Fashion and Politics
Fashion and politics never really have meshed well together, they seem to really be non-related. However in last years election the issue of fashion and republican vice president candidate Sarah Palin seemed to draw a lot of attention. After the recent release of her book Going Rouge, Palin’s “New York stylist” identified herself to the New York Times to try to explain some of what went on during “Wardrobegate”. The formerly unnamed “New York stylist” is self-employed fashion consultant Lisa Klein, not to be confused with the Lisa Klein that owns the LA boutiques. Klein explained the $150,000 in clothing for the Palin family by telling about on when she was first employed for the job. Klein was called and asked to dress Palin for the Republican National Convention three days before it was to begin on Labor day weekend. After accepting the job, Klein realized that all her fashion connections were on vacation for the holiday and that she would have to buy the clothes at retail prices. After picking clothes out at Saks Fifth Avenue and Barney’s, she traveled to Minneapolis with a seamstress for fittings and was there informed that she had to dress the entire family including. A worldwide ninety-minute trip to the Neimen Marcus by Klein in Minneapolis at 7 am costs the republican party $130,000 according to election fillings. Being a stylist doesn’t stop at picking out clothes however, once all the clothes were brought back fittings and alterations need to be made on the clothes as well. this article is interesting because it clears up some of the confusion over the rumored costs of the Palins’ new wardrobe for the election, which the article says were all returned after the campaign trail. One might argue as to why so much time, money, and effort are put into the wardrobe. Most people in the public eye however have stylists to help them choose appropriate outfits and looks for highly publicized events, if they didn’t especially with a family as big as Palin’s they run the risk of the family looking inappropriate for an event. People may have forgotten about Palin for a little while but the debut of her memoir has dug up more questions that this article proves to answer.
