Cathy Hornyn, the New York Times’ style editor recently wrote a piece about Michelle Obama’s wardrobe. (Not unusual– seems like every fashion writer has a Michelle Obama beat going.) This piece was interesting because it commented on Ikram Goldman, who runs the boutique where Mrs. O gets most of her clothes.
The article is fixated on the fact that Mrs. Obama gets virtually all her clothes from there. It obsesses with the idea that many designers are affronted that Mrs. Obama didn’t approach them directly.
But the article misses the point. The controversy here isn’t that she chooses her clothes primarily from the boutique– after all Ikram showcases many talented young, old and obscure designers from Jason Wu to Isabel Toledo, Thakoon to Narcisco (the last two are bigger names, but not quite mainstream until now). We also know that Mrs. Obama buys clothes from the Gap, J Crew, and she even mentioned Target once.
But there is a controversy, and the article only lightly touches this. Mrs. Obama didn’t pay for her inaugural clothes. We know that Ikram told Jason Wu that his work could be in the Smithsonian, but that he wouldn’t be paid AND there were no guarantees.
SO here’s the real ethical question about First Lady fashion- shouldn’t she pay for her clothes, even if she wears them once? I’m less inclined to worry about her borrowing jewellery, for some reason. But the notion that she got all these clothes for her children, and for her inaugural day, but didn’t pay for them, troubles me. And I said this despite the fact that I love Michelle Obama, and have followed her for the past two years. She’s a wonderful, inspiring person, with a great sense of style, but this is troubling.