Before & After Pics Hint Kristi Noem's Style Has Actually Gotten Classier Since Joining MAGA

When Kristi Noem and "style" show up in the same sentence, it's hardly ever positive. She's known for wearing the occasional outdated or tacky outfit and there's a painful list of terrible casual outfits that Kristi Noem wore and posted anyway. But these mistakes don't paint a full picture of the former DHS secretary's style journey. When you compare her current wardrobe to her pre-MAGA one, there's no doubt that there's been an upgrade.

The entire psychology of the Mar-a-Lago look is to conform to a certain version of model-esque camera-readiness at all times. It's arguably misogynistic and anti-diversity, but from a fashion standpoint, it pushes for change — which is certainly what Noem's old wardrobe needed. Let's talk dresses. Before MAGA, her take on dresses was anything but modern. We're talking frumpy jackets, aging cuts, and outdated patterns, like the tan jacket and black dress she wore to a 2013 news conference on Capitol Hill.

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These days, however, she seems to have gotten the hang of professional styling for the modern woman. She wears sheath dresses with formal cuts, experiments with bolder colors, and has thankfully dumped the matronly jackets she was so fond of. This fashion switch-up is clearly a better choice for her body. She's always been fit, but her previous wardrobe did nothing to accentuate her figure or show off those legs she worked hard for.

Before becoming part of the MAGA crowd, Kristi Noem seemed a lot more focused on politics than on her wardrobe, and while that was better for her constituents, it did nothing for her style profile. She wore cowboy boots at every opportunity and seemed to think that adding a blazer to any outfit made it formal. Her "professional" outfits followed the same formula: a black blazer thrown over a random blouse, all atop a pair of differently colored pants. The black blazer and grey pants she wore on Capitol Hill in 2011 were a prime example of the uninspired and out-of-style fashion sense she had.

To be clear, these choices weren't trendy even back then. Long before Noem entered the political sphere, women wore gorgeous suits, sheath dresses, and two-pieces that communicated taste and professionalism. This was just not Noem's style, but it seems the MAGA wave changed that. She's now frequently seen in power suits, ball gowns, and even the occasional empire waist dress.

Thanks to Noem's well-documented cowboy hat obsession and the fact that she is one of those politicians who are still trying to make cowboy boots business casual, there's no doubt that she still has a fondness for Western wear. However, more often than not, you can count on her to clean up nicely.

When Kristi Noem first entered the public eye, she was just transitioning from her farm girl life, and her outfits showed it. While there was a certain authentic air to it, it wasn't an aesthetic you'd define as classy, especially where business-casual dressing was concerned. When occasions called for these types of outfits, Noem seemed to disregard the "business" aspect of her attire. For example, she showed up at a 2016 political rally in Iowa wearing a zip-up sweatshirt over matching pants, and looked more like she was heading to the gym than to an important political meeting. Combined with her Kate Gosselin-circa-2007 haircut, it was like an early 2000s makeover show before the stylist steps in to save the day.

Since joining MAGA, however, all of this has changed. Noem's take on business-casual wear now features a lot more jeans and structured tops, and the outdated hairdo has been replaced with tons of hair extensions to fit in with the MAGA crowd. In general, her style is a lot more structured, compared to the uneven tailoring that previously dominated her wardrobe. And while her styling still leaves a lot of gaps, especially when you consider Noem's history of inappropriate cosplay outfits, it's definitely more refined than it once was.