Simon Doonan contemplates fashion and politics:
I think when people write about politicians’ clothes they’re really scraping the barrel,
especially when they write about men’s clothes. They do this analysis of like, a red tie. They all wear red ties, for God’s sake. Talk about looking for love in all the wrong places. The politicians in history who have worn remarkable clothes are few and far between. You have to go back to Benjamin Disraeli, who was an outrageous dandy who wore velvet, yellow velvet waistcoats and knickers and he wore a lot of perfume and jewelry. He was extremely camp and over the top. Any politician who’s smart in this day and age is going to dress so as to be unremarkable, but somehow other writers feel it incumbent on themselves to remark on the unremarkable. I don’t know how they do it. “Oh look, he’s wearing an anorak.” And you can get columns out of it, and I think, really? An anorak?
Doonan particularly dislikes fashion talk about Michelle Obama:
The reality is, Mrs. Obama is quite chic, but not sort of in a vain, self-involved way. I guess I was getting sick of people talking about her appearance all the time, and I thought it was very unfair to her and borderline insulting. To me, it’s quite clear that what makes her a great First Lady is her intelligence and her strength and her warmth. Think about Nancy Reagan, think about Laura Bush, think about Hillary Clinton. You don’t get all those three in any of those women, warmth, strength, and intelligence. I thought it was unfair to her and unfair to her legacy to keep focusing on her clothing.
Update from a reader:
Just curious. Which quality do you think Simon Doonan was referring to regarding Laura Bush?
Think about Nancy Reagan, think about Laura Bush, think about Hillary Clinton. You don’t get all those three in any of those women, warmth, strength, and intelligence.
I can’t imagine it’s warmth, because she’s always come across that way to me, and I can’t imagine he’s calling her dumb. So I’m assuming he’s thinking “strength,” because she doesn’t have an in-your-face personality. But that’s not my definition of strength. I don’t know how anyone could survive being First Lady for 8 years without being strong. She’s also publicly disagreed with her husband’s stance on gay marriage and reproductive choice – that doesn’t require strength?
I’m a die-hard Democrat, but I think Laura Bush exhibits all those qualities in droves (her only intelligence blip being whom she chose to marry – but, you know, love yada yada yada).
(Image of Disraeli via Wikimedia Commons)
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