A New Presidency, a New Sense of Style

With the inauguration of Barack Obama as our nation’s forty-fourth president and the promise of better tomorrow, our country waits with great anticipation to see how our newly-elected President will guide our nation over the next four years. While the world’s eye has been ever so watchful of the new President, the fashion world is also very interested in the new President and the First Lady. This presidential season has had more conversation about what the candidates and their significant others have been wearing then any other presidential campaign that I can recall.

Many of us remember the Sarah Palin episode where she was reported to have spent $150,000 on new clothes during her campaign with Senator John McCain. She is not the only female whose wardrobe has garnered attention, either; there has been much discussion over the wardrobe of Michelle Obama. The New York Times website has an interactive slideshow chronicling her outfit choices throughout her husband’s presidential campaign. The Narciso Rodriguez dress that she chose to wear on the night of President Obama’s victory speech was under great debate, not just among the fashion world but in the mainstream media as well. It seemed like everyone I talked to about it had an opinion whether or not that was the appropriate choice. Mrs. Obama has become a fashion icon in her own right. I have recently heard her referred to as Michelle O, drawing comparisons to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Michelle Obama’s style is a nice contrast to that of her husband’s. President Obama has a very clean, conservative, neat template. He continues in the tradition of most policy makers of wearing two-button, soft shoulder American-made suits, usually with a white shirt and either a red or blue tie. Where I see the difference between him and the man he is replacing is in the fit of the suit. The jacket is not too long, the shape is not boxy, his sleeves are the right length and his pants have the correct amount of break in them. Obama wears the suit and does not let the suit wear him. President Obama takes the way he looks seriously, but that does not necessarily mean that he is in a suit all the time. Already he has dismissed the rule that one must wear a suit at all times when in the Oval Office.

On January 20, as the whole world watched as Barack Obama took the Oath of Office to become our forty-forth president, what did the First Couple wear to this most historic event? President and Mrs. Obama were both true to their style aesthetic. President Obama wore his traditional two-button, soft shoulder suit, with a red tie, adorned with American flag pin. Mrs. Obama was in a lemongrass yellow outfit by one of her favorite designers, Isabel Toledo. The dress had texture and sparkle.She wore a wool coat of the same color, but was not swallowed up by it, and as New York Times fashion writer Kathy Horn points out on her blog “On the Runway,” “I liked the fact that you could see the whole outfit, you could see her.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the book Team of Rivals, a biography about Abraham Lincoln, says, “What style means to the country is a window onto the personality of the president and his wife.” “The way that [presidents] conduct themselves really does attract fascination, and it often reflects the mood in the country.” This quote appeared in an article entitled “The Obama Momentum: Smarts, Style Create A New Kind of Power” by Bridget Folley for wwd.com. Earlier in the day Diane Sawyer said that the reason why Mrs. Obama picked gold for her outfit was to instill a sense of celebration, to make note that this day was a day for celebration, not just for an inauguration of a new president but for a new time in our country’s history. I think that these two ideas go hand in hand. We might not think too much about what our leaders are wearing, but they do give us a glimpse into who they are and provide another avenue in which to get their message across. Fashion is not a world of its own; it can act as a reflection of the world’s current situation.

Taking a look at the current menswear shows going on in Milan and Paris, many designers’ collections have been influenced by these hard economic times, whether it being a direct representation such as Miuccia Prada’s collection consisting of looks of worn and torn garments in shades of black and grey, or Thom Browne’s showing, a collection of tailored jackets and trim suits that draws inspiration from early 1960s menswear (think Mad Men if you are familiar with the show) that transports the viewer back to a era when times were good.

Something as important as electing a new president permeates its way into everything in society, even fashion.

I have not posted in a while

Sorry for not posting anything for a while. I have had a lot of work leading up to finals week. I will be going to New York City over Christmas break so expect a lot of pictures, and I will write a piece about my adventures in the city in the next edition of The Warrior as well as posting it here. Happy Holidays!

Tim Gunn in Milwaukee: Part II

On Thursday, my friend Lizzi and I went on an adventure to Brookfield Square Mall to see the famous Tim Gunn. He was at the Boston Store doing a fashion show promoting Liz Claiborne, the company in which he is Chief Creative Officer. I was unable to get a picture with Tim because you had to buy $100 worth of Liz Claiborne apparel in order to meet him. However, my friend Lizzi and I were able to get pictures of him and of the fashion show.
Throughout the show Mr. Gunn stressed these points. They were
1. Buy clothes for the body you have now.
2. Think of your body in terms of thirds, and not two halves, and dress accordingly.
3. Uses accessories to update looks you already have
4. When buying clothes remember these three concepts: silhouette, proportion and fit.

Tim Gunn in Milwaukee

Run Up to the Runway

On October 17, I had the opportunity to attend MAM After Dark: Run Up to the Runway. Run Up to the Runway is a fashion show runway event sponsored by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League’s Evening Associates in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum. The event was created four years ago, with only 75 people in attendance. By this year, it had grown to a total of 1300 people attending. The event showcased designers from Mt. Mary College, Milwaukee designers Amanda Ergen, Delanie Seamon and Mink ,as well as local retailers Aala Reed, Shop and Valentina.
I arrived at the MAM at about 8:00 p.m. to a large mass of people in Windhover Hall. The large ceiling was adorned with soft purple lighting with Run Up to the Runway shown over it. There was a large white catwalk that measured about 30 feet with about 100 white chairs surrounding it. The fashion show was not to start until 9:00, so my friend Anna and I went to check out the new exhibit, Art/React, which I highly recommend to anyone who visits the museum. As the name implies, the exhibit consisted of pieces of art that reacted to the individual. These ranged from a white canvas, which would record your movements that would then play on a video loop with twelve other black silhouettes that had been recorded earlier from others who stepped in front of the canvas, to a wooden table in a very soft lit room, that when you touched the table, different sentences would ring out of the speakers that surrounded the room.
By the time my friend and I were finished exploring the new exhibit, it was almost time for the runway show. Before the show began, students from Mt. Saint Mary’s College were displaying their designs on the catwalk. The designs of the students varied greatly. From a ballerina-inspired dress in a light pink, purple and red, to a brown leather dress with a leaf adorned corset, with long black strips of fabric lying over a torn brown skirt. The winning look was a high-waisted gold pencil skirt with a large gold rosette, paired with a sleek black sleeveless turtleneck.
After the announcement of the winner, the show began. The first designers to display their work in the runway were Amanda Ergen and Mink. My favorite of their five dresses was an off-white dress that was gathered at the shoulder with a purpose flower. The fabric was nicely draped, creating a flow to the dress as the model walked down the runway. Next was the collection from Delanie Seamom. Her collection showed a great deal of range, offering different looks, and some of her clothes were my favorite of the night. I really enjoyed her last outfit, which consisted of a ruffled mini-skirt in eggplant with a fitted corset top in steel grey. It was topped with a wool swing jacket in yellow. What I liked most about this outfit was how the yellow jacket really brought to life the eggplant and steel colors. Sometimes when there is a bright color, it can distract from the other aspects of the outfit; however, the jacket complimented those colors and made for a well-put together look.
Next up was Shop. What really caught my attention during their show was an outfit which consisted of a simple purple scarf, a Mink Pink soldier jacket in black, and a brown to black whirlpool print dress. It seems that this season many designers are embracing the structure of the military jacket. I like this coat because it plays with the idea of masculinity and femininity. Its use of design and structure gives it that masculine feel, while the cut and shape of the jacket maintains its femininity with the cinched waist, smaller armholes and soft, slender shoulders.
Next on the runway was Aala Reed Men’s. To be honest, I was not crazy about the looks Aala Reed Men’s put together. The first outfit was a sequined Superman logo t-shirt with a pair of jeans that had a great deal of embroidery on them that I thought it could do without. The high point in their collection was a Ted Baker jacket with a Hugo Boss turtleneck and dark skinny jeans. The jacket embodies a militaristic feel with its double-breasted closure, stiff structure and use of epaulets.
Following Aala Reed Men’s was Aala Reed Women’s. I must say that Aala Reed Women’s put on a much better show than their male counterpart. I really liked two pieces in their collection. First was a deep v-neck halter dress in a midnight navy by Ingwa-Malero. The second was a Ted Baker “Lola” dress. What I liked about this dress was its uses of geometric shapes to create an intriguing and beautiful silhouette. Sometimes geometric patterns on a dress can make the dress seem busy or confusing and the dress gets lost in a mess of shapes, but this dress was not like that. The last to show was Molloy’s, who provided the audience with a variety of beautiful dresses. My favorites were a black and gold brocade cocktail dress and red charmeuse one-shoulder gown, which swayed back and forth on the runway as the model walked.
Overall, I thought the event was a great success. I saw many things I liked, and some things I did not. It is nice to see a growing community of people who are interested in fashion and that Milwaukee is trying to create a name for itself with some of the young designers who reside here; however, there is a still a lot of work to go before Milwaukee can claim that it is a fashion hub.

On Campus...October 14th

On Campus... October 9th