Jen Ellis, a 42-year-old second-grade school teacher, was remotely teaching during the 46th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony when she received a fury of frantic texts informing her that the mittens she made for Senator Bernie Sanders made a show-stealing appearance. Over the course of several hours, she tells Teen Vogue she received 5,000 emails inquiring about buying a pair of mittens that resembled Sanders’. “Everyone looked beautiful at the Inauguration, their outfits were stunning and cool to look at and made by famous designers and then: there were my mittens,” says Ellis.
Sanders’ outfit, a tan Burton winter coat and Ellis’ recycled wool mittens, set the internet ablaze. Within hours, hundreds of memes were born and the Senator was hailed as an unexpected style icon at an event populated with glamourous and extravagant outfits, not to mention Lady Gaga herself.
Her mittens’ appearance came as a surprise to Ellis, who was touched and flattered that Bernie was wearing them. “I love that the mittens are gaining notoriety. The memes that everyone is making are hilarious,” says Ellis.
Other politicians wore intricate pieces made by famous, cutting-edge New York designers, but Bernie’s choice to wear her gloves, Ellis argues, speaks to the testament of his people-oriented politics. “It’s neat we live in a place that at such a historic event, people could come dressed to represent who they are. And I think those mittens really do represent who Bernie Sanders is. He is a politician who cares about the people and received a gift from someone he never met. He loves them and wears them all over the place,” says Ellis.
Sanders wasn’t the only person in attendance making a fashion statement with a gifted accessory. The poet laureate, 23-year-old Amanda Gorman, wore jewelry gifted to her by Oprah Winfrey. This came as a tradition as Winfrey had also gifted the poet Maya Angelou a Chanel coat and gloves ahead of her reading at the Clinton inauguration.
When asked about the mittens on CNN, Sanders replied, “You know in Vermont, we dress warm, we know something about the cold, and we’re not concerned about good fashion, we want to keep warm. And that’s what I did today.”
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/bernie- ... -interview
Vladimir, STOP! 
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