Fashion First: Michelle Obama vs. Cindy McCain
by Anna Jane Grossman
On June 18, a toned black woman attended a talk show wearing a simple black and white leaf-print sleeveless number by Donna Ricco. A week earlier, a svelte blonde was spotted perusing the showroom of Oscar de la Renta in New York City.
Both events made news around the country and throughout the blogosphere. That’s what happens whenever Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain pull an article of clothing over their heads.
It’s been several decades since any potential First Ladies have garnered so much attention for their looks. Sure, there’s no shortage of issues to discuss and personalities to probe in this election year, but while pundits discuss the candidates’ proposed policies and promises, a growing sector of the American public seems to be keeping careful track of the wardrobes of the wives Obama and McCain, turning these pre-November months into one long red-carpet procession.
First Ladies have long helped set the tone of American women’s wear. Mary Lincoln treated her wardrobe as a matter of national importance, even suggesting at one point that appointed officials help pay for her outfits; Grover Cleveland’s wife was a fixture on the cover of fashion magazines and is credited with having helped cause the demise of the bustle. Then, of course, there was Jackie Kennedy, who is remembered as much for her sense of style as for her remarkable life and husband.
Recently, however, first lady hopefuls have brought fashion and taste to a new level.
“I think the fact that we almost had a woman candidate has empowered these potential First Ladies to be a little more forward thinking,” says In Style national correspondent Katrina Szish. “The fact that there was a woman out there in this race raised the level of their power and influence.”
More than any other candidate’s wife in recent memory, these women have mastered the art of creating tasteful outfits that get noticed but that don’t overshadow their husbands or their messages.
Michelle Obama, who last year made Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed List, has walked the tightrope between elegance, approachability and humility by creating a wardrobe that’s made up of both high and low items.
“She’s ‘younger’ than Cindy McCain in her style,” says Sherrie Mathieson, an Arizona-based style consultant and author of the book Forever Cool. “Simplicity is her friend, and she looks very attractive when she sticks to simple lines that emphasize her upper body, reveal her toned arms, and skim her lower half. She achieves a very self-assured, unaffected flair without obviously spending a king's ransom.”
One day she might be seen in a simple sundress with a cardigan thrown over the shoulders—a look that could be easily copied with finds from the Gap or Target (reportedly one of her favorite stores). “With the dress she wore on “The View” in June, she did a brilliant thing by choosing something that was memorable—something that a lot of women would like to have in their wardrobe and is at an accessible price point, but is still a style statement,” says Szish, referring to the $148 black and white dress that sold out soon after Michelle Obama appeared in it on the show. “It was a very democratic choice.” Another day, she’s likely to don something simple but classier, such as the purple silk sheath dress she wore when her husband declared victory over Hillary Clinton on June 3. The dress, which is by designer Maria Pinto, is estimated to cost about $900 retail. She made it her own by pairing it with gobstopper pearls and a belt, which is one of her favorite accessories.
“Pearls are [a] First Lady classic. But those were more like Wilma Flintstone look-at-me pearls. They were a modern version of a classic—adventurous and not at all staid,” says Szish. “And the dress got a lot of attention because it wasn’t your classic red or blue that First Ladies try to go with. It had a deep v-neck, she wasn’t wearing stockings, and it had bare arms and [a belt] to show off her waist. A lot of people compared it to a Jackie-O dress.”
And we all know that purple just happens to be the color that results from pairing blue and red.
“The thing about Michelle Obama is that she knows who she is dressing for,” says Steele, referencing the fact that, when attending a fashionista-studded fundraiser hosted by Calvin Klein and Vogue, the toned lawyer wore a large and loud Tom Binns necklace paired with a black front-wrapped jersey tunic and palazzo pants outfit designed by Isabel Toledo, a fashion designer who is highly respected but better known in fashion circles than in Chicago lawyer circles.
Cindy McCain, meanwhile, has opted for a more traditional wardrobe, but is careful to steer away from anything too matronly. Like her Democratic counterpart, she dresses in a way that accentuates her figure.
“She’s more regal in a Reagan Era way—very, very pulled together, very buttoned up in her Crayola color box palette,” says Sasha Charnin Morrison, fashion director at US Weekly. “I like her choice of wearing tailored jackets. Fit here is key. She has no fear of strong silhouettes like a power suit in fire engine red, yellow, fuchsia.”
While some have estimated that quite a few of her outfits have cost several thousand dollars, the heiress also knows how to dress down without losing her sense of style. “She favors strong designers like Escada and Oscar de la Renta but has also been photographed in Vogue in a Kors cashmere sweater and jeans,” says Szish. “She has a classic style but still takes risks with leather and necklaces. There were great shots of her wearing boot cut jeans and tank tops and a ponytail. She can be very formal and elegant but also look like a kid doing grass roots work on the trail.”
But she is more frequently spotted looking anything but folksy. She got particular attention in Phoenix on Super Tuesday, when she wore her hair in a tight geometric bun that look like it took hours to construct and glue and pin. “She has the hair and physique of an heiress, and I think that when she dresses like one and coifs herself like one, she goes overboard,” says Nick Verreos, former “Project Runway” contestant and cofounder of the Nikolaki label. “She becomes too Stepford Wife-y—too perfect and robotically put together. When she doesn’t try to soften herself up a little bit, she looks like she’s someone who is going to scold you for using the wrong fork at the table.”
It’s too soon to tell which woman will be next to the president at the inauguration or dancing with him at the subsequent balls, but fashion-minded folk are already speculating.
Szish sees Michelle Obama continuing to work the sheath dress look. “I see her wearing one with a coordinating great coat and a fabulous statement belt. I could also see her wearing white. It obviously represents the White House, but it’s also a color of purity and change and it symbolizes a blank slate. With her beautiful skin, she can really pull it off. She would be stately and elegant.”
And for Cindy McCain?
“I’d love to see her wearing something youthful and feminine,” says Szish. “I love it when she has her hair pulled back casually, has on a skinny jacket with a pencil skirt, and wears softer colors—a mint green or a pale pink.”
Verreos agrees that she should try to play up her youthful side, both as an attempt to balance out her husband’s age and as a nod to a younger generation of voters.
“She has such a fabulous figure that I would suggest something by Proenza Schouler for her,” he says. “I think that would modernize her a bit. Or even Zac Posen. She needs an American designer that isn’t so much the tried-and-true and prone to boxy cuts. Peter Som, maybe, or Narciso Rodriguez. She should still wear something with clean lines and no frills, and she may still end up looking a bit like a ‘lady who lunches,’ but ideally she’ll look like someone who lunches with the ladies but also would be okay sitting down with you and having some potato salad.”
Barneys New York creative director and acclaimed fashion writer Simon Doonan, however, remains skeptical of a First Lady who would dare consider her January attire at this early date.
“The minute people in politics become consumed with style is the minute we need to worry,” says Doonan. “Think Imelda Marcos or Evita Perón. In America, our politicians are very much public servants and their wives need to appear to have a non-indulgent point of view when it comes to clothing. Personally, I like my politicians to be frumpy.”
Next: In Photos: Michelle Obama vs. Cindy McCain >
Plus: The Most Fashionable First Ladies in History >
Anna Jane Grossman (AnnaJane.net) is a freelance journalist in New York City. Her second book, Going Going Gone, will be published by Abrams Image next year.
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