When news broke a year ago that Palin and her family's wardrobe cost $150,000, they were portrayed as white trash overreaching on the Republican National Committee's dime, touting their folksy values while spending an amount that even the fashion folk found excessive. After the McCain-Palin ticket lost, an anonymous McCain aide told Newsweek that the Palins were ""Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

Palin writes in her book, Going Rogue, that she "never asked the New York stylists to purchase clothes, many of the items were never worn, many others were intended for the use of other people, and in the end the wardrobe items were all returned. It certainly wasn't true that I or my family had been on any kind of ‘big-time shopping trips.'"

Now, speaking to the New York Times and in a new book, New York-based stylist Lisa A. Kline backs the former Alaska governor up, saying Palin wasn't involved in any of the shopping, and a still-foggy "breakdown in communications" between Kline and the campaign staff led to the charges being racked up.

Those include Klein's purchases for Palin at Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York (at retail, since it was so last-minute), a frenzied run at Neiman Marcus to the tune of $75,062 once Kline realized she needed to dress the whole family, plus her own fee of $54,900, which included an assistant, a seamstress, and round-the-clock labor on a holiday weekend.

Kline says she's still proud of her work, which also included removing gold buttons and "a big swoop of fabric" from the front of a $2,500 Valentino jacket, worn by Palin with a pencil skirt for her convention speech. And even if it wasn't at all worth the headache to the Republicans, you can't deny that Palin and her family looked great that night — the night that was probably the peak of her glory.

Stylist in Palin's Fashion Makeover Steps Into View [New York Times]

Earlier: Sarah Palin and the (Continued) Case of the $150,000 Wardrobe

The style bible asked several children's wear designers to imagine inauguration ensembles for the First Daughters. The styles range between colorful skirts and classic, full-skirted dresses — there's even a black velvet pinafore of sorts — but all of the sketches (except for the Bonnie Young evening gowns) seem rather old-fashioned.

(At left, a design by Lucy Sykes; center, a dress by Olive Juice; right, coats by Best & Co.)

Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, are modern young ladies, not porcelain dolls. Yes, they should look classic, yes, they should look appropriate. But isn't there something antiquated or passé about a little girl in a dress with a Sound Of Music bow at the waist? Clearly, velour pants with "Juicy" emblazoned across the ass would not be appropriate. But. If their father is running on a platform of change, couldn't that be represented in Sasha and Malia's style?

Inauguration '09: And for the Girls..., Obama Girls Influence Style [WWD]
Earlier: The Politics Of Style: An Obama-Inspired Shopping Spree At J. Crew
Imagine: A Project Runway Inauguration Dress For Michelle Obama

The Times' Julie Bosman thinks it's amusing that the same magazines and televisions that cover the ins and outs of celebrity breeding, fighting, sexing and weight-loss are also covering (some) of the ins and outs of the campaign — and not just where it intersects with celebrity, as was the case in 2004. What's even more interesting is that the editors are all doing it not as a public-service but because its what readers actually want!

It is also because having a woman and a young, photogenic man in the race hits the right notes, demographically speaking — the vast majority of readers of magazines like US Weekly are women. Many of those readers are, for the first time, paying close attention to the presidential primaries, and turning politics into dinner-party conversation.

Anyway, as a woman who writes for two women's sites and almost exclusively about politics, I have to say, I'm not really surprised that women are interested in politics and I don't think it's just because Barack is cute or Hillary's a woman. (Maybe it has something to do with old adage about Washington, D.C. and the town being like Hollywood for ugly people.) I might have approached Anna when I was let go from a certain political website and asked to keep doing Crappy Hour and other stuff, but, interestingly Glamour also approached me talk about writing for Glamocracy. Both of these places pay me to write about politics because both Jezebel readers and Glamour readers want to read about politics and talk about issues and rally for candidates and generally act like responsible citizens of this democracy while they also talk about Rock of Love or Heidi Montag's bad attitude. Many women, in fact, enjoy walking, chewing gum and thoughtfully debating the merits of health care policy and the problems with race in America today while cooing over cute shoes. I just hope it continues after the election because I'll still have bills to pay come December.

Sex? Yawn. Politics? That's Hot! [New York Times]

Does it get more all-American than Ralph Lauren? I think not. So why doesn't Senator Clinton take a page out of the Ellen DeGeneres handbook and go for some men's tailored pieces? That should erase any doubts about answering that damn phone at three in the morning. And yet, it's important for Hillary to prove she's not too square: Which is why she needs the rebel of American fashion, Marc Jacobs, who also happens to be a vocal Hillary supporter. And who, conveniently enough, designed his fall collection around the idea of Paul Revere. Viva la revolution, Hills. Oh hell, why not just give in and forget the menswear-inspired womenswear and wear menswear itself? Can't you see this Michael Kors look on Nantucket? No? Not so much? Well, this Oscar de la Renta ensemble is perfect for both a beach weekend, and a ladies' luncheon on the campaign trail. Casual is accessible. Yellow pantsuits are not. And if H-Rod does ever feel like wearing a skirt for a change, this Peter Som look is feminine and strong and not, y'know, menstrual. What commander-in-chief doesn't have a leather frock coat? Thanks, Derek Lam. And if she does win, I say she should wear this Carolina Herrera to the inaugural ball. It screams 'I'm ready on Day One!'.

[Images via AP.]

Earlier: Future First Ladies Should Be Judged Solely On Fashion

[A] White House Wedding will be great politics. It could be a terrific way to hook women — who are the angriest about the war, and one of the biggest problems for Republicans going into the election. Women — even the angry ones — are going to eat this up...The father of the bride is responsible for the loss close to 4,000 American lives, the lives of uncounted Iraqis, and many thousands of injured and maimed... But on this day... eyes will grow moist, and approval ratings will rise.

It is sad to say, but Drexler is pretty much on the money. Because if the TheKnot.com message boards are any indication, people looooove them a wedding. Even when there is a war going on. (Especially when there's a war going on!) We'd make a joke that the whole thing is something so sick only Karl Rove could have dreamed it up but then we remembered that little Jenna's fiance is none other than Rove's former intern.

Here's To The Happy Couple — And A 10-Point Bump [Huffington Post]
Related: Afghan Weddings Bring Limos And Bling

John McCain: The Arizona senator screams Politician 101, with his blue shirt with a red and blue striped tie. The quintessential white guy running for office uniform.

Rudy Giuliani: Rudy's red tie also says he's a white guy running for office. It's also a visual clue that he's a Republican for any of those other Republicans worried that all that crazy NYC liberalism might've rubbed-off on him during that unfortunate mayoral stint. Also, red tie = Christian white dude.

Mitt Romney: Funny, but the former governor of Massachusetts is also a... white Christian dude. But he's a Mormon, mind you, and distinguishes this by going with slightly-alt politician blue as opposed to slightly-conservative red. But it's still one of the two go-to politician tie colors, so we can rest assured that he still doesn't want us to have an abortion.

Sam Brownback: Whoa, Brownback almost threw us for a loop there. The senator from Kansas' tie is neither red nor blue! Thank goodness he's Christian and white or else that green-hued tie might have misled us to believe he's one of those wacky, God-hating, Negro environmentalists!

Tommy Thompson: White shirt, red tie, angry hands: The former governor of Wisconsin is also definitely (just want to hammer this home one more time!) a Christian white dude running for the Republican nomination. The suit and tie alone, we know, just say plain ol' politician, but the angry hands screaming about why we have to rid out country of the evils of gay marriage (you know, as opposed to dependence on foreign oil) totes says "I [Heart] The GOP" even more than an "I [Heart] The GOP" t-shirt would.

Mike Huckabee: The former governor of Arkansas also sports classic blue — but in a subtle pattern! We'd worry that 'pattern' might equate 'Democrat' (if not also, possibly, 'homo' — the gays like patterns, don't they?), but, thankfully, he's a guy who hates Darwin. Sleep safely tonight, Republicans — this man's no fashion fag.

Tom Tancredo: Also known as poor man's Giuliani, the representative from Colorado whose last name (tread lightly, friend, tread lightly) also belies an ethnic heritage is wearing (yawn) a white shirt with (yawn) a red tie and (yawn) a dark suit.

Jim Gilmore: He's the former governor of Virginia. White shirt. Red tie. Dark suit. Christian. White. Male. Gilmore bores us, and we'd like to stop trying to think of something that sets him apart from his fellow candidates (he's even sporting the Republican angry hands, damnit!), but we just can't and would rather go back to watching the Kathy Griffin marathon we TiVo'd. (No, you people don't want to watch with us. Kathy likes gays and hates the war.)

Duncan Hunter: Duncan, Duncan, Duncan; What's with that ambiguously dark tie? If this guy wasn't a [insert obviousness here], that whole "I'm from California" thing + the die would totally yield some major Republican mud-slinging. But whatever, almost no one's ever heard of him anyway.

Ron Paul: Uh, oh, Ron's wearing blue. And he's got some sorta funny pin on his jacket. This can't be helping his fellow Republicans' suspicions that he's actually...a Communist spy. Thank god he didn't wear pink!

John Edwards: Classic high-low, the former North Carolina senator accessorizes the $400 haircut with a $10 Livestrong bracelet. Perhaps a subtle nod to "Two Americas"? The red tie indicates: "I am a political candidate."

Joe Biden: Gets the whole "black suit" thing right, but the New England homespun-tie thing (are those little whales?) makes him look like a carpetbagger in N.H. since he's from, ahem, Delaware.

Apparently Bills who become president — you know, like Taft! — are men of appetites, and we bet that if we look a little closer New Mexico governor Bill Richardson's tie might have some stains on it. We hear he likes ladies, and we sense he also likes chalupas, and with the black suit sealing the deal we'd vote for him on the basis of sloppy Clinton nostalgia. Or wait a minute, on the basis of sound immigration policies?

Mike Gravel: Did someone forget to tell former Alaskan senator Gravel that a grumpy face doesn't go with a bright red tie? But still, nice suit! So Alaska elected a Democrat once?

Chris Dodd: Setting himself apart from his fellow candidates, Dodd forgoes the classic politician blue-and-red color scheme for a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. How Lagerfeld! But wait, if we don't know who Chris Dodd is, should he really be spending his money on clothing?

Dennis Kucinich does not have a chance, but he does have a really hot underage wife, who clearly accessorized him for this debate. Still, something about that suit screams "You could vote for me."

Obama goes with the shiny, wide-ish baby blue tie that was a fave of Clinton before being co-opted by Bush II, which is sort of like if Sienna Miller started wearing Burberry plaid again a la circa-1997 Kate Moss. Message: Here is a candidate so "clean" and "bright" he can restore dignity not only to the Democratic Party but to the shiny blue tie! Also: The black suit says "Oval Office Material." Hillary's black suit, incidentally, also says "Oval Office Material" — even if her spruced-up makeup and highlights aren't quite enough to say "getting some in the Oval Office material."

[Images via AP]