What will Barack rock at the inauguration?
I wonder if Barack feels left out of the fashion discussion. His wife will be in the international fashion floodlight during the inaugural activities, but we’ll be looking at you too, Mr. Obama.
It is, afterall, a special day for him, too.
And, yet, we haven’t said much about him except for highlighting his favorite made-in-America by folks who proudly carry a union card tailoring firm Hart Schaffner Marx.
The Chicago-based men’s clothier will be making the tuxedo he plans to wear to the as-yet-undisclosed number of inaugural balls on Jan. 20, according to a report in Women’s Wear Daily earlier this week.
President-elect Barack Obama hasn’t bought a new tux in 15 years, writes 
David Lipke of WWD.
Above right, he wears (gasp!) a rental with a nice white bow tie.
But our new prez will need a new tux. The 47-year-old, 44th president is expected to draw from 1 million to 4 million people to Washington for his inauguration.
We expect him to look especially sharp and since he wears clothes well, I’m sure he won’t disappoint.
But as the country rides out the recession, he surely won’t want to do anything too dramatic. Yet, we’re all still looking for an appropriate amount of pizazz. OK, maybe just me.
Pomp and official proceeding aside, his supporters will have a lot to celebrate and they’ll want him to look the part.
The sketches on this page come from a WWD query of top men’s wear designers seeking the look that they would propose for Obama’s inaugural festivities. See all 53 images from the query here.
On a side note, there is a mini-discussion taking place about how artist’s have captured Obama’s skin tone. Is too light an insult? Is too dark a bigger insult?
During his campaign, the Clintons were accused of darkening Obama’s skin in campaign ads. Sigh. It’s not presented here, but the sketch from Marc Jacobs shows Obama looking quite ivory in complexion. And there were a few more who were more artistic than realistic, but in general it’s an interesting exercise for fashion designers and the American public to search through their crayons and realize that people come in many different shades not the standard “flesh” tone.
From top to bottom (L-R):
Richard James of Savile Row and Brooks Brothers
Sean John and Salvatore Ferragamo
Elie Tahari and D Squared2
(at right) Reem Acra designed a look for the entire family.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WWD.
A wayward soul from Las Vegas, Nevada, who now calls St. Louis home and believes that fashion is relative and capricious, but style is always in favor. 
Gee whiz, Deb, seems like any time you dare to mention the names of the first family, out of the woodwork come the complainers! God love ‘em, they don’t know the difference between headline news and a lifestyle blog.
My preference for Mr. Obama at the Inauguration would be a traditional tuxedo rather than tails, primarily because a tuxedo is more in keeping with his youthful appearance. (To me, tails are fuddy-duddy!) I’d like to see him in monochromatic formalwear, preferably black (Ferragamo) over the white jacket/black pants look (Sean Jean). As to the skin tone issue, you nailed it with your comment about searching through the crayon box. I think our president-elect’s skin is best described as Cafe Au Lait, but I’ll bet you a pair of Manolos that he’s got more pressing issues on his mind right now than the mini-controversy over how artists capture his skin tone.
It never fails that the outcry comes not over the story I suspected, i.e. the nearly-naked Jennifer Aniston photos earlier this week (more than 11,000 visitors viewed that page and there was only one indecency outcry), but from something I just thought was interesting, i.e. the president’s new clothes.
This is a fashion blog after all.
And I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. But it’s a horrible hypocrisy at work when people who think that talking about boys who play with balls and sticks for a living merits an hours long conversation, but also think those of us who consider clothing a sport are frivolous.
Deb - I don’t know that the problem was with your Blog or it’s subject as much as it was with someone’s mistaken notion that this was Front Page worthy earlier today.
As long as speculation about the next draft pick or team trade is front-page worthy, then I can’t see why speculation on a topic of fashion can’t be. I like variety in what I read and apparently you do too or you wouldn’t have clicked on this blog post.
It’s here as an option, not mandatory reading.
Sorry I was gone for all the fun on this subject. I have a function end of January I will be sporting a tux. I look forward to seeing what he is wearing. I was double checking and I didn’t see that Deb became the editor of the P.D. So I think she writes them someone else chooses where they go. I am fine with her articles on the front page all the time.
Clothing isn’t a sport, Debra. Look, I’m not saying Barack shouldn’t be dressed to the nines, but outside of that, what does it matter? As for sports, the economic sociologist Thorstein Veblen knocked men who spent so much time playing and following sports. He claimed the development of these men — who are essentially playing a child’s game of make believe — is truncated.
Now that I think about it, I would add the same assessment for women or men who spend so much time, energy and attention on clothing.
a diva is a female version
of a HUSTLA!