Jewel colours or winter white? Perfectly simple or a theatrical flourish that show-cases the ingenuity of American design? Designer, with impeccable ethnic-minority credentials (that would be someone with Mayflower ancestors, then), or all-American waspy gods such as Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren (both of whom are, inevitably, Jewish - see how complicated this ethnic thing is)?
And the plot thickens. The inaugural gown, according to Carl Sferrazza Anthony, a historian who has written extensively about First Ladies, is a metaphor for the role. No wonder that speculation surrounding Michelle Obama's outfits threatens to rival the great Labradoodle versus Portuguese water dog debate and possibly even overtake theories about Madonna's new, new face. When Women's Wear Daily (WWD), the fashion industry gospel, recently ran 35 sketches of proposals from some of the world's leading, and lesser known, designers, its website received six million hits. Revenge of the fashion nerd or what? This is important, not just because in view of the Carla (Bruni) effect, America is crying out for a stylish First Lady after decades of what can most kindly be described as matronly chic in the White House, but because what Mrs O wears is likely to end up one day in the Smithsonian, one of America's most venerated museums.
And so the fever continues. Sheath or pouff? Satin or lace? Glittery or understated? Will she plump for a pillar of White House dressing, such as Oscar de la Renta, a slick designer of patrician South American extraction who understands every nuance of political protocol and who has successfully dressed Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush? Or will she remain loyal to Maria Pinto, an unknown name until about six minutes ago, but one who has so far served her very well? Or might she throw caution to the wind on the basis that you only live once and to hell with the patriots, and go for something French to show that she's backing her husband's new, Euro-friendly promises?
The blogosphere is phosphorescent with rumour and, for once, the blogosphere may have a point. For all the fireworks surrounding the clothes that women in the public eye wear today, a surprisingly small number of outfits become totemic. Diana's wildly romantic wedding meringue on an uncharacteristically hot July day in London, 1981; the demure, pink bouclée suit that Jackie Kennedy wore in Dallas the afternoon that JFK was assassinated in 1963; Dior's New Look suit, launched on an incredulous, glamour-starved public in 1947 - have become freighted with a social significance that elevates their aesthetics into eloquent parcels of visual history.
Ref:http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article5511337.ece
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