Michelle Obama in Tracy Feith.
As if the expectations on Michelle Obama weren’t unrealistic enough, she is not only expected to lift the American fashion industry out of the depths of retail gloom, but she is also now supposed to be a poster woman for black fashion designers. Am I the only person to find this WWD article about recent criticism of her only wearing Asian and Latin American designers just a wee bit annoying? A few gems from the article:
-”It’s fine and good if you want to be all ‘Kumbaya’ and ‘We Are the World’ by representing all different countries. But if you are going to have Isabel Toledo do the inauguration dress, and Jason Wu do the evening gown, why not have Kevan Hall, B Michael, Stephen Burrows or any of the other black designers do something too?” [Black Artists Association co-founder] Amnau Eele said.
-”It’s one thing to look at the world without color but she had seven slots to wear designer clothes. Why wasn’t she wearing the clothes of a black designer? That was our moment.”
I mean let’s get real here. Has Michelle not got enough on her plate for progressing black and American history as it is? Can’t the woman just put on a dress because she likes it without carrying the weight of social responsibility? And isn’t the whole idea of America voting the Obamas into the White House totally contradictory to that “our moment” idea? Okay I’ll stop with the questions and the italics. I’m all for promoting black talents in fashion and pointing out to the public when they are being disregarded or excluded (see the series of articles I wrote about the black model issue), but there is no way that I can support this woman’s argument. It just doesn’t hold an ounce of water.
