Bailey Singletary is a junior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected]. It’s 2008 and everyone is being sucked into the world of politics. Personally, I get a little tired of reading, watching and breathing politics. But while trying to avoid it, the political devil managed to lure me into its snare.
I began to notice while flipping through political debates on television and skimming every newspaper there is to offer that fashion has left the Hollywood parties and made its debut again into political parties. Back in the 1960s when Jackie Kennedy Onassis became a fashion icon, people constantly noticed what she was wearing and to this day follow the trends she started.
With a prominent female figure such as Hillary Clinton in politics, fashion has once again become an issue.
She appeared on the cover of Vogue in 1998, but when she was asked to appear again a decade later she declined for fear of looking “too feminine” while running for political office.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, was appalled at Clinton’s “behind the times” fashion sense.
I agree with Wintour when she stated in her editor’s letter: “Margaret Thatcher may have looked terrific in a blue power suit, but that was 20 years ago. I do think Americans have moved on from the power-suit mentality, which served as a bridge for a generation of women to reach boardrooms filled with men.”
And for those who also indulge in the guilty pleasures of fashion magazines, you might notice in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar that this former first lady is featured next to the fashion model Nadja Auermann. Thank goodness everyone knows that Harper’s Bazaar isn’t a “feminine” magazine, right?
But alas, don’t get your knickers in a twist too soon because the whole photoshoot was cut, cropped and chopped while some cardboard cutouts of the politicians were used.
So not to single out Clinton on her fashion, John Edwards has been under some scrutiny for appearing on the cover of Men’s Vogue magazine and for the trés expensive quaff he sports.
Barack Obama hasn’t really been scolded for his fashion but more for his interest in working with the rap scene.
Some say that this just makes it seem like he feels he’s running for prom king and just wants to be popular with all the “cool kids.” And we all know the tragic day when Rudy Giuliani decided to dress up as a woman for the 2000 Mayor’s Inner Circle Press Roast, but I’m not even going to go there.
Maybe it’s the new trend of Hollywood and all the celebrities getting involved in politics lately that makes fashion such a big deal. Ever since the “Vote or Die” campaign was started some years ago by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Hollywood caring about politics is like caring about the environment because before celebrities cared, let’s be honest, nobody did.
Some might disagree with me and say they don’t care at all what their favored politicians are wearing, but I am confident that if Obama, Edwards, Guiliani, Clinton and all the other prominent figures walked on a stage wearing Crocs and wind suits, most people would have a problem.
I do think that Clinton could ease up on the whole “I hope no one notices I have lady parts” gig she is pulling, because the emotional breakdown she had in New Hampshire sealed that deal for a lot of people. I also don’t think that if Clinton began to wear couture fashion everyone would realize she’s a woman and decide not to support her.
If people don’t want to vote for Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman, they aren’t going to care if she began to sprout facial hair and stuffed her pant suit with a sock. It wouldn’t change the fact that some Americans are not ready for a female president.