It’s unusual to think about patriotic clothes being the center of a runway a little before New York City’s Fashion Week. However, with presidential elections near, some fashion designers decided to take campaigning into their own hands.
On Feb. 8, a project by fashion designers called “A Runway to Win” took place in New York City in support of President Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. According to Vogue Magazine, a long-time supporter of Obama, actress Scarlett Johansson, hosted and editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine Anna Wintour and Obama for America campaign manager Jim Messina co-hosted the event.
(Photos provided by Vogue.com)
Fashion designers and celebrities such as Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Beyonce Knowles, Diane von Furstenberg, Lazaro Hernandez, Vera Wang, Jack McCollough and Laudi Vidni contributed to the fashion with their own Obama designs on T-shirts, tote bags, wristlets, nail polish, and other items, according to Vogue Magazine.
According to Vogue, people were coming into the story and buying these items with Obama’s logo and other patriotic-type designs on them. Though these were technically designer items, the prices ranged from about $40 to $95.
The Republican National Committee, however, was not too fond of this fashion show and the prices. They posted a video in support of the GOP that is available on YouTube, displaying the items and their costs, and then asked the question, “Watching the Obama campaign host a ritzy NYC fashion show while 12 million Americans remain out of work? Priceless.”
In response to this, sophomore nutritional sciences major Lindsay Van Order said, “I personally wouldn’t buy those items because I thin they are tacky. That does seem wasteful considering they will be used only for his 2012 campaign.”
The video concluded with, ‘There are some campaign moments money can’t buy. Obama’s celebrity-filled fashion show is one of them.” Clearly this fashion line stirred some controversy.
Junior kinesiology major Andy Kebede said, “I don’t mind it. If his people believe it is a good way to garner attention for the campaign then why shouldn’t they? It’s a personal choice to buy it, I certainly wouldn’t spend the money but if there are people who are willing to do so then why not try and see if you could raise a few dollars.”
Despite the controversy, the fashion line drew attention to a new way of campaigning, and just in time before New York City’s fashion week.