WWD on Mrs. O, Oscar de la Renta
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 10:09 AM Almost a week after the state dinner, there is a substantial new piece in WWD today by Executive Editor Bridget Foley. The topic? Mrs. O's choice of an Alexander McQueen gown and Oscar de la Renta's seeming lone dissent. The full piece is available here, and is worth a read. A few excerpts follow below:
“This is an important issue,” de la Renta elaborated on Friday, the day WWD’s item ran. “Some people did not get the point. It’s not [intended] to be negative. Do you think Kate Middleton is going to be married in Marc Jacobs? Or you’d see Carla Bruni dressing in American clothes? This is a big industry in this country. Mrs. Obama does look great. She should take that and do something. She could do a great good for our industry. We need to create jobs here, create jobs on Seventh Avenue, too.”
Oscar’s point is well taken for a number of reasons. All Michelle Obama wardrobe sightings — and thus, for lack of a better term, product placements — are not created equal. A White House Christmas party or a school visit doesn’t have the same resonance as it did two years ago, or as an event of major international interest today. Then there’s the overt context of President Hu’s visit — to discuss trade — and, for this industry, its fashion subtext: China is redefining the global luxury and apparel industries at both the producer and consumer sides.
President Obama expressed one of his goals as simply as possible when he told President Hu in front of the cameras, “We want to sell you all kinds of stuff. We want to sell you planes. We want to sell you cars. We want to sell you software…”
Thus, the billing of Wednesday’s soiree as quintessentially American, inclusive of steak, Idaho potatoes and jazz after dinner. Yet there was Michelle Obama flaunting an Alexander McQueen dress. If perhaps unrealistic to wish that the President had added fashion to his above product litany — although why not? — might not Michelle Obama have chosen to send the message visually?
[....]
De la Renta suggested that Mrs. Obama might have worn something from one of the younger designers whom she supports so enthusiastically, many of whom make at least some of their clothes on Seventh Avenue. As this was a power summit of sorts, the powerful Ralph Lauren might have made sense as well. Or perhaps an artful look from the most famous Chinese-American designer — and dinner guest — Vera Wang.
To wear something other than American at this particular trade-centric mega-fete embarrasses a major U.S. industry that continues to need all the help it can get.
Yet, except from one lone voice crying out from his stronghold at 550 Seventh Avenue, who is delivering that message? Where is the lobbying, from individual designers, or from the CFDA as an institution? If one maintains that fashion is a global industry and countrywide promotion is outdated and jingoistic, then what exactly is the CFDA’s raison d’etre? Conversely, if one believes that a little nationalistic marketing is beneficial to the American industry, then why is Oscar a lobby of one?
The debate raises interesting questions about the role, responsibilities and power of Mrs. O's wardrobe. A dress will seldom simply be a dress for the First Lady. We'll see Mrs. O again tonight at the State of the Union address, scheduled to begin at 9pm EST. Last year Mrs. O wore Isaac Mizrahi. This year?
P.S. One more related read:
"The CFDA Verdict" [Vogue.com UK]
Reader Comments (66)
In regard to the First Lady's fashion choices, this American "exceptionalist" and "colonialist" rhetoric about what she should wear, when she should wear it, and who should have designed it, is patently unfair and unreasonable, and, may be (I would hardly be surprised given the history of these United States) a proxy for more pernicious terminology (or attitudes) about Mrs. Obama and her audacity to be unfazed and unfettered by the fashion "lords" and OdlR, in particular.
Like the first lady or not, "Change" has come to the White House, and it will not be leaving before January 2013, at the earliest! So chill out with the "hateration" and let the First Lady be herself.
The gown was beautiful -- the color right for the occasion. But the sub-text was wrong. And Mrs.O is judged (most often positively) on the subtext. It is part of her appeal.
I think somebody gave her the wrong advice here. She should go back to Ikram, who would not have made such a collosal mistake.
Oscar de la Renta is only frustrated that Mrs. O has not chosen one of his gowns*. She is the missing jewel in his crown. I remember reading a review of one of his recent runway shows and the writer described the scene. The entire show was a love song to Mrs. O right down to the Marvin Gaye soundtrack. I can understand the emotions of not catching the "big one." But what I despise is the way he is displaying his feelings. He's been in the company of some pretty spectacular women. He should know better.
* Mrs. O has worn Oscar de la Renta before. Check out page 21 of Mrs. T's book on our First Lady.
I agree with Claire. A lot more for the economy and the American fashion industry could be done if those very fashion designers would have some of their clothes made in the US by American workers.
I agree with Mr De La Renta, Mrs Obama should wear American Designer at state dinner for other countries.
Private, she can wear whatever she pleased, in public, wear American,
Simple as that.
Gosh. Sure not easy being Michelle.
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Do any of you only wear American made and designed clothes? Even if everything in your closet came from Wal-Mart that is mostly produced in China or Indonesia or some other third world country where the labor is cheap. If you shop at Target most of the designers they collaborate with are non-Americans. So if the normal everyday woman can't claim to only have American in their closets why should Michelle Obama? I think Mrs. O does more for American fashion than any other female lead of a country. Do you think Carla Bruni or The Queen or even fashion icon herself Jackie-O ever wore something they picked up from The Gap out in public? She has helped American brand apparel companies from sinking when the economy has seen many people shutter their doors. If Mrs. O wore De La Renta or Wang or Wu to everything what are the odds of you just being able to run down to your local mall and pick one up just like it. If you see her in a J. Crew cardigan and a Banana Republic pin and you like it if you are lucky you can get it from your local mall before they sell out.
Did any of the nay-sayers stop to think that Mrs. O may have had American designs to choose from but they did not flatter her figure or suit her fancy. Judging from what Vera Wang was wearing that is a real possibility. Would you have expected her to wear that dress Vera had on just to say she was wearing American. If she did you probably would have been on here tearing her a new one because she looked ridiculous. Seriously FLOTUS can't win for losing. I think her endearment to President Hu was in the color and design of the fabric. If the designer of the dress was unknown that is all we would be talking about.
OY VEY!!!! When will it end?
Maybe, the American tax payers should just pay for the First Lady's wardroom and Congress could vote on what she can and can't wear.
I like Robin Givhan's take on WhatTheGownMeans:
The red petal print, silk organza gown wasn’t so much an act of diplomacy as a broad statement about the new realities of the fashion industry. In choosing a dress from Alexander McQueen, Mrs. Obama championed the cause of artisan design, the legacy of bespoke tailoring, and the staggering creativity that can be nurtured in the frock trade when it is at its best. The sleeveless dress, with its asymmetrical neckline, was created by a house that represents the designer imagination at its most indulgent and devilish. And in wearing the gown to honor China, a country that many view with disdain for its abundance of cheap labor, counterfeit products, and poor labor practices, Mrs. Obama seemed to be recognizing the country’s inevitable place in the fashion cycle and giving it its due. Indeed, Chinese consumers represent a vast new marketplace for designer companies, and the production quality of its factories continues to improve. In short, Mrs. Obama’s choice was an optimistic celebration of all that fashion can be and it seemed to suggest that China was welcome to be a part of that vision.
...
This dress, less body conscious and richly adorned than Mrs. Obama’s previous state dinner gowns by Naeem Khan and Peter Soronen, seemed to be more of a celebration of the global fashion industry rather than a more narrowly focused desire to spotlight the creativity of China or any American designers who can claim a familial connection to it.
In Mrs. Obama’s considered fashion message, her full-skirted dress, from a British design house worn in celebration of a Chinese president, struck a blow for creativity. In grand and sweeping terms, one could argue that it symbolized the ability of a designer’s imagination to cross borders, connect different cultures, and ultimately express itself in a singular moment of beauty.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-19/michelle-obama-in-alexander-mcqueen-lady-in-red-at-white-house-state-dinner/
Point well taken by whom and for what reason? If this were his first criticism of the First Lady for something not addressed about other first ladies previously, maybe. But he is sounding more and more like he's drinking from the whine [sic] of sour grapes. As for Ralph Lauren, his vision of an extra large is a size 10. His outfits aren't designed for anyone who has hips/behind.
De La Renta makes vibrant women look; it's what a lot of designers seem to do for women of a certain age. It's fitting that he designed Hillary's mother of the bride dress given that he'd been making her look that way previously. Frankly, until we're actually buying Michelle's clothes, we really don't get much of a say in what she picks.
I think it is important to remember that the reason we are having this discussion at all is that Michelle Obama has been more responsive to these issues than any other FLOTUS. I agree that an American designer could have been chosen, or particularly a Chinese American designer, but maybe she just thought she would look drop-dead georgous in the dress - which she did.
The thing I do not understand about Oscar's comment is this: many of the American designers do not even make their clothing here in the states anyway! Also, there is a designer in Chicago that she always wears and she often wears J Crew
Oscar is a bitter man.
@Soccer Mom: I get it. I really do. Thank you for putting it all back in perspective for me. And Oscar, Ralph and all, can just wait until 4 MORE YEARS are over and design all the so-called flattering, boring, tiresome pantsuits and the fashionable gowns for those starving models parading in those ridiculous high shoes, falling and tripping over themselves. Until then...STILL SHE RISE!
A grown woman being told what to wear like a two year old.