After former New York governor Andrew Cuomo lost the New York Democratic primary to the young assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, he announced that he was staying in the race and running as an independent.
The video Cuomo posted to Instagram announcing his running acknowledged his poor campaign during the primary and promised that he would do things differently. One of the first and most visible changes for the second iteration of Cuomo’s campaign for mayor was, unexpectedly, his clothes.
Leading up to the primary, Cuomo made few appearances and was widely criticized for treating his victory as an inevitability — despite resigning as governor in 2021 after he was found to have sexually harassed 11 women. When he did appear, he wore standard dark neutral suits and ties. But in recent social media posts and appearances, Cuomo has adopted an entirely new look, opting for casual, untucked shirts with no tie or jacket. Recent videos have shown him on the streets of New York City interacting with its citizens — a strategy that Mamdani made a feature of his campaigning but that Cuomo was conspicuously reluctant to do.
While traditionally, it’s women in politics who have become fashion icons or had their clothing scrutinized, what a politician wears has always been a point of interest for the general public. From Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s combat-ready fatigues during the war against Russia to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” Met Gala dress, politicians use their clothing to project an image that aligns with their goals. Studies have also shown that voters’ opinions are colored by the way politicians dress.
The New York mayoral race, in particular, has featured numerous crossovers between politics and fashion. Mamdani was endorsed by popular influencers and models like Emily Ratajkowski, while an endorsement for Cuomo from the CEO of Andie Swim led to public backlash over his history of sexual harassment.
Shortly after Cuomo’s campaign relaunch, commenters and fashion experts noted the new look, which seemed deliberately calculated to copy Mamdani’s winning “man of the people” strategy. Many were not swayed by the former governor’s sudden turn in campaign style. Cuomo did not respond to a request for comment.
“Frankly, it looks really bad,” said Tres Dean, a menswear writer and editor whose work has appeared in GQ and Esquire. “He’s clearly going for a relatable regular guy outfit, but he just looks uncomfortable.”
Anthony Bolognese, the owner of the Washington, D.C.-based custom suiting company Capitol Hill Clothiers, agreed that the outfit missed the mark.
“It appears to be made of an athletic material, likely a polyester-spandex blend,” Bolognese told Glossy. “This is definitely much more casual than is normal for a campaign announcement. Maybe it is a deliberate attempt to appeal to the exact opposite of Zohran Mamdani’s buttoned-up suit-and-tie look after a loss. No matter what the motivation, his attire choice is not 100% ideal for someone seeking power again.”
Bolognese and Dean both contrasted Cuomo’s look against his opponent’s. Mamdani, despite his youth and progressive policies, has actually skewed more conservative in his dress. In the dozens of videos and public appearances he made in the run-up to the primary, he appeared almost always in a dark suit with a subtle tie. Even when he walked the entire length of Manhattan, he wore a variation of the same outfit, only with a pair of silver New Balance 860v2 sneakers.
“I don’t believe Cuomo’s new look will be an effective rebrand because informed voters are making decisions based on policy promises and track records, not attire,” Bolognese said. “Mamdani is younger, more ‘for the people’, and his suit-and-tie dress code follows the longstanding expectation of such attire in political positions.”
American politicians, particularly men, are not well known for their style. The dark suit and tie — whose color sometimes denotes party allegiance — is omnipresent in government. Dean said the way men in politics dress is “largely terrible.”
“There’s not a lot of room for self-expression in the men’s sartorial landscape of politics,” he said.
But occasionally, a few looks do manage to make an impact. There was Bernie Sanders’s heavy Burton coat and mittens look at the 2021 presidential inauguration, which was frequently memed, and the controversy over John Fetterman wearing hoodies and shorts in the Senate in 2023, which led to the creation of an official dress code. Dean, despite not being a fan of Gavin Newsom politically, admitted that the California governor’s no-tie look works for the West Coast. The no-tie look has been one of the biggest disruptions in men’s political attire in the last 10 years, with adherents like Newsom, Barack Obama and a growing number of Gen-Z politicians.
“Ultimately, what politicians wear should reflect the people they represent,” he said. Bernie Sanders’s heavy winter coats are practical for a senator from Vermont, while Ted Cruz’s bolo tie is appropriate for a senator from Texas.
“The problem with Cuomo is that it’s a white-noise outfit,” Dean said. “It represents nothing.”
