Erika Kirk's Leather Pants Have Caused A Stir More Than Once
Since Erika Kirk was thrust into the spotlight after her husband Charlie Kirk was killed in 2025, everything about her has been subjected to public criticism, from her lavish lifestyle to her obvious makeup mistakes to her wardrobe. As the new CEO of her late husband's organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Erika's job is to spread her conservative MAGA beliefs among youth. Her personal brand before and after Charlie's death has been explicitly Biblical, meaning she often speaks about how she believes women belong in the home raising children. However, she often gets backlash from the public online because her actions appear to conflict with the way she's telling other women to live. She spends a lot of time away from her two children to work, and she has a history of wearing sexy outfits that go against the tradwife values she preaches.
Her apparent love for leather pants came under fire after she wore a very tight pair at an October 2025 TPUSA event, where her hug with JD Vance went viral, and a strangely loose pair at a November 2025 Oregon Ducks game. "That looks gaudy, and 1980's called Axel Rose wants his pants back," someone wrote on X of the baggy leather joggers. Another X user commented on the overall look, saying, "She needs a makeover." Someone else wrote the quiet part for all to see. "I thought she was wearing the tight leather pants especially for JD," they quipped.
Erika Kirk has also received backlash for other outfits
Although she's become known on a wider, national level since Charlie Kirk's death, as a former Miss Arizona, Erika Kirk has been a public figure since well before she became Mrs. Kirk. Her raised profile meant that she attracted the attention of some fashion critics, who had some thoughts about the dress she wore to an event weeks after her May 2021 wedding. "That's one [of] the classiest AND trashiest dresses ever," someone wrote in the comments of an Instagram photo of the strapless dress with a layered, ruffled skirt. Someone else was less conflicted and simply described the gown as "distasteful."
At a TPUSA event in December 2025, Erika wore a very ostentatious gold glitter suit that was a magnet for social media criticism. "Grieving by dressing like a disco ball," someone wrote on Instagram. "Who's gonna tell her the pageant was 13 years ago," read another comment about the gold suit. The public is going to have opinions on everything Erika wears and does. But if she embraced a more conservative wardrobe that better reflected her conservative values, she'd be giving the public less fuel for their negativity.