EDITOR’S NOTE: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
Since Sydney Sweeney starred in a controversial American Eagle ad this summer, which some viewers interpreted as promoting eugenics and White supremacy, it seems like the actor’s every move has been under public scrutiny in an effort to figure out where exactly she falls in the political divide. Her press interviews go viral as onlookers attempt to read between the lines, and even her clothing choices are held to the light in search of evidence of her internal beliefs.
No surprise perhaps, then, that an outfit she wore earlier this week on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” has reignited passionate debate. Dressed in a form-fitting maroon dress that finished just above her ankles and with a lacquered blonde bob that curved under her face, Sweeney was quickly likened by many critics to a right-wing news anchor. The comments under the promotional X post from The Tonight Show’s official account speak for themselves, as observers made spirited comparisons to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Ivanka Trump and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Similar comments appeared underneath an Instagram picture of Sweeney shared by her hairstylist. One outspoken content creator responded by making a video on the app berating the outfit, saying Sweeney’s team were “doing this sh**t on purpose.”
The reactions to Sweeney’s look perhaps makes more sense when you consider the journey her public image has had lately.
Her big break came in 2019 on the hit HBO show “Euphoria,” where she garnered critical acclaim for her performance as complex teenager Cassie Howard. (HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). Since then, Sweeney has appeared in the American TV series “The White Lotus,” as well as award-winning independent film “Reality” (2023), buzzy rom-com “Anyone But You” (2023), and gritty sports drama “Christy” (2025), which follows the life of history-making professional boxer Christy Martin and included a drastic hair and makeup transformation.
Her career has been called “one of the most promising within young Hollywood,” and the actor’s every move has since been closely watched. In 2022, photos of Sweeney at a family birthday party where guests wearing MAGA-style caps went viral, raising eyebrows and soliciting questions about her own political leanings. “You guys this is wild,” she posted in response on X. “An innocent celebration for my mom’s milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions.” In August this year, reports surfaced that Sweeney had been a registered Republican in the state of Florida since June 2024. But it was her American Eagle ad that has garnered the most criticism for its perceived eugenicist rhetoric.
Sweeney didn’t initially address the uproar caused by the campaign, causing people to draw their own conclusions on how the actor felt about the ad. Then in November, GQ magazine published an on-camera interview asking Sweeney about the fallout. Sweeney responded saying she was surprised by the reaction but didn’t apologize, instead reiterating her love for jeans and her stance that she’s not there to tell people what to think. When asked if she wanted to set the record straight on her intention, the star replied with the now-viral soundbite: “I think that when I have an issue I want to speak about, people will hear.”
Her outfit worn on Monday aligned in some ways to a broadly accepted definition of Conservative dressing. According to Marie Claire, women in right-wing politics prefer “form-fitting skirt suits, sky-high stilettos, bouncy blow-dries and full coverage makeup” to achieve a look that is “hyper-feminine.” The New York Times’ chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman agreed, writing that femininity in the Mar-A-Lago community is played up “to an almost cartoonish degree” and that fashion is used primarily to “reinforce that proposition.”
Sweeney’s dress, which featured a cinched-waist and subtle shoulder padding, was a more mature choice than the mini-skirts and thigh-high boots she has been wearing lately. The dress was designed by Alex Perry, whose gowns have also been worn by Ivanka Trump as well as Selena Gomez, Doja Cat, Jenna Ortega, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. Whether it was a knowing wink to a discourse that feels never ending, or a coincidental fashion choice that was devoid of meaning, onlookers won’t know until Sweeney speaks for herself. But she is in no rush to do so.
In September, Variety asked Sweeney what her response is when she sees her name trending on the internet. She responded with a neutral expression and a collected tone: “I’m like, ‘Oh, what for now?’”
