Clinton’s speech did bring us together—on one topic, at least
Instapundit links to this Washington Post article entitled “Many Clinton Supporters Say Speech Didn’t Heal Divisions.”
I beg to differ. On at least one major point, Clinton brought together not only the Democratic Party, but the entire nation—and for all I know, the world (after all, we must remember that “the whole world is watching“).
What is that unifying topic? Her orange pantsuit. The vast majority of people—Hillary supporters and Hillary haters and those in the middle, Left and Right and Center—think the color it was a bad idea. Believe me, I have done extensive research on this subject.
I do have a question on a more substantive issue (could anything be more substantive?), though: why is it up to Hillary to heal the divisions? I would think that would be Obama’s job.
For those of you who may have missed the suit, here it is (her entrance begins at :36). On my TV, the orange was much, much brighter, almost day-glo:
I don’t know… Maybe I’m just naive (again) but I didn’t hear anything wrong with Hillary’s speech. It was pretty good. Not as good as Kucinich’s though, of course, but that goes without saying.
She looked like a Tibetan monk from the neck down :\
I’ve been thinking about the orange pantsuit, and I have a theory: it was worn intentionally, a la the so-called orange revolution, to symbolize that she’d been juked out of the nomination. Think about it: why would anyone wear such a strange color? Have you ever seen her in such a color along the campaign trail? Even for Hillary — who was famous for her bad taste in clothes during her husband’s presidency — it seemed a little much.
she had a power dress like a man has a horrible yellow power tie. it says… notice me, and no one else.
on another note… did anyone but me (and a few authors) notice that Michelle Obama was channeling saul alinsky in her speech?
a PERFECT example of the codes i was talking about… those who have read saul, would recognize things… those who havent, would notice nothing….
Michelle:
And Barack stood up that day, and he spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about “the world as it is” and “the world as it should be.”
Saul Alinsky (rules for radicals):
The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, “the world as it is”, not our wished-for fantasy of the “world as it should be”.
[thats ok,her husband is copying Deval Patrick]
I think you hit on it with the “blaze orange” comment. It’s the color you wear in the woods when you don’t want to get shot 😉
CNN showed 4 pantsuits that were brought to the center to be tested for color against the background. guess orange won, but it is awful. Maybe we should blame the set designers for the terrible blue background. It’s not a good mix and match shade.
Blue and orange are considered to be complementary colors, though…
Been in fashion most of my life — and must admit I LIKED the orange pantsuit! Now on my TV, it appeared to be much more “marigold’ than “day-glo orange.” The “day-glo” ties that have been so much in vogue recently, even among the most conservative dressers (or maybe BECAUSE the conservative dressers generally stick to darker colors making the neon ties stand out all the more) do rankle me a little.
Orange is a difficult color to wear against most skin tones because of it’s high yellow content, but Hillary pulled it off quite nicely, I thought. I think it channeled more the success of the bright yellow she wore during the primaries, which she wore in several versions: matching pantsuit, contrasting black/white houndstooth w/ bright yellow trim — the first time I saw her in said outfits, I thought she looked smashing (surprisingly because of the difficulty in wearing yellows), and clearly others thought so because the yellow outfits soon became her signature looks throughout her campaign.
If anything, I do think the contrast of the particular shade of blue background behind Hillary might have made the suit color appear more jarring than I believe it actually is. (Color is not just about complementary shades, but equally importatnt is tint and hue).
But at least she gave up that awful look of preppy sweaters thrown over the shoulders of her tailored jackets — her ‘signature” look in earlier campaigns. Now THAT look drove me crazy!
By the way, I also think the orange was intended to be a ‘power” color, asserting independence and “look at me now.”
The old “red” power color is now fairly common and unremarkable. Generally, in fashion, new colors that have not been mainstream, do get a sort of double take reaction, but it is rather amazing how quickly the fashion eye adjusts, and I’ll bet you will soon see such color in what I call the “trickle-down effect”: that is, appearing first in designer level clothing, but then gradually moving to more and more mainstream clothing collections.
YOU may be next!