Where is Luigi Mangione getting his clothes?

Luigi Mangione’s journey from anonymous citizen to controversial folk hero continues, with memes and popular conversation touching on seemingly everything except his alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mangione’s courtroom clothes have recently sparked a viral phenomenon, with Google searches for his outfits, sweaters, loafers, and more spiking after his recent New York Supreme Court appearance on Feb. 21. Nordstrom and Maison Margiela reportedly sold out of styles similar to ones Mangione wore in court previously.

But where is Mangione getting his clothes? And what story is he trying to tell with them? His lawyers, who are his only official spokespeople, declined to comment. But experts say they are likely the ones bringing him his outfits.

Defendants in high-profile cases under intense public scrutiny tend to carefully manage every aspect of their appearance, said Joseph Rosenfeld, a New York-based image consultant and “executive presence tactician” who advises people appearing in corporate trials on having “a presence in the courtroom that helps them advance the storytelling of their side of the case.”

Rosenfeld said Mangione was doing basically everything a professional like himself would advise.

“It’s been cold outside and we see him in these thick, plush, more textural sweaters that are cable-knit and soft,” Rosenfeld said. “He looks cuddly, he looks nice, he looks warm. These types of clothing signifiers make an onlooker feel endeared toward the person we are looking at.”

The preppy tone, including Mangione’s sockless brown penny loafers – despite the shackles – make him look “like he’s coming from a good background,” Rosenfeld said, but also strike a slightly irreverent tone, in keeping with prep's origins.

“If what he’s trying to convey is that he’s innocent, he certainly isn’t making any grave errors,” Rosenfeld said.

Agnifilo Intrater, the law firm for Mangione’s New York case, declined to comment, but attorney Karen Agnifilo protested in court on Feb. 21 that she was unable to meet with her client alone either before or after the appearance.

“Mr. Mangione is being treated differently than other defendants who would be prosecuted in this court, who would be able to have access to his attorneys, who could sit here unshackled,” Agnifilo told the court.

Generally, attorneys will drop off courtroom clothing at the jail a day or two before the appearance, said Mike Antone, a paralegal in regular contact with several detainees inside the Metropolitan Detention Center where Mangione is being held.

“Everybody going to court that day goes through one big bullpen [at MDC] at 4 or 5 a.m.,” Antone said. “They get changed – the clothes are already searched – and then cuffed again and onto the bus.”

Antone suspects that Mangione’s media-savvy attorney was driving some of her client’s sartorial choices.

Agnifilo, who served as deputy to former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. until 2020 and prosecuted high-profile cases that included Harvey Weinstein's, appears regularly on television, co-hosts several podcasts, and is a legal adviser for “Law and Order.”

“The first time, Mangione matched Karen Agnifilo with the red sweater and the white collar. [On Feb. 21] he wore green, the color of his movement,” Antone said, referring to the fact that Mangione’s supporters have shown up in court wearing the green of Nintendo’s Luigi character.

Rosenfeld, the image consultant, pointed to Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of fraud over her failed company Theranos, as an example of how not to present oneself in the court of public appearance.

“She famously dressed like Steve Jobs all the time, and then all of a sudden at her trial she showed up looking like this other person,” Rosenfeld said. “She got lambasted because it was as if she was saying she wasn’t this first person she’d become known as.”

“With Mangione, you can look for any information about him online that predates what is alleged to have happened, and he basically looks the same.”

Rosenfeld was initially surprised that Mangione didn’t show up in a suit, which telegraphs humble deference before the court, he said.

“I expect there will have to be a shift [when the trial begins],” Rosenfeld said. “He’s going to have to shore up what his defense looks like to some degree.”