Casting the Vote: Presidential Style

As the presidential election approaches, presentation becomes a key factor to success, and this does not mean the presentation of the prospective presidents’ opinions and viewpoints, as Mitt Romney has seemed to have fooled half of America with his vacillating policies, but instead of style and fashion. I would analyze every tie and suit that the president and Mitt Romney have worn; however, I realize that this is pointless considering neither candidate will make a fashion statement within the next four years or ever. Therefore, I have chosen to critique the both Ann Romney’s and Michelle Obama’s past outfits and how they reflect their husbands plans for the country. After all, do we remember Jackie Kennedy for restoring the White House or her oversized sunglasses, string of pearls and pastel shift dresses that made her a fashion icon?

            While both women have exhibited a superb taste in clothing, Ann Romney’s appears to be newly formed, like that of her husband’s position on just about anything, while Michelle Obama proves to have a genuine love for style and fashion and would never be caught in the ‘soccer mom’ attire Ann Romney sported prior to the campaign. Although Ann Romney’s style is newly established, she doesn’t seem to mind spending thousands of dollars on designer garments that she will only wear once, a reflection of her husband’s plans to create outrageous tax cuts for the wealthy in order to ensure the stagnation of social classes. Michelle Obama on the other hand refuses to use her style as a status symbol, often opting to recycle outfits for multiple prestigious events even wearing the same Thom Browne dress to the final debate and the Democratic National Convention. Additionally, the first lady invests in up and coming American designers who have yet to establish themselves within the fashion industry, lending them much publicity and putting Mitt Romney’s platform of helping small businesses into question as his wife has adopted a stage-five-clinger attitude when it comes to Oscar de la Renta’s lavish, prestigious and popular designs.

The clear winner of this presidential (style) debate is Michelle Obama; however is Ann Romney’s poor – or  should I say rich – choice in clothing entirely her fault? After all, Anna Wintour, the editor and chief at Vogue, an avid supporter of the Obamas and the queen of the fashion industry, has publicly shunned Ann Romney. I think not, as Michelle Obama and her two girls often stun the public in their chic yet modest Anthropologie and H&M apparel, two mainstream fashion empires Miss Wintour has no control over.