Around town, on the pitch and even in the pool, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani keeps his suit on, prompting questions about what his sartorial choices say about him. Over the past year, Mamdani has repeatedly worn a formal suit in settings where it would traditionally be considered inappropriate, from football and public appearances to swimming in the Atlantic and a Harlem pool.
That approach has made him one of the most closely watched dressers in New York politics. Mamdani, who is frequently seen in a dark suit from Suit Supply with a formal tie and smart black boots, seems intent on proving that a suit is suitable for almost any activity.
Why does Mamdani keep wearing a suit?
Traditionally, a suit and tie would be considered inappropriate attire for football, dancing on stage with Alicia Keys and the entire New York Knicks roster, swimming in a swimming pool or swimming in the ocean. Yet over the past year, Mamdani has seemed to be on a one-man crusade to prove otherwise: to convince people that a formal suit is, actually, suitable for all activities.
He is hardly the first male politician to embrace the suit; it is the de facto uniform of those seeking to project seriousness and solemnity. But few, if any, politicians have been as wedded to the formal blazer and matching trousers as Mamdani.
How has he worn the look in public?
Cheering on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in May, Mamdani stood out for his decision to wear his suit rather than more casual team gear. After the Knicks won, he took the unusual decision to wear the team’s jersey over his shirt and tie, but under his suit jacket. In June, he wore a navy suit, white shirt and blue striped tie for a press opportunity with children.
Those were not even the most unusual examples. On New Year’s Day 2025, while running for mayor, he wore a suit to take part in the Polar Bear Club plunge, a New York tradition in which people go swimming in the frigid Atlantic.
“I’m freezing … your rent as the next mayor of New York City,”
Mamdani said in the water, a message that was rather on the nose, but won him lots of press coverage. Water proved again to be no obstacle when Mamdani swam in Harlem last month to announce the opening of the city’s pools for summer.
“broke the rules in the process”
the rightwing New York Post said, adding that the city pool rules require all swimmers to wear bathing suits in the water.
The mayor is trapped, it seems, in a wool or possibly wool-blend prison of his own making. But why?
How do his predecessors compare?
Mamdani’s most recent predecessors were not as tied to the suit. Bill De Blasio was keen on shorts — although, in a furore that will not have gone unnoticed by Mamdani, the former mayor was mercilessly ridiculed for his appearance — while Eric Adams was known for a more varied approach and sometimes dressed casually.
Ella Devi, a fashion commentator and, like Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America member whose assessments of Republicans’ style have made her a target for conservatives, said she thinks Mamdani is trying to present himself as a working mayor who is always on the job and on the clock.
“I think Mamdani wants to double down on appearing as a working mayor, as someone who is always on the job and on the clock,”
she said.
“I think that he kind of wants to convey that he is committed to the job, through his sartorial choices. I think that is reflected in his attachment to the suiting.”
“It’s also that he’s a young, Muslim, socialist.”
Devi added that Mamdani is likely held to a higher bar than white centrist politicians because he has repeatedly been the focus of rightwing media.
Is this part of a wider left-wing trend?
Hasan Piker, the Turkish American leftwing streamer, has described a similar dynamic, saying conservatives are more receptive to his views when he dresses smartly.
“more receptive to what I have to say”
he said, explaining that clothing affects how his messages are received.
“I used to wear T-shirts all the time,”
“But then I figured I should start wearing a suit and a tie because there are a lot of adults watching on Fox News [the rightwing channel frequently airs clips of Piker speaking] – if they see me saying something in the clips, they’ll be more receptive to what I have to say if I’m in a more appealing format.”
The mayor’s office declined to comment on Mamdani’s wardrobe, but he addressed his suit habit in a recent interview.
Asked about his decision to jump into a swimming pool wearing a suit, Mamdani said:
“I think I misunderstood the term swimsuit. I do also have to say thank you, though, to Goodwill [a charity known for its shops that sell used clothing], because I got that suit for 30 bucks, because you can’t go ruining the other suits that you have. But I’m clearly learning that there might be a different way to dress when it’s 100-degree weather.”
Leftists have not always been known for formal dresswear. That remains true in some cases — the disgraced Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner wore sweaters and T-shirts during his campaign; John Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, has a passionate commitment to wearing basketball shorts — but that may be changing.
Nathan Robinson, the editor of the leftwing Current Affairs magazine, argued that if formal clothing communicates credibility and authority, socialists should consider using it.
“If there’s a visual language that connotes credibility and authority, why not take advantage of it?”
“You might see someone in a suit as serious, professional, ready to do business. You might think they belong in the Senate or a boardroom. That’s certainly what Mamdani is trying to convey with his suits. He understands that socialists face a challenge: we’re considered fringe. People think we don’t belong among those making important decisions. The suits are a subtle way of asserting the legitimacy and authority of socialist ideas.”
How far has Mamdani taken the look?
Mamdani has taken the concept further than most. A keen football player, he wore a black suit with a grey tie while playing with a football in July, and when he played in a game that same month, Mamdani simply threw a football shirt over his suit — although he did ditch the jacket.
It was not always thus. A source who played for the same team as Mamdani before his election said that he did not play in a suit and tie, although they added that he always showed up in a suit, or at least suit pants, and his football shirt, and would change on the pitch because he was also always running late.
“He always showed up in a suit, or at least suit pants, and his
and would change on the pitch because he was also always running late.
The source, who asked not to be named but who now plays for a football team with the author of this article, continued:
“But he never missed a tackle”
— remark which was possibly aimed at this writer.
The source said Mamdani used to play in black shorts. Asked if a suit would be appropriate attire for a football match, they said it would not. They explained that a suit would have limited stretch in the materials, a restricted range of motion, would make you sweaty, and would probably not be something you would want to dry-clean as often for cost and longevity purposes.
“Limited stretch in the materials, restricted range of motion, you get sweaty and probably don’t want to have to dry-clean a suit as often for cost and longevity purposes, likelihood of it getting grass stains or torn up during play, excessive wear from friction which would also compromise longevity of a likely costly piece of clothing less easily replaced, too hot to play in (comfortably).”
They also pointed to the likelihood of grass stains or tears during play, excessive wear from friction and the fact that a suit would be too hot to play in comfortably.
Can Mamdani ever wear anything else?
Having become so intertwined with the suit, the question may be whether Mamdani can ever wear anything else. Can the mayor ditch the formalwear?
Devi said she thinks he is now trapped by the image he has created for himself.
“I think that now he’s kind of trapped in the suit, and he knows that he’s trapped in the suit, because he’s made it his thing to always wear the suit,”
“He has to stick with the bit, the suit bit. If he wears jeans, then the New York Post is just going to write about that for the next three weeks.”
With temperatures in New York recently hitting 38C (100F), Mamdani might be wishing he could wear something else, although Devi offered a possible solution if the heat becomes unbearable.
“He would never go for this, because it would not be seen as very socialist, but Thom Browne does some very good suit shorts for the future heatwaves. So that’s my advice to Mayor Mamdani,”
she said.
It is a fine idea, except that according to Thom Browne’s website, those shorts come at a very high price, which might raise questions over Mamdani’s socialist credentials. It seems that, at least for now, Mamdani is stuck in the suit.
