Jezebel: presidential election

Tim Gunn: Elected Officials Make Appalling Fashion Choices

Jennifer — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST

Tim Gunn never ceases to amaze. Project Runway's father hen showed up on last night's Daily Show, where he and Jon Stewart discussed the show, fashion, and fashion week, and Gunn totally won Stewart over; you could feel the love! Gunn also had winning views about the upcoming elections — specifically, how the candidates are dressing themselves. After the jump, read Tim's musings on the problems of politics and style in an interview he gave to Newsweek. We're anxiously awaiting primary results, but in the meantime: Tim Gunn for President, please!

I was on the Hill just this time last year, and I had all of these elected officials literally running from me saying, "I'm not a fashion person! Don't look at me!" In the beginning, I thought it was kind of sweet, but the more I thought about it, I began to find it appalling. You're an elected official. How many people see you and make judgments about you before they ever even know your point of view?... I mean, are we ready for a male cross dresser in the White House? No. But frankly speaking, there are times when I wonder about Hillary... I look at [the current candidates] and I feel like they've stepped out of the 1980s. And what really disturbs me, deep down in my very core, is whether these candidates really think that having people talk about your clothes in a positive way could be a bad thing. To think that they might answer "yes" horrifies me... I will summarize [Bush's] entire fashion presentation in one phrase: schlumped over and drooling. I hope I don't end up in some Iraqi prison for saying that.

Tim Gunn Reviews the Candidates [Newsweek]

When It Comes To Politics, Do Clothes Make The Man?

Jennifer — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:30:00 EST

Super Tuesday is tomorrow! Will the aesthetics, not the ideas, of the assembled candidates affect how you vote? (Are you voting???) After all, even the mainstream press is focusing on the candidates' fashions, and we don't just mean the female candidates. Hillary, of course, gets a shout out — International Herald Tribune writer Suzy Menkes points outthat Clinton, a fan of the pantsuit, may be headed for hard times ahead as dresses and skirts will dominate this spring — but the real losers this time, are the men, specifically the Republican contenders. In fact, John McCain's Bill Cosby sweaters and Mitt Romney's rolled-up shirt-sleeves are now officially part of the "national dialogue"! After the jump, what some half-wit "experts" employed by Reuters have to say about the male candidates and their sartorial choices.

John McCain:"[O]ften dresses casually in sweaters, trying to look like just plain folks" but a big win tomorrow could bring an "evol[ution] into the more presidential look."

Mitt Romney: "[D]resses like [a] successful businessman" "very well tailored, pressed, everything is creased" even though his "old-fashioned, baggy trousers make fashionistas cringe."

Mike Huckabee: His "relaxed dress reflects his campaign line that people would rather elect a president "who reminds them of the guy they work with, not that guy who laid them off" but there's no way the man can be president sporting "no tie and an open shirt."

And just for shits 'n giggles, here's Barack!

Barack Obama: "[H]is necktie is fashionably knotted in a thick, full Windsor knot, a style popular with men in their 20's and 30's" but "is necktie is fashionably knotted in a thick, full Windsor knot, a style popular with men in their 20's and 30's" and is "venturing toward foppishness."

Fashion Headlines Pale In Comparison To U.S. Political Campaign [IHT]
Subliminal Sartorial Messages On The Campaign Trail? [Reuters]

On The View this morning, Sherri Shepherd...

Slut Machine — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:45:00 EST

On The View this morning, Sherri Shepherd recounted her close call of almost missing the cutoff for registering to vote via absentee ballot for the election in November. (Shepherd resides in New York, but is a California resident.) And apparently this is the first time that Sherri will be voting...ever! Having turned 18 in 1985, the now-41-year-old has missed out on the past five presidential elections because she "never knew the dates or anything." She said it was important to vote in this one, though, because otherwise, she wouldn't have a right to complain on The View about whomever is elected for an entire year. (She probably meant to say "four years.")