'th.e'b- 4B - Thursday, January 10, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4B - Thursday, January10, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom A SHION N( IK 6 Presidential candidate fashion watch By Kimberly Chou I Associate Arts Editor illary Clinton has always The suit without gotten flack for her fash- all the attention ion choices. During the collar is too big, tu years Bubba was in office, she was forbid - sticking too conservative, too unfeminine, it completely del or downright sexless. (See: the goes straightto scl long-sleeved inaugural gowns, the for the tie-less lot pantsuits and ... the pantsuits.) The in Grand Rapids y haircut evolved from conservative soccer-mom bob to a slightly spicier THE S chop as a junior senator. Bizarrely Romney also to then, a scoop-neck shell/blazer lared shirt with a combo on the Senate floor last sum- jacket. Itworked f mer inspired an intense - and hotly Michigan weathe debated - Washington Post article more air-traffic-a by fashion editor Robin Givhan. than commander To be fair, the amount of cleavage But it wasn't n shown was probably closer to Mona fashion crimes in Lisa than Carmen Electra. But Clin- Huckabee family tonian cleavage? Sound the alarm. Circulated by poli And what about the male politi- like Wonkette,t cos?WithGetty and Associate Press taken during Mik databases expanding exponentially lier years in Ar each day with images of Barack pound weight lo Obama, Mitt Romney and Mike because he's su Huckabee, too, it's time we take a and so are hiss closer look at their sweater vest and wearing matchi necktie choices. We must break the With stripes. Ar sartorial double standard. Part of (Mrs., Daughter a it is based on available options. If abee were thankfr you're a man, it's hard to go wrong have on red zip-u with a simple suit - until you start ever first release experimenting with the neckwear. have been trying spirited reminde THE SUIT SANS TIE less-svelte self, bh Barack Obama didn't realize what as it highlights th kind of monster he would unleash fashion sense. Ma with his choice of sharp, business- a gubernatorial p casual wear. For early appearances Whatworkson while rumors were just swirling looks good in a about his presidential hopes, and with the tie, and on the cover of his book The Audac- graphed more oft ity of Hope, Obama rocked the suit- raisers - the blac without-a-tie look. But it's rare that a never-fail with he's seen without a tie these days per hair and Mid - maybe because of the trend he's What works inspired. The months following pro- Bespoke suits wil motion for Hope spawned a number of Obama-wannabes, some less suc- COLOR cessful than others (re: Mr. Giuliani Blue and red ar on a few sweatier days - or maybe popular neckwes I'm justthinking ofthat PhotoShop- they're patriotic. ed Radar magazine cover with Rudy, ened color-read Hillary and Obama aping last year's power, dominan Vanity Fair Hollywood issue cover), while blue is asso STRIKE From page 1B another shot at reaching audiences. And it seems we will never hear the end of "Juno," heralded as this year's Little Indie That Could, even though it has enjoyed more pervasive media cover- age than any other movie in awards competition. Its controlled release and word of mouth has worked to astonishing effect; the film made it to No. 2 nation- wide at the box office last weekend, despite the fact that it played in just more than half the theaters of the No. 3 movie, "I Am Legend." Besides, we've all seen those lines outside the State Theater. It's possible these movies would have been made and followed with the same conviction if there were no Academy Awards. The familiar, proto-quirky con- ceit of "Juno" seems to be invincible these days. The fact is we don't know. The question before us now is how the industry will navigate its self-made fire- storm this year if the strike isn't resolved by Feb. 24, and what that will mean for the movies next year, or five years from now. PAPER York Times has s Fropa escriptions. Newsl From page 3B have not. While a papers spill some and dentists stocked with maga- pages to direct zines for quick perusal. Wouldn't websites, it will it be awkward to whip out that see if this can b Blackberry next to a screaming ther - news cot baby? Pick up an US Magazine and ing detailed anal wait your turn. their comments; (Forgive me: Our Office of online headlinesc Financial Aid has some of the most and the wider inc shallow TV/celeb mags you can ble and widely tr imagine. I won't name them here sources, to name for fear of libel suits.) acting like separ Obviously, newspapers as print and online shou media are all in a tizzy over the cross-over. Slat Brave New World of the web. Some rounds up blogg are adapting, some aren't. The New events of the da POP CULTURE From page 3B From Reagan's white "Marlboro Man" cowboy hat (continued in both Bush administrations) to Arnold Schwarzenegger taking office as governor of Califor- nia; from Jon Stewart becoming a pre-eminent news source to Oprah's backing of Obama: Now more than ever, there's a precedent for pop-culture politics. The appropriation of pop culture to politics does not weaken the system, nor does the incorporation of a common symbolic language make the political world anyless significant. The simple recognitionthat a cam- paign is subject to further examination than political science theorists can offer is a starting point to fully realizing the extent to which politics operate within a particular social environment. So how much influence do the entertainment and the tie look draws to the shirt, and if oo pointy or - god out over the lapels, Meats "sharp" and hlub.Romneywent ok while stumping esterday. NEATER pped atie and col- sweater and light or this week'smild r, but the look was meets-Mr. Rogers in chief. early as bad as the the now-infamous Christmas card. itical gossip blogs the family photo e Huckabee's ear- kansas (pre-100+ ss) isn't shocking rprisingly heftier, sons. But they're ng denim shirts. nd elbow patches. nd Pet Dog Huck- ully spared - they ps instead.) Who- d this photo may to make a mean- r of Huckabee's ut it hurts doubly e family's horrific aybe we can blame ersonal shopper. Romney: The man suit and tie. Stick try to be photo- en at various fund- k tux and bowtie is that salt-and-pep- western appeal. on Huckabee: 1 do him wonders. CHOICE e not just the most ar colors because For the enlight- er, red signifies ce, hawkish-ness, ciated with peace, intelligence and trust. (George W. Bush, in particular, seems to favor a paler blue.) Notice what color ties the male candidates wear at the Michigan primary next week, and the color of Hillary's pantsuit. What works on Obama: He sticks to the light blues, sometimes ven- turing into a silvery blue or a darker color with a subtle stripe. Obama gets bonus points all around when accompanied by outspoken - and well-dressed - wife Michelle. And pearl necklaces are quintessential First Lady. PATTERNS AND CUTS Unless Hillary's wearing a pat- terned jacket like in New Hamp- shire - a Clinton favorite, if the bloggers ever saw one. She wore the earth-toned jacket with a high col- lar, embroidered with various foli- age. The look, I think, was supposed to be mature, subtle. Unfortunately, she just looked like a Napoleonic carpet bag. At least when she wore it last in December, she paired the jacket and pants with yellow point- ed-toe kitten heels. Kind of sexy. What works on Hillary: Higher, structured collars. Maybe try some stand-out shoes. There is no greater social magni- fying glass than campaign season. From late-spring murmurs the year before to the final wave of attack-ads in November, campaign craziness lets us see our potential presidents' entire range of emotions and then some. On display, in newspapers, on television and YouTube, we get America-loving and terrorist-bash- ing (McCain sometimes, Giuliani all of the time), shows of faith (Hucka- bee, and in red states, Romney), near-tears (Hillary Clinton after Iowa) and real tears (Ed Muskie, 1972) and even too much enthusiasm for the cause (a banshee-screaming Howard Dean four years ago). With the major fashion weeks coming up just as the primary season heats up, why don't we pay attention to their clothes, too? Duringthe last writers' strike in 1988, the Academy Awards went ahead, but that was because the stars were in attendance, which is unlikely to happen this year if the WGA promises picketers. In 2003, after the American-led invasion of Iraq, the show went ahead without the habitual glamour parades, only to return to its fevered, outrageously overanalyzed roots the following year. If the year-end landscape next November and December isn't too damaged by the widespread production halt precipitated by the strike, perhaps next year will follow suit. But for unheralded character actresses like Amy Ryan ("The Wire"), a hot item for best supporting actress this year, and the movie that got her there, "Gone Baby Gone," the damage will be done. And can "Juno" remain the unlikely touchstone of the year without the Oscar confirmation from its predestined best original screenplay and perhaps an even better award? While smug bloggers and disillusioned moviegoers everywhere revel in the fallout, the Academy Awards are still set for Feb. 24. It remains unclear if anyone - including host Jon Stewart, a WGA member - will show up. AP PHOTOS TOP:"'This tie makes me look like an Iraq war opponent." BOTTOM: "Oh my God, I'm so happy." 9 een a rise in sub- papers as a whole most major news- ink on their front readers to their be interesting to e taken even fur- amentary involv- ysis of blogs and more space for on the front page; lusion of reputa- 'afficked blogs as a few. Instead of ate worlds, print .ld have broader e.com routinely ers' opinions on ay. Who's to say mainstream newspaper readers don't want to see the same thing in print? What I don't foresee happening is the reverse: Websites creating a print edition to supplement online. As an admitted paper lover, that's not as saddening as the death of paper as a whole, but it does reflect the general direction the medium is heading: online. What remains to be seen - indeed, what remains to be done - is exactly how print media outlets are going to con- solidate the vast frontier of online (a world they are finally starting to throw their weight around in) with the daily paper edition, the backbone of their enterprise. 40 BEN VANWAGoNER/Daily This is not Ann Arbor. advertising industries really have over politics? If you consider the union of charisma and dollar signs, nei- ther public arena is all that removed from the other. You might turn the channel on Oprah, but for millions of people, the woman sells. Maybe Glamour's news spin seems frivolous, but for thousands of subscribers, it's what readers want. The level of political interest only matters to a point. At the very least, information that can feel complexly esoteric is, in some form, avail- able to a wider audience that might not have otherwise made time to understand the political climate that surrounds them. The TV viewers, the magazine readers - every- one who walks through their day inundated with ads - they aren't just consumers. Many of them are also voters. Wanna feel Chavez's muscles? E-mail Hartman at carolinh@umich.edu. .24 STREET ART From page 1B and told fortunes; teenage boys danced in crisp rhythm to Chi- nese rap. These people were as much a part of the streets as the vendors selling fried rice - they belonged there. They added a touch of variety, a different envi- ronment to streets that, with- out them, would have just been grimy and loud. In a way that wasn't easy to understand: They give the city a different dimen- sion throughtheir art. The art of China doesn't stay locked up in its museums or in its exclusive, red-carpeted music halls. It spills out onto the street in every possible way. The street artists and their performances are just as much a part of the culture as the temples or the rickshaws. They're invaluable, inseparable. They give every per- son - from the poorest noodle vendor to the black-suited busi- nessman - a chance to have a taste of their own artistic culture just walking down the street. When I came back to Ann Arbor this fall, just a few days after my last stroll through the streets of Wuhan, I couldn't help but notice the difference. For a city that's touted as multicultural there's not a lot of anything on the streets of Ann Arbor. Some American cities offer more, certainly: New York City, San Francisco, Chicago perhaps, but where else? In China, even the smallest towns have a few men sitting in the town square strum- ming their huluhu (a gourd-like stringed instrument). Slowly but surely, art in Amer- ica is becoming the realm of the educated, the people with the extra cash to attend $80 concerts and the desire to put on a collared shirt and visit the Met in New t York. We're drawing in on our- selves, listening to music from our earbuds rather than expe- riencing it as a living breathing culture. So where does this leave us? With a culture that's obsessed with art galleries and concert halls and ticketed admission, is it possible that we're robbing ourselves of our own art? If noth- ing else, we're limiting it. We're confining art to a tiny part of our existence, and art should be throughout all of it. It's like put- ting all the great Americanlitera- ture in a bank vault instead of a library. After six months back, it doesn't bother me anymore. I hardly think about it most of the time. Still, I can't help but walk down the streets of Ann Arbor without wondering, where are the three blind men, and why are the streets simply grimy and loud?