Posted by
Marie-Jacqueline on Friday, October 24, 2008 12:57:44 AM
This is more senseless use of media time when more important issues are at stake. I am a photographer. In my life I have worked behind the scenes with the fashion and movie industry and to some extent within the political scene. This whole "news" story questioning Palins campaign wardrobe seems to me to be another attempt by the left wing media to stir up class warfair. They are attempting to CREATE a news story, CREATE a controversy..in short they are attempting to pit working women against Palin by stirring up what they hope will be wardrobe envy rather than cover substantive issues.
I have already read one woman post on a blog that she has to pay for her own clothes to go to work so why shouldn't Palin. I say she is taking the media bait.
Let us be honest with ourselves. I can assure you that most of us ladies would not kick anyone one to the curb for offering to dress us and give us a makeover. All the more so if we had to be under the intense scrutiny of the media and world at large where public opinion is formed on first impressions and dressing for the job you want.
Palin being given the opportunity to wear a "new" (yet temporary) power wardrobe, paid for by the Republican Party and destined to be auctioned or given away for charity in no scandal. Palin is the only one of the four Presidential candidates that is not considered a millionaire so the party flipped the bill. No big deal. It is part of the cost of running for office in a media driven age where image and photogenic's are unfortunately too important to allow any detail of attire go to chance.
In my business the women I work with wear clothe that are far more expensive than what I or most American women can afford to wear. The attitude in Manhattan, Hollywood and the Washington Beltway is that image is everything which makes it tough for me when working in my industry at times.
I have long lamented how much more it costs to be a well heeled working woman when compared to the men I work with. Dressing for success when you are a woman tends to cost a great deal more. Season to season it changes as well. A man can get away with a 3 suits, 5 dress shirts, a sports jacket, 4 or 5 pairs of dress shoes, 4-5 belts and a large quantity of ties to give him a fresh new look everyday of the year. McCain, Obama, Biden can wear the same suite on every stop on the campaign trail. After a quick press, fresh shirt and a change of tie they are good to go ..Not so for women candidates.
One of the things I noted about Palin when I first started following her career almost 2 years ago, was that she dressed conservatively. Her style was that of the average working women in America. Evidently she only spent a moderate amount of money on her own clothes. She had some mix an match pieces and very few suits. She frequently campaigned in Alaska wearing snow pants and fleece. Her jewelry is modest as well. A polar bear pin, a flag pin and a black and cream bracelet that she wears with most outfits. Palin's personal wardrobe is representative of her frugal personality and reflects her modest use of the family budget. Palin's two favorite stores: A second hand clothing consignment store called The Closet and a place called Shoe Fly in Juno Alaska..Not designer racks.
Palin's personal frugality is indicative of her frugal mindset when it comes to running her personal house hold and how she approaches running the Government.
It is evident that she believes in cutting costs and minimizing expenses. This speaks well of her and her personal wardrobe is really a more accurate representation of her than the campaigns wardrobe. That said I understand why Palin needed to dress it up for the campaign. Lets face it - Image matters. Dressing for the Job you want is important. Palin has to look like a Power Player. All the Candidates need to and in a society that is increasingly judging candidates by their appearance over substance this is a sad fact that has to be accepted.
Lets get real ....The same elitist who offer their criticism of Palin for wearing these high dollar "borrowed' clothes would have poked fun at her for not dressing the part of a Washington power player and dismissed her for looking like a light weight had she met with foreign dignitaries wearing a consignment store suit from her personal wardrobe.
The elite media, who are the first to push for a candidate to look the part by creating the required professional image, are the same people who are so eager to point the finger at Palin. The hypocrisy of the media story, is that it infers that Sarah Palin somehow should not have allowed the Republican Party to sponsor a new ward robe for her to wear when on the road . Yet this is the same media that is so fond of using these words to describe a candidate : " They look Presidential" and for Sarah Palin to cut mustard with the highly critical media she has to "Look like a Vice President".
But the height of hypocrisy is that these are the same elite's who we see at fashion week, or on the red carpet or at the after parties have no problem accepting the Goodie bags containing thousands of dollars of high fashion promo products at the awards simply for being part of an IN CROWD.
As a photographer and someone who at one time worked with media I guarantee that image whether you are a politician or a celebrity is considered, rightly or wrongly, to be of utmost importance.
Does anyone question when celebrities on the red carpet get to wear dresses and jewelry that they did not pay for? No they say it is about image. Models frequently get to keep some of the clothe they wore for a shoot. No one screams it is unfair.
Palin will not keep the clothe. They will be given to charity. Personal I would not have a problem in seeing her keep them. I have seen some very rich spoiled celebrities get freebies and so for once it is a working class woman. If I had the chance to get a make over and some new clothes I would jump on it. Just because someone has not offered that to me does not mean I would deny her the opportunity.
Enough media hypocrisy, enough envy, enough wasted time on a story with no legitimate legs. Hey lets talk about the $68,000,000.00 questionable donations from foreign sources given to the Obama campaign... Oh yeah that won't work ...The media at large is more interested in are trying to help him secure a Nov. win by running rag pieces on Gov. Palin, and Cindy McCain.