“Black” is the New Black in Fashion? Michelle Obama Effect on Fashion Industry??
I don’t believe it and I’ve been ignoring the fashion old guard’s backlash against First Lady Michelle Obama’s choice to go with younger, diverse, unheralded designers. We’ll see what happens in a year when the “new ness” wears off, but anywho, if you want to read the entire thing, you can head over to The Guardian’s America’s new vogue for black fashion is all due to Michelle Obama
The impetus for the changing attitudes could lie a long way from the world of haute couture and its powerful designers. The key is Michelle Obama. There is little doubt that she is the biggest political icon to hit the fashion industry since Jackie Onassis. Her face stares from magazine covers, her favoured designers become overnight sensations and the clothes she wears often sell out in the shops as soon as she is seen in them. Some have complained at the triviality of the phenomenon, saying that as America faces the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, that the media focus on Michelle’s newest dress is trivial at best and irresponsible at worst.
But that ignores the real powers of fashion. Fashion houses and their models can influence the way millions of Americans think, act and feel about themselves. That can be for ill – with the modern obsession with thinness. Or it can be for good – in the shape of Michelle. A black woman – and also a well-built, professional, educated, older woman – is staring out from the magazine stands and asking Americans to be like her. The Guardian.
Again, have we even hit 100 days? I’ll be a believer in 2011 
Thanks Rikyrah for the tip.
Posted by Gina.
I don’t believe it and I’ve been ignoring the fashion old guard’s backlash against First Lady Michelle Obama’s choice to go with younger, diverse, unheralded designers. We’ll see what happens in a year when the “new ness” wears off, but anywho, if you want to read the entire thing, you can head over to The Guardian’s America’s new vogue for black fashion is all due to Michelle Obama
The impetus for the changing attitudes could lie a long way from the world of haute couture and its powerful designers. The key is Michelle Obama. There is little doubt that she is the biggest political icon to hit the fashion industry since Jackie Onassis. Her face stares from magazine covers, her favoured designers become overnight sensations and the clothes she wears often sell out in the shops as soon as she is seen in them. Some have complained at the triviality of the phenomenon, saying that as America faces the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, that the media focus on Michelle’s newest dress is trivial at best and irresponsible at worst.
But that ignores the real powers of fashion. Fashion houses and their models can influence the way millions of Americans think, act and feel about themselves. That can be for ill – with the modern obsession with thinness. Or it can be for good – in the shape of Michelle. A black woman – and also a well-built, professional, educated, older woman – is staring out from the magazine stands and asking Americans to be like her. The Guardian.
Again, have we even hit 100 days? I’ll be a believer in 2011 Thanks Rikyrah for the tip.
Posted by Gina.