Sydney Sweeney is no stranger to making headlines—whether it is that controversial American Eagle campaign or becoming MAGA’s certified hot girl after Florida voting records confirmed she had been registered as a Republican since June 2024.
Her fashion choices have only fueled the conversation. At the New York premiere of her upcoming film, The Housemaid, Sweeney arrived alongside co-star Amanda Seyfried wearing a low-cut, glitzy silver Miu Miu floor-length gown, finished with a dramatic feather boa.
Days earlier, Sweeney had posted an Instagram photo dump captioned: “Friendsgiving week,” dressed in a Shrek-themed dragon costume, complete with horns, tail, and wings. She later told Entertainment Tonight she had hosted a massive “Shreksgiving” party and chooses a different theme each year.
Then came Sweeney’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: a freshly cut bob, a fitted red dress, and slingback heels—an aesthetic shift that immediately set the internet ablaze. Some viewers insisted she had received a “Mar-a-Lago makeover.”
Pamela (@tisthepamseason) wrote on X: “oh my God they maralago’d her.”
Another user, @vamoosoul, added: “Giving Ivanka Trump realness.”
The dress in question was designed by Alex Perry, the Australian designer known for dressing Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ivanka Trump.
It all adds fuel to a broader cultural question: is Sweeney leaning into the MAGA association—intentionally or not? Newsweek reached out to Sydney Sweeney’s publicists for comment via email.
The Rise of ‘MAGA Glam’
Her recent look could fall into what has been categorized as ‘MAGA glam‘—hyperfeminine looks, with big, bouncy blowouts, body-skimming silhouettes and high-coverage makeup.
Even if Sweeney isn’t claiming the label, her styling gestures toward that universe.
During her Fallon appearance, Sweeney also teased more about season 3 of Euphoria, describing her character Cassie’s new arc as one of “self discovery.”
But political speculation around her image has only intensified, especially after the American Eagle “Good Jeans” campaign ignited accusations that she—and the brand—were flirting with eugenics imagery.
In her GQ interview, when asked whether white people should avoid joking about genetic superiority during a fraught political moment, Sweeney responded: “I think that, when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.” She added that the ad “spoke for itself” and called reactions from Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance “surreal.”
Despite the backlash, the campaign worked. Reuters reported American Eagle shares jumped 33 percent in September 2025, and the brand gained 142,700 Instagram followers in the 30 days after the campaign.
Reputation Experts Say the Issue Isn’t MAGA—It’s Muddled Identity
Zach Hempen, senior director of communications at Stripe Theory in Atlanta, told Newsweek that Sweeney’s challenge is less about politics and more about coherence.
“The real question isn’t about embracing MAGA. It’s about embracing clarity. The problem with Sweeney’s current positioning isn’t that she’s Republican or that she’s styled herself a certain way. It’s that she’s trying to serve multiple audiences without committing to any of them,” Hempen said.
He added that the Fox-anchor aesthetic, the Republican registration, and the American Eagle campaign are signals that don’t match the indie-leaning roles she gravitates toward.
Her latest movie Christy had a disappointing box-office debut. The biopic follows the life of Christy Salters, formerly known as Martin, a pioneering female boxer whose rise in the ring was matched by turbulence in her personal life. The film traces her journey from her parents’ refusal to accept that she is gay to her abusive marriage to her former boxing coach, Jim Martin.
“She doesn’t need to become a MAGA spokesperson. She needs to represent a philosophy that connects,” Hempen said, suggesting themes such as independence, authenticity, traditional femininity, or small-town values—not explicit partisanship.
“Look at the American Eagle campaign. Sales soared not because she endorsed a political party, but because she represented something that resonated with a massive, underserved audience tired of being told what they should value. That’s not MAGA. That’s cultural positioning. Strategic ambiguity is only valuable if it’s working. Right now, it’s not,” Hempen added.
Hempen added that, while leaning clearly into a values-based identity could cost her some roles, it could also give her a loyal fan base with enormous commercial potential.
“What she can’t do is keep straddling both worlds and expecting neither side to notice,” he concluded.
Ambiguity Might Be Her Safest Bet—for Now
Michael Montgomery, a political scientist and former U.S. diplomat who teaches at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Wayne State University, told Newsweek: “Sydney Sweeney would likely benefit from adopting a MAGA-adjacent position—close enough to be liked by the Red Hat brigade but not so close as to find herself caught up in the politics of that movement or canceled in the mainstream culture.”
He added: “Given MAGA’s appeal for young men and weakness with young women, that movement has much more to gain from pulling her in than she stands to gain from wholeheartedly embracing MAGA.”
Montgomery also emphasized that “the ambiguity itself produces a conversation around her that keeps her in the public eye.”
‘She Should Stop Straddling the Fence’
Shampaigne Graves, a women’s consumer expert who has been tracking the rise of the “conservative female influencer,” told Newsweek that Sweeney is resonating with a demographic hungry for representation.
“With an entire base of women looking for someone to legitimize their stance in Hollywood/Social Media—conservative women have welcomed Sweeney,” Graves said, noting the success of the actress’s deals with American Eagle, Jimmy Choo, and Neutrogena.
According to Graves, Sweeney has not done herself any favors from “straddling the fence.” Graves’ research on women’s customer profiles indicates Sweeney should lean into the conservative influencer and “come out of the political closet.”
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