Yay or nay? I’m still on the fence, I think the color choice was smart and fresh - but it was more first lady-esque than I expected. Still, you can’t blame her for wanting her coat to match fabulously with her dress, DC is frickin’ cold right now!
Isabel Toledo dress, Jimmy Choo pumps. Oh - and did I mention Ms. Toledo is a FIT alum? Happy Inauguration day!
As the inauguration of Obama is coming up this Tuesday, I’ve had a lot of conversations/questions about what Michelle Obama will be wearing. Michelle Obama is different from any other first lady for a bevy of reasons, but her style is really what puts it out there and begs the media to portray her in a new and refreshing light. She has already been praised for her choice of designers - Thakoon, Narciso Rodriguez, and Chicago based Maria Pinto - which are a far cry from the usually matronly adorned first wives. There’s a ton of speculation in the fashion world about what she will wear - but if we can assume anything based on her past choices, it will definitely not be covered in sequins or include a sash or train or any decadence of first lady’s past. So - in stark contrast to our future first lady of fashion, I’ve put together a fun little timeline of inauguration dresses over the years - painful and amusing at the same time.
Jackie Kennedy (her own design)
Patricia Nixon by Karen Stark
Nancy Reagan by John Galanos
Hilary Clinton in Sarah Phillips
To see more, go to People.com
As fashion is not US & Euro centric (let’s forget about Marc Jacobs & Gucci for a min) I thought I’d start a little costume history commentary - so even though our eyes will be shot by 60 (in a generation of crazy computer use) our brains will still be razor sharp.
I was lucky enough to be put in contact with Jamaica’s top stylist, Michelle Haynes, through a wonderful old co-worker of mine. When I worked with said co-worker, I lived for street fashion - and I spent a lot of time in Queens and Brooklyn my senior year - getting a real distinct flavor outside of the concrete jungle that is Manhattan. I also started reading up on urban style, as I was in a great place to observe - and learned about the extremely fascinating culture of Jamaican Dancehall music & style.
Dancehall is a type of music (late 70’s product of reggae & roots, now more digital) - which spawned a radical type of dress - most times controversial, very sexual, and always colorful. The movement was away from modest/traditional Rastafarian gender role dressing - it’s like going from what we know as the Beatles in the 60’s to Lynard Skynard in the 70’s (sort of). It’s an interesting correlation between acceptance and dress in Jamaica - that on one end of the spectrum the music & dress are celebrated and on the other end frowned upon. It’s sometimes misunderstood as the objectification of women - which is funny because being a real feminist means dressing however you want, whenever you want - and this sense of style is also extremely empowering and evokes a sense of competition among peers. One of my favorite sports is silent fashion faceoffs - and nobody embodies that more than a Jamaican Dancehall girl. It’s a place for imagination - the beauty is that you can be anything you want to be when you put your hair in curlers and paint your nails - put on the fishnets, baubles - it’s like a masquerade ball. This roleplay lets women step outside of their everyday lives - express their sexuality & femininity, and experiment with the extraordinary.
Stylist Michelle Haynes (michellehaynes@flowja.com), a native from Kingston - has worked with Jamaican Dancehall style extensively, and has been the costume designer/stylist on films Goodaz Gal & Dancehall Queen - which embody the Jamaican culture vividly through street style and vintage dancehall.
Another brilliant resource for dancehall imagery is London photographer Wayne Tippetts (below image) - who was in Jamaica in the 80’s when the underground culture first began thriving. He is a master of gritty, real photography - which I die for - and more of his work can be viewed on www.UrbanImage.tv “Wayne Tippetts”, on Flickr “Wayne Tippetts”, or http://www.waynetippetts.com.
