Posted on 10/23/2008 11:13:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
Jane the Plumber probably can’t afford a $150,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys and Bloomingdale’s, but professional stylists and image consultants say it’s money well spent for Sarah Palin.
Politico reported Tuesday that the Republican National Committee has popped for more than $150,000 worth of clothes and accessories for Palin and her family since John McCain tapped her as his VP pick in late August.
It’s a huge number — more than Palin's $108,000 annual salary as Alaska's governor — and news of it has brought a firestorm of criticism from Democrats who say it exposes Palin as a fraud, Republicans who wonder why their campaign contributions went for fashion, pundits who wring their hands about Neiman Marcus tastes in a Wal-Mart economy and legal experts who say the clothes might be treated as taxable income when the Palins file their next 1040.
The only ones not complaining: people who do this sort of thing for a living.
“She is dressing appropriately for the job she is going after,” said Lauren Rothman, a Washington stylist and the principal in the fashion consulting firm Styleauteur.
Palin — and those responsible for her image — faced a unique challenge in the early days of the McCain-Palin ticket: How do you introduce a virtual unknown — a self-proclaimed “hockey mom” — as both a down-to-earth girl next door and a “maverick” prepared to become the leader of the free world?
Betsy Fisher, the owner of the eponymous clothing store in Dupont Circle, says Palin and her people managed to straddle the line. “She does not look like she is wearing particularly expensive clothes,” Fisher said. “She looks like you could be her, too.”
Los Angeles-based image consultant Patsy Cisneros, a part owner of Political Icon, which works with candidates running for higher office, said Palin’s transformation was done well on a short timeline.
“She did come on the scene as governor for Alaska and looked appropriate as governor,” Cisneros said. Now, as the election nears and the possibility of the vice presidency looms, “She is being seen not just locally but globally, and she needs to represent our country. She has to look appropriate for that.”
And as for the Palin family makeover being charged to the campaign, Cisneros said it isn’t unusual. “We’ve worked with candidates before who have money to spend — some of it was their own, and some of it was from the party. It was put in under so many different ways. You would be surprised what money gets spent.”
Colleen Abrie, a “head-to-toe stylist” and image consultant in the San Francisco bay area, said that it is “important to note that you are talking about branding a person who you are launching into the public eye.”
“It is a good thing she has all that Armani, she needs all the points in her favor that she can get,” Abrie said. “If you are looking the part, you are halfway there.”
In a piece predating the current controversy, Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan called Palin’s VP style “exceptionally ordinary,” with “no detail” announcing that she’s in charge or wants to be.
“In the narrow confines of political style,” Givhan wrote last month, “the accepted rule is to dress in a manner that implies empathy for one's constituency — so don't wear anything too expensive — but also conveys authority. Palin has embraced the former and utterly ignored the latter.”
Or maybe she’s ignored both.
According to financial disclosure forms, the RNC spent $75,000 at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, $49,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and smaller amounts at others upscale department stores.
Neiman Marcus did not return calls from Politico, and Saks declined to discuss the matter.
This isn’t the first time eyebrows have been raised over the price of McCain-Palin fashion. In July, the Huffington Post had a field day with reports that John McCain wore $520 Ferragamo loafers. And in September, Vanity Fair said that Cindy McCain had worn about $300,000 to the Republican convention — $3,000 for an Oscar de la Renta dress and hundreds of thousands more for the diamonds and pearls that went with it.
Rothman estimated that Michelle Obama’s usual campaign outfits are worth about $2,000 each. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in a custom-made Hartmarx suit, and the Chicago Sun-Times says he’s bought five more of them since. Retail price: about $1,500 each.
The Obama campaign says that “neither the Obama campaign nor the DNC have ever bought clothes for any of the Obamas or the Bidens.”
The RNC, meanwhile, says essentially the same thing. An RNC official told Politico Wednesday that the Palins will have to return all of the items that were purchased for them — and that the RNC will then turn them over to charity — no matter who wins the presidential election.
I could understand a mag like Woman’s Day or something covering Palin’s attire.
But for a venue like Politico, it is disgusting when there is so much vital that is being ignored.
We wouldn’t want her to look frumpy like Nancy, Hillary or Michelle.
A collegue who is a rabid liberal today tried to needle me about the money spent on Palin. I told him that I gave $250 to the RNC and if I found out my donation was part of the money used to outfit her I’d be thrilled and would have donated more. He was shocked that I had no envy so I tried to explain to him that conservatives don’t have the deep level of class envy that liberals have - when we see someone excelling we are happy and want to be them, but we don’t want to bring them down. He walked away shaking his head - didn’t get it at all.
When you go to a place like Nieman Marcus or Sacks Fifth Avenue, you can make an appointment to go after-hours and have a fashion consultant and tailor available to meet with you and you just have them pick out a dozen or two outfits with all the accessories and shoes and everything else and they just hand you a bill and a box full of clothes and you are ready for your next speech. You are in and out in a couple of hours and you are dressed to kill and your wallet has been depleted. I doubt very seriously if Palin even looked at the price tag or picked out the clothes herself.
When time is money then this is money well spent.
It's not even that. I expect that the candidate would use some of the campaign money to purchase the appropriate apparel for the campaign if they do not have the means to purchase it themselves. Since Governor Palin had essentially no need for such stylish clothes in Alaska, then it is entirely appropriate for the campaign to purchase those clothes on her behalf. To be worn during the campaign. At the end of the campaign, she can keep them if she likes them. They are used clothing and have no real value. My employer gives me shirts to wear while I am on company time representing the company. Am I expected to return the shirt to the company when I have finished using them or are they mine to keep?
Also, to you carping RATS: do you expect me to list the value of this shirt on my taxes? How about the cost of laundry while Ms. Palin is no the campaign trail or should she be doing her own?
You stinking Obamunists and other assorted media scumbags make me sick with your pettiness.
I got a job better than the one I had once. Made nearly double the money. I was advised by a professional friend that although I dressed fine for my prior, lessor paying job, I should dress for the job I’m getting. New wardrobe was in order and I think I saw it like a carpenter’s tool, or mechanic’s equipment. Investments in wardrobe are necessary in some professions.
And $150,000 ain’t squat compared to what Barack has spent on his and his wife’s wardrobe. I guarantee it.
How much dem money has been spent by Obamas wife since he began running for office on her wardrobe and accessories?
I view this as no different than adequate speakers and sound system on the stage.
Her clothing is part of the props, part of the event.
I watched on FoxnFriends this morning as some dude was brushing the starlette of the show’s nose and hair with some kind of brush. Wonder what his income is each year?
It’s simply part of the TV age. She says she’s giving the clothing to charity when the campaign is over. I’m sure she didn’t buy it. It’s a campaign expense.
I also know that she’s not someone’s wife. She’s the #2, and if truth be told, she’s the star of the show.
Another thought:
What did everyone say that it cost the DNC to run the final night of Obamessiah’s Greek Temple finale?
It doesn’t matter how much money is spend on Sarah’s wardrobe, the left would find something to complain if she were wearing Wal Mart clothes. The best thing is to ignore the lunatic media
Let's just keep that a secret.
All this is great for the economy! I wonder how many phone calls these stores are getting from women wanting the outfits?
She’ll probably sell the clothes on Ebay and make money. (I wonder what size she is...)
“How much dem money has been spent by Obamas wife since he began running for office on her wardrobe and accessories?”
Actually, I think they’ve spent more $$$ keeping her out of the public limelight, lest her big mouth sink the campaign.
That's my only objection to the whole tempest in a teapot. For what Governor Palin and her family have been put through, I'd vote in favor of them being able to at least keep the wardrobe no matter the outcome of the election. If there was a separate process for contributing to a fund to allow the Palins' to have ownership of their clothing, I'd be in for that.
People act as though the RNC was spending THEIR money. The RNC isn’t; it’s spending its own money, and it’s nobody’s business if they spend it on clothes.
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