Deirdre Clemente

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Associate Director, Public History program

Expertise: 20th century American Culture, Fashion and clothing, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Museum studies

Biography

Deirdre Clemente is a historian and curator of 20th century American culture, specializing in fashion and clothing. She is an expert in the use of fashion in the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald and served as a historical consultant for costume in Baz Luhrmann's film, The Great Gatsby.

Clemente is the associate director of the UNLV public history program. She holds a master of arts degree in Museum Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in history from Carnegie Mellon. Her research on the intersection of clothing and social change has been published in the Journal of Social History, New England Quarterly, Journal of American Culture, and others. Her book Dress Casual: How College Kids Redefined American Style was published in spring 2014 from UNC Press. The book explores how and why collegians pioneered the adoption of casual dress – one of the most pervasive cultural shifts of the 20th century. Clemente is currently working on her second book titled, Chic Streets: Urban Development, Shopping, and the American Fashion Industry which considers the evolution of New York's Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive and Miami Beach's Lincoln road as places where American clothing was made and marketed.

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Deirdre Clemente In The News

Did recent beauty and style trends that evoke “old money,” the pastoral past and the “clean girl” aesthetic predict Donald Trump’s reelection? Quite possibly, at least if you ask the internet’s fashion girlies.

Gala France

Blue suit, white shirt, red tie... Since his youth, Donald Trump, who is a candidate in the American presidential election and whose results will potentially be broadcast this Tuesday, November 5, has always dressed in his traditional attire. An outfit that has almost become his trademark. "He seems to have worn the same red tie since the 1970s. It seems to have gotten longer," Deirdre Clemente, a history professor at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, told Sky News. "It's his way of projecting power, confidence and stability," she said.

il Giornale

An outfit for every occasion: this is becoming the motto that sees the two candidates for the White House also focus on their look to win over new voters. In the run-up to the vote, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have adapted their clothing to the image they want to convey as leaders. Both generally opt for classic clothing: the vice president in a sober suit with heels, the tycoon in his classic dark Brioni suits with red tie. Every time they depart from these "uniforms", as the Wall Street Journal also points out, they are sending strategic messages to voters, in an attempt to reach even the last American who is still undecide

Sky News

The style choices of politicians have long been scrutinised by voters and the media. Women have historically been subject to more inspection for their looks than men. But all politicians are communicating through their style, according to two experts.