STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

 It does seem hypocritical considering she's supposed to be "one of us" and a hockey mom etc.  Most hockey moms don't drop $75K at Saks.  

However, if it will get her to stop wearing shoes like this, I'm all for it!

How much was spent on Obama and McCain's wardrobe? I dont know if that was stated in the article, cuz I didn't read it, but it only seems fair to state that as well if they're going to start evaluating how much money it spent on certain things.

Well, McCain is accepting federal funding for his campaign while Obama is not (which means if you elected to contribute to political campaigns on your tax return, you contributed to that funding).  Word on the street is that the RNC paid for her wardrobe (and that of her family), but technically that $150k could have gone alot further somewhere else.

I think it's totally understandable that both she and her family would need some new clothing suitable for the national stage and the number of appearances she's made or will make.  However, nobody needs $5k leather jackets for anything ever - I don't care who you are - and they especially don't need it if they can't buy it their own damn selves!  What's wrong with even a $500 jacket?  Or a $250 jacket?  I'm sure they went and bought a ton of stuff, presented it to her on a huge rack and had her try stuff on, decided what worked and did the tailoring, and on her way she went.  I doubt she was the one looking at the price tags and deciding what to buy and what not to, so I think this is less about her and more about how the campaign is being run.  Lets say that each of her outfits cost $1000 even, and she needs 25 of them (assuming that she'll also be able to mix and match some of those items) that's only $25k.  Throw in another $25k for her family members, and that totals up to $50k - slightly more reasonable!

I guess they're also saying the clothes will be donated 'after'.  Which only leaves me wondering, after what?

Oh pulease. Do you think anyone gives enough of a s*** to see a Palin suit hung in a museum?

They might "donate" the items aka whoever is on her staff will set items up on ebay!

I would like to see a breakdown of the expenses.  From what I understand, the 150K covered, clothing, hair, and accessories.

It appears (from what I gather from your posts) as though the clothing portion took up 75K of that?

First, how many appearances does she make per day?  When you're travelling like they do, frequent clothing changes are necessary.  Considering she gets picked on for just breathing, imagine the repercussions if her clothing was stained or wrinkled, or if she wore something twice.  Considering this factor of scrutiny, let's say she goes through 2-3 clothing changes per day for a month.  This could require 60-90 outfits.  Based on 75,000, that would be approximately $833 - $1,250 per outfit.  Let's say her shoes are approx. 300-400, and suits and separates are approx. $400-800.  These are not exorbitant retail prices for better quality clothing -- it's not even top end.

In addition, they probably hired a stylist. Not only did this stylist assist in selecting clothing, but the stylist probably travels with her.  So how much would that stylist cost for her time? How much for her travel/lodging/food?

Then we're onto hair -- how much for the hair stylist's time?  How much for the hair stylist's travel/food/lodging?

We haven't even added in costs for accessories.

Having worked in advertising for quite a while, $150K is a drop in the bucket.  If you want to get knit picky about how each party is spending money and if it could go to "better use" let's start evaluating Obama's 4.5 million media spending PER DAY vs. McCain's 1.5 million per day media spend.  Gosh, just think how many Americans Obama could medically insure with that money...

jj wrote:

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Having worked in advertising for quite a while, $150K is a drop in the bucket. If you want to get knit picky about how each party is spending money and if it could go to "better use" let's start evaluating Obama's 4.5 million media spending PER DAY vs. McCain's 1.5 million per day media spend. Gosh, just think how many Americans Obama could medically insure with that money...

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Obama is forgoing federal funding, so all the money spent on advertising is from private donations, people who are choosing to support his campaign and his advertising, not federal funding/taxpayer dollars.

And women in politics have always been careful about not taking designer freebies or spending taxpayer dollars on their wardrobes (Hilary and Laura always made a point to pay for her own clothes).

Yes, you want to look nice and unrumpled at campaign stops, but I have worn many a Theory and J Crew suit during 16 hour traveling and meeting days without so much as a crease. I don't know why it has to be Valentino.

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The Republican National Committee is not federal funding/taxpayer dollars - this money is private donations.  150K spent on clothing/hair/accessories Valentino purchases does not make.  Seriously -- 150K for clothing/hair/accessories and all the additional costs that supporting staff required is nothing.  You seriously think in a campaign of this magnitude that she should schlep around in chain store clothing?  I don't see the Obamas schlepping around in chain store clothing.

You don't think Obama wears makeup?  How much has he spent on his outward appearance? How much has been spent on his wife?  I bet it's comparable if not more.

You working 14 hour days in a J Crew suit is not comparable to what goes on in a presidential campaign.  It's a well known fact that there are many clothing changes during the course of a day - I don't care what party you're affiliated with.

So even if the 110 million that Obama has spent on media/image in the month of October came from private contributions, it seems hypocritical to me to sling mud over a tiny 150K spent by the RNC for image. 

It's all spin and propaganda.  This entire election is spin and propaganda. 

Cortney1982 wrote:

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Besides, are campaigns about fashion or politics?

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They're about appearances.

Michelle Obama usually works with a few local Chicago designers, and is on the record talking about how she buys from H&M and the Gap and mixes high and low, and Obama gets his shoes resoled instead of buying new.  I generally find her lovely, but she's also not running for VP.  That said, many of the pics of SP from before she was picked up by the McCain campaign are of her in windbreakers and jeans and a few boxy blazers - not exactly national stage type material!  FWIW, I think she looks great, and it's not my money so they can spend as much as they like if that's where they think their money needs to go.

They aren't allowed to use 'campaign funds' for clothing anyhow, which would be a violation of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act.  I think most of the fuss over this is due to the relative novelty of women in visible political positions, and a lack of acknowledgment that women are held to a different standard for their appearance than men are.

D, funny that you said my experience wasn't comperable to work on a major campaign, because I actually did waaaaaaay back in 1994. I traveled with a female US Senate cadidate across Michigan as her personal assistant. While not as glamorous as a national campaign, it was stop after stop after stop for meet and greets, editorial board meetings, fall festivals, you name it. She put one suit on in the morning, touched up her make up along the way and usually changed in the evening. I was there with my lint remover.

And I don't believe she needs to be chain store shopping, but the RNC people sure can!

For a good summary of the deatils, here is an article from the NY Times:


$150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image
By PATRICK HEALY and MICHAEL LUO
Sarah Palins wardrobe joined the ranks of symbolic political excess on Wednesday, alongside John McCains multiple houses and John Edwardss $400 haircut, as Republicans expressed fear that weeks of tailoring Ms. Palin as an average hockey mom would fray amid revelations that the Republican Party outfitted her with expensive clothing from high-end stores.

Cable television, talk radio and even shows like Access Hollywood seemed gripped with sartorial fever after campaign finance reports confirmed that the Republican National Committee spent $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue in September for Ms. Palin and her family.

Advisers to Ms. Palin said on Wednesday that the purchases which totaled about $150,000 and were classified as campaign accessories were made on the fly after Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, was chosen as the Republican vice-presidential candidate on Aug. 29 and needed new clothes to match climates across the 50 states. They emphasized, too, that Ms. Palin did not spend time on the shopping, and that other people made the decision to buy such an array of clothes.

Yet Republicans expressed consternation publicly and privately that the shopping sprees on her behalf, which were first reported by Politico, would compromise Ms. Palins standing as Senator McCains chief emissary to working-class voters whose salvos at the so-called cultural elite often delight audiences at Republican rallies.

That possibility was brought to life, for instance, on The View on ABC, as Joy Behar, a co-host, noted the McCain campaigns outreach to blue-collar workers like an Ohio plumber who recently chided Senator Barack Obama over taxes after another co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, defended the expenditures.

I dont think Joe the Plumber wears Manolo Blahniks, Ms. Behar said.

Advisers to Mr. Obama as well as those of his rival in the Democratic primaries, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that campaign money was never spent on personal clothing but that potentially embarrassing purchases could be blended into advertising budgets.

Mr. Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, however, listed two $400 haircuts as a campaign expense, and after they were detected he struggled to shake an elitist image in his failed Democratic presidential bid.

Such an image is unhelpful at this late stage of the general election, Republicans said, especially when many families are experiencing economic pain, and when the image applies to a candidate, like Ms. Palin, who has run for office in part on her appeal as an outdoors enthusiast and former small-town mayor who scorns pretensions.

It looks like nobody with a political antenna was working on this, said Ed Rollins, a Republican political consultant who ran President Ronald Reagans re-election campaign in 1984. It just undercuts Palins whole image as a hockey mom, a one-of-us kind of candidate.

Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, have been described as elitist by both Republicans and Democrats at times, and so much was made when she appeared on The View in June in a black-and-white patterned dress. Turns out it sold for $148 at an off-the-rack store.

Few Republican operatives or politicians, even those critical of the McCain-Palin campaign, were publicly criticizing the ticket on Wednesday over the clothing purchases. Some said privately that doing so would be akin to kicking a campaign while it was down.

Others said the issue was tainted with sexism, given that male politicians often spend thousands of dollars on suits.

She had a legitimate need to purchase clothing to get her through three months of grueling campaigning in the constant spotlight of television cameras, said William F. B. OReilly, a Republican consultant in New York. No one would blink if this was a male candidate buying Brooks Brothers suits.

Other Republicans said the focus on Ms. Palins clothing did not fairly reflect the challenge she faced: Neither she nor her Republican allies expected that she would be tapped as Mr. McCains running mate until the last minute, when she was elevated from her comfort zone in Alaska and presented to the nation as the first female Republican vice-presidential nominee.

If they hadnt done this, Saturday Night Live would be doing jokes where Governor Palin would be dressed in elk skin, said Rich Galen, a Republican consultant not associated with the McCain campaign.

Party officials, who said they had discussed the matter with McCain and Palin advisers, said all concerned wanted Ms. Palin to present herself as a fashionable-but-sensible on-the-go working mother a multilayered sartorial strategy, in other words, that has yielded an array of well-cut jackets and skirts, suitable for the different seasons and state climates.

More than $130,000 of the charges used to outfit Ms. Palin and her family were initially footed by Jeff Larson, a prominent Republican consultant in St. Paul whose firm has been tied to the onslaught of negative robocalls about Mr. Obama from Mr. McCains campaign. Mr. Larson was also the chief executive of the local host committee for the Republican National Convention, in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Federal Election Commission records showed Mr. Larson was reimbursed by the Republican National Committee for charges at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Macys, Barneys New York and Atelier New York, a mens clothing store.

Other purchases by the R.N.C. included $98 from Pacifier, a childrens boutique in Minneapolis.

Hours before Ms. Palin was to speak at the convention on Sept. 3, a woman burst into the store, said Jon Witthuhn, an owner. After she said she needed something for a 6-month-old boy and was doing shopping related to the convention, it began to dawn on him that he might be outfitting Trig Palin, Ms. Palins youngest.

The woman paid for a blue striped convertible romper, a matching monkey-ear hat and socks. Trig Palin appeared on television that night wearing the outfit without the hat.

Republican officials said all the clothes would be given to charity after the campaign is over. If Ms. Palin kept the clothes, the $150,000 would have to be taxed as income, tax experts said.

Had the purchases been made by the McCain campaign, it would be a conversion of campaign money into personal use, which is prohibited. The same rule does not apply to money from party committees.

The R.N.C. cleverly used the party committees money to avoid the liability that would have occurred if campaigns funds were used, said Kenneth Gross, a lawyer who is an expert in campaign finance.

Under disclosure requirements of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, Ms. Palin would need to report any gifts valued at over $250 from a single giver.

Elisabeth Bumiller and Leslie Wayne contributed reporting.

It is so obvious to me that even when discussing clothing you can see where people's political preferences lay. Personally I could care less about clothing expenditures. I also don't care for Palin. Doesn't mean I need to rip her. 

One thing that I'm seeing alot is that people feel the need to DEFEND their candidates actions in every which way. Sometimes we should be more open to admitting that candidates have faults, they are not always perfect, yes they are human.  I feel like people become ignorant to allowing themselves to be objective because acknowledging support for someone despite their faults would make you seem flawed.  Maybe I'm wrong.  I studied politics for 4 years and see it in EVERY single discussion.

The fact that Palin spent $150K on wardrobe is the LEAST of things we could pick on.

-- Edited by XtinaStyles at 14:19, 2008-10-23