The Clinton campaign, long an ally of New York City’s fashion elite, held a runway show-cum-fundraiser on Tuesday night co-hosted by Anna Wintour, Chelsea Clinton and Huma Abedin. Tickets went from $100 to $25,000 to see, as the New York Times cuttingly phrased it, “what turned out to be a parade of fancy T-shirts.”
Clinton herself was on the campaign trail in Tampa, Florida during the event, which seems like the right move; Grace Coddington agreed:
“If she was wearing the latest whatever, we’d all hate it,” said Ms. Coddington, dressed in her usual black. “Honestly, she focuses on her job, which is much better.”
The show ended, naturally, with Demi Lovato singing “Confident.”
The shirts of the Made for History collection were designed by 15 of “fashion’s biggest names,” including Tory Burch, Marc Jacobs, Prabal Gurung, and Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne. The Times reports that they were modeled by ballet dancers, members of the Marching Cobras New York band, and the Knicks player Carmelo Anthony and family, plus others. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we?
TOP 3:
These three shirts, all $45, are okay, especially considering the visual/thematic constraints of the assignment. I genuinely really like Joseph Altuzarra’s on the far left, and would consider buying it if it was $20 less. I am personally sick of the “Love Trumps Hate” slogan, but jewelry designer Pamela Love’s scrawled pastel version is visually appealing, at least. (Her statement accompanying the shirt, like all of the designer statements, is fairly bland: “I have always felt empowered and inspired by Hillary Clinton. The causes she promotes are ones I both respect and identify with as a small-business owner.”)
On the far right we have a jumbled blue U.S. map by Jason Wu, and again, I don’t hate it! Wintour reportedly had him craft her a Wintourian dress out of the pattern, which seems to have worked out quite nicely. “This design embodies all of us uniting to fight for Hillary, just as she will always fight for us,” Wu wrote, not-so-stirringly, of the t-shirt.
BOTTOM 3:
Of course Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman would design this baroque disaster. And Thakoon! The bandana?! $25? Why do we need this? Marc Jacobs’ tee, clearly inspired by our sitting president’s “Hope” campaign, is fine but too familiar; it represents Jacobs’ “hope of continued progress” in the realm of equal rights.
Too bad Burning Man is over, that bandana could have really made a splash.