Who ever thought that fashion and politics could bring so much news than the 2008 elections? It’s more like the 2008 Political Fashion Olympics….and the Gold goes to______
The anticipated Michelle Obama speech last night was superseded by the hot topic on every station from CNN to Good Morning America of, ‘what will she be wearing?’ It’s turning into a red carpet event—what happened to what they’re saying? Don’t get me wrong, as a savvy girl, I LOVE fashion (and I too was wondering all afternoon what Michelle would be wearing), but are we making out the elections (and the involvement of women) to be too much like the Oscars? What about the topics, the policies? I think in the last 48 hours I’ve heard more news reports on Michelle’s fashions than on her speech (which I thought was fantastic!) Where’s the emphasis on the strong woman that she is?
Just because we’re women, and in Michelle’s case a supporting wife role, doesn’t mean that all we should be focused on is our look. For example, take today’s news…we’ve been hearing all about Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight and how her portion of the democratic party needs to get on board, what she’s going to say, why she wasn’t nominated, etc….but has ANYONE heard about what she’s going to wear? NO! So then why such a big deal for Michelle? Just because she’s in a supporting wife role she should ‘appear’ different?
In my mind we need to get more smart savvy and stop giving these titles to women that we’re only fashion icons. There’s nothing wrong in making Michelle a fashion-forward icon like Jackie O (because she does dress very well), but in today’s age, we need to encourage media to put more focus on her intelligence, her motherly love to her family and to what she can do, not what she can wear. What sort of example are we setting for women, for African Americans and for our nation? We’re already the leading nation for plastic surgery and being so obsessed with our looks…what about our intelligence?
