Book: Harris’ ‘Trivial’ Anger With Vogue Over ‘Sneakers’ Photo Drove Wedge Between Her and White House

Vice President Kamala Harris felt slighted after Vogue printed a pre-inauguration cover of her wearing Converse sneakers, and the saga resulted in tensions between her and the White House, a new book claims.

The fashion publication celebrated Harris’ historic place in American politics on Jan,. 10, 2021. The first female VP posed for a number of photos.

Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star!

Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk

— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021

In one of the photos, Harris was wearing sneakers and skinny pants.

 

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According to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, there was much more to the story than mere fashion. Harris was furious with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour after the sneakers photo was shared online and distributed via print.

Harris’ inability to let it go reportedly resulted in tensions between her and President Joe Biden’s White House staffers.

An upcoming book called “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future” was written by New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin.

Excerpts of the book obtained by POLITICO portray Harris as having been obsessed with the magazine’s decision to “disrespect” her.

“Harris was wounded,” Burns and Martin wrote. “She felt belittled by the magazine, asking aides: Would Vogue depict another world leader this way?”

POLITICO reported:

Harris’ incoming press secretary SYMONE SANDERS, who declined to comment, reached Vogue editor ANNA WINTOUR to convey Harris’ frustration. Wintour, who did not respond to a request for comment, protested that she had chosen the picture personally because it made Harris “relatable,” according to Martin and Burns.

Incoming chief of staff TINA FLOURNOY was caught “off-guard by the anger in Harris’ circle” and contacted a senior Biden campaign official. Given the country’s myriad crises and the recent January 6th riot at the Capitol, “[t]he Biden adviser told Flournoy that this was not the time to be going to war with Vogue over a comparatively trivial aesthetic issue. Tina, the adviser said, these are first-world problems,” according to the excerpt.

Burns and Martin noted tensions carried over long after Vogue ultimately used an image of Harris wearing a pantsuit for its digital story.

 

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Months after the Vogue story, Harris’ office reportedly assessed “anger, eye-rolling, portfolio feuds, and real and perceived slights” coming from Biden’s inner circle.

“Some of Harris’s advisers believed the president’s almost entirely white inner circle did not show the vice president the respect she deserved,” the book claims. “Harris worried that Biden’s staff looked down on her; she fixated on real and perceived snubs in ways the West Wing found tedious.”

Harris also reportedly complained that Biden’s staff would not stand up for her when she would enter a room.

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