Fashion
Tracy Flick's Sweater Vests in 'Election:' A Definitive Ranking of Megalomaniacal Teacher's Pet Fashion
With her leather headbands, penny loafers, and plaid jumpers, Tracy Flick is a portrait of the ultimate shark-like overachiever. But if anything defines Flick's style, it's a sweater vest. Always layered over a perfectly-stacrched Oxford shirt, Tracy Flick's sweater vests in Election are like armored breast plates. In lieu of an eighties blazer with shoulder pads, a knit shell over a blouse is Flick's version of power dressing. In these shells, she may look like the caricature of a Catholic school girl, but she's calculating and exacting as any well-known politician. Even if she looks harmless, Flick isn't one to be toyed with.
Clad in this suit of armor, she makes it clear that neither morals, ethics, nor bitter teachers will impede her climb to greatness. Without further ado, I'm ranking all of Tracy Flick's sweater vest and oxford shirt combos in Election.
Image: Paramount
7. Indigo & Lavender Pinstrpies
Flick repurposes her favorite indigo vest many times during the film, but this lavender combo shows Flick seemingly at her most vulnerable. But even when she is clad in the colors of a child’s room sipping a root beer, the fire of inextinguishable ambition still blazes in her eyes.
Image: Paramount
6. Shades of Blue
A light blue blouse under her fave indigo vest is the combo Tracy keeps going back to. But the ill-fitting nature of her shirt in this combo seems to stand out and detract from Tracy’s ethic of perfection.
Image: Paramount
5. Yellow & Grey
In a charcoal vest and a butter-yellow pinstriped shirt, Tracy is killing the Talbots PTA mother look. She’s clearly poised for great things.
Image: Paramount
4. Fair Isle #1
Another one of Tracy’s sweater vest staples is her fair isle vest, which looks classic American & mom-friendly when layered over any kind of shirt. She even wore it in her yearbook photo!
Image: Paramount
3. Fair Isle #2
I can’t tell if the sweater is pulling off a very complicated optical illusion, but the pink shirt really brings out a tinge of pink in between that orange zigzag, and the oxblood zigzag.
Image: Paramount
2. Fair Isle #3
It’s like a magic eye puzzle, brought to you by ’90s Gap, with a touch of killer instinct.
Image: Paramount
1. Tried & True Blue on Blue
Here it is folks: the top of the pops. This is the get-up that Tracy’s wearing when we’re introduced to her in Election. Sure, Tracy happens to be wearing the same sweater vest here as the is in number 6, but this blue shirt, indigo vest, and plaid skirt combo deftly reveals Flick for who she is: a perfectionist, a Type A goddess, and a megalomaniacal powerhouse in goody-two-shoes’ clothing.
Image: Paramount
