CHANGE: Obama's New Fashion Scene

 

She's no Jackie O., but Michelle Obama is doing her part to usher in the new wave of American fashion. The first lady made a long-distance appearance on Sunday during the Oscars to award Argo as best picture.

The satellite presentation itself spoke significiantly of the world today and the impact of technology on it. Although not exactly a rare stunt at such an event, this shows that the new America finds distance to be no obstacle. She also didn't use staying home as an excuse to dress down. Fitting in with the glitzy evening, Obama turned to American-based designer Naeem Khan for Art Deco glamour.

She is an avid supporter of the American fashion industry, helping new designers get their products seen and names known. Mrs. Obama has proven to be an American fashion role model since appearing in Jason Wu at her husband's 2008 inauguration. He was one of many in the new generation of American fashion designers to be elevated to a household name by the First Lady. Last weekend, Khan joined that troupe.

 Michelle O. is the most positive fashion role model America has had in over a decade. She represents a new breed of fashionista, one that prefers high class to showing one's ass. At the Oscars, Obama was living, shining proof that being classy is not the same as being stuffy. American fashion is becoming more intellectual and sophisticated. It's no surprise that she is the perfect role model for this movement.

An Age of Conformity

Very few things are unique in society today. One would think the influence of globalization would bring new ideas to foreign places, but instead, we've all become the same. We all listen to the same music, wear the same clothes, have the same hairstyles, frequent the same websites, play the same games, and watch the same shows. Well, I'm bored. Where's the excitement in an environment where everything sounds, looks and feels the same?

It is human nature to want to belong. But why does "belonging" have to mean "assimilating"? Our differences make us who we are. And while most of us claim to value uniqueness and individuality, we really don't. Because while we might praise these traits in others, it scares us to venture outside the communal comfort zone. We don't want to bare all and show the world who we are without at least a small group of similar characters to fall back on.

To be perfectly honest with you, I have a difficult time recognizing my peers because I often can't tell them apart in any significant way. I know this makes me sound cold and uncaring, but I believe it to be very telling about the typical young woman today: she's a wallflower. No, this doesn't mean she's a nerd or antisocial. In fact, the typical wallflower is neither of these things, but she fades into the background simply because she does not dare to be different. This leaves me wondering: If memorability is a networking advantage, why are most of my peers quite forgettable?

In fact, I've known some peers who actually go to extra lengths to make themselves forgettable, such as dying their attention-grabbing red hair to a generic brown tone. I love that I (according to some of my LIM professors) am "branding" myself with my striking gingerness and quirky headwear. It excites me when important fashion contacts remember me from past experiences. I don't know why anyone would give up that reaction to simply fit in.

I wish we didn't live in an age of conformity. But, then I ask myself: Without conformity, would there be individuality? I conjure up an image of Lincoln Center during NYFW. It's filled with fashion bloggers, each in an outfit more eccentric than the next. Yet, I was left feeling that their eccentricity was fraudulent. Because no one is unique when everyone else is. On the other hand, simply sitting on a New York City subway post-rush hour will give you an idea what complete individuality looks like - and remind you why you love this place so much.

Where, Oh Where, Has All Our Class Gone?



Queen Victoria of England



            There was a time when it was considered scandalous for a woman to wear a dress that exposed her ankles. A time when monarchs told us what colors we could and could not wear, depending on our social class. I’m glad this time is far behind us.



1920s Flappers



As a feminist nerd, I wish I could go back to the 1920s and join the flappers who shocked America by hiking up their skirts. I respect the 1960s Mods who cut them even shorter. By the time Madonna came around in the 1980s, the feminist movement and sexual revolution had paved the way for her breed of shock: a graphic book entitled “Sex” and regular concert performances done in leather leotards or corsets.



Credit of Professor Hallay
Fashion Writer and Social Critic



            But unless we become a society of nudists, that’s it. There’s nowhere to go from here – we hiked up our skirts and even tossed them off in favor of undergarments. So we just got stuck. Fashion hasn’t evolved for the last three decades because we’ve reached the climax of this particular direction. Since miniskirts became accepted by consumers, we’ve regularly lowered and raised hemlines on a whim, dependent on personality, mood, weather, and trends.

            But nothing has changed. Our “entertainers” still present themselves on stage in leather leotards, expecting us to be shocked. The media backs them up, putting it into our heads that we are, in fact, shocked and perhaps even offended.  Do we have such a collective one-track mind that, after raising hemlines over the course of a century, we can no longer see any others ways to evolve fashion?

Grammy Awards 2012
(BTW, Fergie, Victoria's Secret sells orange bra and panty sets.)

            We’ve gotten to such a sad point (culturally) that the Grammy Award Shows, one of the most formal events in the American entertainment industry, had to issue a dress code. Normally, the idea of a dress code offends me, as I feel I should be allowed to express myself independent of rules. However, this was really no more than a “common sense” guideline for classiness: all they wanted was for the ladies to dress like such, covering their breasts, buttocks, and genitals.



Grammy Awards 2013
Some stars neglected to follow the rules...
Others seem to have swapped for bad choices at the last minute.



            Can you even believe they had to say that? I can’t! The most pathetic thing about this “Grammy Dress Code” ordeal is that a number of notable women didn’t bother to listen. It’s time that we remember that “pushing the envelope” doesn’t mean being overly sexualized. That isn’t what the women of the 1920s or the 1960s had in mind and that isn’t what we should be aiming for today.



King Richard III
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We shouldn’t need a monarchical figure to tell us how to dress like the ladies we are. If we found Richard III after all this time, we should be able to find a trace of class leftover from those days. 



- Alexis Archer