls black and in pastels you stay decidedly with blue.
She is also careful about the brands she chooses, a quality she might well have learned from Queen Letizia herself. Almost everything it carries is domestic, and quite affordable (if not much). Zara and Adolfo Domínguez are among his favorite brands. He also pulls Cos, Custo Barcelona and Maje.
And speaking of Maje..., a clarification. When an online media 'accuses' Yolanda Díaz of moving "to luxury brands" (another widespread idea: that left-wing women have to be dressed in rags or almost to be consistent) because she has spent 275 euros on a dress by Maje... He is not being aware that that, today, is not luxury. Far from it. Luxury is Valentino or Prada or Loewe. Maje, 275 euros, well, no.
Mesa, the designer behind the Maison Mesa firm considers Yolanda Díaz's style "interesting. Of course he has a personality, an imprint of his own, which in a politician I always appreciate, because it humanizes them. I do not see her at all as someone who goes in disguise, with too wild or conservative looks, and has a fairly varied style (as we humans have). We almost always see her with comfortable, comfortable, practical, classic looks but with a modern touch, and often wears a piece (especially the body) that exhibits some special detail, a fold, a puckered sleeve, a halter neckline, elements that give it personality. "
"I always say," adds Mesa, "that I am not the one to say how clothes should be dressed, how anyone should dress, because I propose and people dispose. And Yolanda Díaz looks like she has, and I find that interesting, I think her personality is reflected in the clothes she wears."
What advantage does Yolanda Díaz give her way of dressing?
The image consultant Ana Iriberri is very clear: "The image must always be in line with the message we want to convey and it is something that Yolanda Díaz and her team have been clear and have known how to manage. If a person wants to transmit management capacity, leadership, his image can play a definitive role in gaining the trust of his voters." But does the image of a politician influence our assessment or our decision to vote? Iriberri thinks so: "The image we have of the politician is one of the factors with the greatest specific weight in our assessment, I would dare to say that even above the message he can convey to us."
This is confirmed by Katja Eichinger when she tells us that "a dress code, etiquette, is always a symbolic social contract that has a high emotional charge". The system, he says, "punishes those who ignore that contract." In the case of Yolanda Díaz, at least the female voting population is perfectly capable of 'reading' on her clothes a perfect adherence to that 'contract'. Yolanda Díaz wears the clothes that any moderately young and moderately progressive woman could wear, (not rupturist), hardworking bourgeois, not an idle aristocrat, and, as Mesa would say, classic but with modern touches, more integrated than apocalyptic in Umberto Eco's terminology. Just what she wants to 'sell' in the political market, it is clear.
And if not, there's the data. The latest poll conducted by El Mundo about the intention to vote in the Generals that await us at the turn of autumn indicates that the candidacy of Yolanda Díaz will cost the PSOE dearly, by keeping an important part of their votes. Another recent poll revealed that Yolanda Díaz is not only the second most valued politician after Feijóo for left-wing voters... It is that both PP and Vox voters prefer her to Sánchez! Another very important key to understanding the Diaz phenomenon: the generational one: it is the favorite of voters between 18 and 44 years old. Whether you like it or not..., something new in a political scene that, as we said at the beginning, is still generally quite 'old-fashioned'.
- Yolanda Diaz
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