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A budget-friendly maternity dress unexpectedly found itself at the center of a political conversation after Usha Vance appeared in a Father\u2019s Day video with Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n
During a Father\u2019s Day edition of Storytime with the Second Lady, released on June 21, Usha Vance joined Vice President JD Vance to celebrate family life as they prepare to welcome their fourth child.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on their growing family, Usha, 40, told her 41-year-old husband, \u201cLuckily, there\u2019s going to be a new baby for you to read to. So, you\u2019re going to have many more years ahead of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smiling, the vice president replied: \u201cThat\u2019s right. That\u2019s why I so desperately wanted to have a fourth baby is because I was sick of my kids growing up and I was not yet ready to be out of the baby phase.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s conversation wasn\u2019t the only thing viewers talked about.<\/p>\n
Usha\u2019s fitted coral maternity dress, complete with a cowl neckline that accentuated her baby bump, seemed like a remarkable wardrobe choice \u2013 until The New York Times suggested it carried a much bigger message.<\/p>\n
\u2018Pronatalist movement\u2019
\nIn an article titled \u201cThe Politics and Power of the Pregnancy Image,\u201d New York Times chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman argued that the pregnancies of three \u201cprominent women in the MAGA movement\u201d \u2013 including the SLOTUS, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller \u2013 \u201cshows how much is said by an expectant silhouette, without anyone saying a word.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since Vance, Leavitt and Miller revealed their pregnancies, their public appearances have showcased their growing stomachs,\u201d Friedman wrote in the June 24 article, adding that they \u201coffer an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, the women have created a notably consistent, and somewhat paradigm-shifting, picture of the White House\u2019s family and fertility platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I want more babies\u2019 in the U.S.
\nThe observation came after Usha previously acknowledged that becoming second lady had changed the way she dresses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to dress up a lot more,\u201d she told NBC News in March. \u201cI enjoyed my last pregnancy \u2013 there were a lot of sweatpants. I was working from home and sometimes put a blazer on over what was under.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friedman also connected Usha\u2019s public appearances to her husband\u2019s long-standing emphasis on family.<\/p>\n
At the 2025 March for Life rally, JD Vance declared, \u201cI want more babies in the United States of America,\u201d a message that Friedman argued was reinforced every time the second lady appeared publicly embracing her pregnancy.<\/p>\n
According to the critic, Usha\u2019s role \u201cis also to represent and humanize the vice president,\u201d adding that \u201cBy spotlighting her pregnancy, she is doing exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is wearing a stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach, making what she is talking about very clear,\u201d Friedman added about Usha\u2019s wardrobe choice in the Father\u2019s Day clip.<\/p>\n
Styled by Old Navy
\nRather than letting the conversation rev around political symbolism, Usha revealed there was nothing calculated about her fashion choice \u2013 a budget-friendly dress from Old Navy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can\u2019t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks!\u201d she wrote in a June 24 post on X, alongside an image of her wearing the dress during \u201cStorytime with the Second Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n
She followed that post by sharing the receipt for the dress.<\/p>\n