I couldn’t help but laugh at this article over at NYMag: Michelle Obama Under Fire for Not Wearing Black Designers.
The Black Artists Association is upset with our new First Lady for not wearing clothes by African-American designers. BAA Cofounder Amnau Eele, who was a runway model for Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, and Bill Blass, told WWD, “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?” Eele plans to make a formal appeal to Michelle’s office.
We finally get our first black president and the whole world is on the edge of their seats waiting to embrace a very promising future; yet people like Amnau Eele are more preoccupied with the skin color of the people who designed Michelle Obama’s wardrobe? Get the fuck over yourself.
Fortunately NYMag responds rather eloquently:
The striking thing about Michelle Obama’s fashion sense is not that she chooses to wear pieces by an Asian American (Jason Wu) and a Cuban American (Isabel Toledo) in the same day, but that her choice of lesser-known labels demonstrates her sophisticated taste. Few outside of the fashion industry knew who Wu or Toledo were before Tuesday, but now the whole world knows. We think it’s amazing that Michelle is giving these designers exposure they would never otherwise have, whether that’s a factor in her decision-making process or not. Besides, by sticking to American designers she supports the industry — severely flagging in the economic downturn — as a whole. The designers she wears make clothes that suit her and look good on her. It seems unfair to put her under any more pressure.
