During her September appearance in an episode of Vogue‘s 73 Questions video series, Lizzo explained that she felt her stylistic choices have often been politicized. “Being a big, Black woman, wearing what I wore on stage was instantly political and it made a statement,” the 32-year-old singer told the magazine at the time. Though she admitted it was “annoying at first,” the singer has since embraced the statement-making power of fashion, increasingly so in the weeks ahead of the presidential election.
For Halloween, she dressed up as the fly that broke the internet when it landed on incumbent Vice President Mike Pence’s head during a debate with California Senator Kamala Harris, donning goggles and sheer wings. Earlier that week, she brought attention to the fact that 40 percent of Americans failed to vote in the 2016 election by wearing a sculptural crown of hair spelling out the glaring percentage. And when accepting the award for Top Song Sales Artist at the Billboard Music Awards earlier that month, she wore a monochromatic, off-the-shoulder minidress designed by Christian Siriano dotted by the word “vote” in bold, all-caps lettering. “I’ve been thinking a lot about suppression,” she said in her acceptance speech, “and the voices that refuse to be suppressed.”
It came as little surprise when, on Election Day (November 3), Lizzo pulled out her most powerful and breathtaking look of all. She appeared in a post to her Instagram feed wearing a sort of half-jumpsuit: The right side of her body was draped from shoulder to heel in an American flag; the left was completely bare, save for a heeled shoe and sparkling nail polish.
“When I think of this country I don’t think of its laws I think of its people,” she wrote in a passionate caption, her words blistering and true. “I think about how we were raised to be patriotic of violence, propaganda & war. I think about how this country is owned by the oppressor and how the oppressed are locked in a valley of capitalism. But I also think of the young people who refuse to be [spoon-fed] mistruths. I think of the elders who bucked against hateful prejudices even when it felt impossible…. Because of you, I’m still hopeful.”
“I believe in a country that teaches the true history so we can better understand where we live and how we can do better. I believe in a country that listens to the cries of the protester and doesn’t politicize death,” she added, before concluding with a plea to voters to make their voices heard. “We the people, ALL the people, deserve it. Today’s the last day to vote. Stay in line, stay determined and thank YOU for voting.”
