fantasy old factory: Shelley O

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Shelley O

Alright bitches, you clearly all have opinions on this one, so let's get to it.

First Lady Michelle Obama attends the inauguration of her husband Barack wearing an ensemble by Isabel Toledo

"New York-based designer Toledo said the coat and dress were made of Swiss wool lace, backed with netting for warmth on the bitterly cold Washington morning, and lined in French silk.

"I wanted to pick a very optimistic colour that had sunshine," Toledo told New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn. "I wanted her to feel charmed, and in that way would charm everybody."

This is what we mean when we say she needs gays. She clearly has style and taste, but she often makes questionable decisions that only a gay can shoot down. Par example: We think the coat is lovely. Bright and optimistic, it stood out in a sea of dour winter coats.

But THIS, honeys:

This is bad. We don't care what the press says, they may be her "signature," but her constant cardigans are not flattering. They make her look older and slump-shouldered and the three-quarter-length sleeves on her make it look like the sweater's too small.

Couple that with the fact that there is literally no contrast on this ensemble anywhere. The dress, sweater and coat are all exactly the same color and the dress and coat are the same fabric. Who dresses like that outside of Barbie?

That's not entirely true; there was SOME contrast. She wore contrasting gloves and shoes. The problem? The shoes and gloves clashed with each other. We're not so old-school that we think a woman's shoes and gloves should match exactly but when the entire ensemble is in one color, the clashiness between the yellow-green gloves and the blue-green shoes really stood out.

In a Jason Wu dress for the inaugural balls

"The one-of-a-kind silk chiffon dress is embellished all over with Swarovski crystals, floaty bits of organza and silver thread embroidery and was custom made by Wu.

The first lady accessorized with diamond chandelier earrings, a white gold and diamond ring and a stack of diamond bangles by jeweler Loree Rodkin."

It's okay. It's just okay, though. We're reminded of Julia Sugarbaker's opinion that Nancy Reagan's one-shoulder, white, inaugural gown made her look like Wilma Flintstone.