US Politics
All that sparkles and is gold: Bedazzled bomber jackets are now the ‘it’ accessory for MAGA faithful
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Bedazzled bomber jackets emblazoned with Trumpian slogans have become the latest must-have accessory among MAGA faithful, according to a new report.
The eye-catching outerwear has been seen on several prominent female figures in the Republican president’s orbit and on supporters across the country.
In December, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sported a sparkly red jacket adorned with the words “MEGA” — Make Education Great Again — splashed across the front. In October 2024, former Trump attorney Alina Habba showed off a black sequined “MAGA” coat at a Madison Square Garden rally. And, on several occasions, Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has stepped out clad in flashy bomber jackets.
Similar items have been worn by — or at least gifted to — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, podcaster Riley Gaines and the wife of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor.
“MAGA has taken a shine to sequins, lately,” The Washington Post reported, noting that the trend is largely due to the efforts of one woman: Deborah Yanna, a grandmother from Des Moines who owns a custom clothing line named “Make America Sparkle Again.”
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Yanna didn’t set out to reinvent the Trump supporter aesthetic. But, she turned heads when she showed up to the Republican National Convention wearing a sequin jacket with the words “IOWA FOR TRUMP” written across the back in varsity-style lettering.
Throughout the event, attendees repeatedly complimented her on the accessory and asked where she purchased it.
“My governor, Governor Kim Reynolds, she was sitting in front of me throughout every event,” Yanna told the Post. “And she would say to me, you need to sell those jackets.”
She took that advice, and her business quickly took off, expanding from an online-only operation to a brick-and-mortar shop in the Hawkeye State. Some of the most popular items have included the phrases “Golden Age of America,” “You Had Me at MAGA,” “Grand Old Party” and “Be Like Charlie” — a reference to the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Yanna’s influence ran so deep that when Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, appeared at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December wearing a sequined suit, multiple people asked if Yanna had made it.
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Krisdee Clark, who was crowned Mrs. American in 2022, said Yanna’s jackets caught her attention several years ago during the Conservative Political Action Conference in the nation’s capital.
She now owns four of the custom jackets, one of which says “MAGA great jeans” and another which says “Dark MAGA.”
Heather Akou, a fashion historian at Indiana University, told the Post that sequins make a statement. They have a way of drawing attention.
“People who typically wear sequins are performers, and there is a very high degree to which this is all a lot of political theater,” Akou said. “So I think that the sequins also make a lot sense in that context.”
If it is theater, everyone is invited to partake in the spectacle, Yanna said.
“If you would like a jacket, I would love to make you one,” she said. “I don’t care what side … you’re on.”