Cool's Hot-and-Cold Constituency: Obama inspires a story on style

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Cool's Hot-and-Cold Constituency
By ROBIN GIVHAN
Sunday, February 24, 2008; Page M01


A Paper magazine model in a layout inspired by Barack Obama. Fashions will wear thin, but a man who's comfortable in his own skin, well, that's different kind of cool. (By Richard Phibbs)

The cool hunters have embraced Barack Obama. Paper magazine, whose mission is to seek out, identify and support coolness, has dedicated a fashion editorial in its March issue to the Illinois senator.

Yes, a magazine aimed at self-identified hipsters, that documented the rise of hip-hop culture and chronicled the success of cross-dressers like RuPaul, has named a politician as inspiration for a story on style. A politician has a "look" worth celebrating? Has the Earth shifted on its axis? Or have the standards of cool sunk terribly low? And in a culture where cool is equated with Ugg boots, raw-food restaurants and enthusiasms that long ago exhausted their 15 minutes of fame, is this an embrace a politician should welcome?

Called "Mr. President," the feature shows an array of young black men dressed in dark, slightly too-big suits. One of the models has particularly prominent ears. Another wears his suit jacket with an open-collar white shirt. They are not meant to be Obama doppelgangers, but merely to convey the candidate's "look."

The magazine's co-founder and editor, Kim Hastreiter, said Obama's slim build, his youth and, most important, his body language caught her eye. "It's style not fashion," she said in an e-mail. "Most straight men aren't into fashion. "Many men (especially not politicians!) don't have the ease and personal style and confidence that I see in a man like Barack Obama. Casual yet boardroom ready without being too formal or intimidating. He just seems to look comfy in his own skin."

We're used to politicians adhering to a uniform. Except for a few subtle differences related to quality, tailoring and choice of tie, the political suit is mostly interchangeable. Obama wears a traditional suit, too. His most distinctive aesthetic flourish is taking off his tie. But in a homogeneous landscape, at least that's something. Yet mostly what distinguishes Obama is that he is a skinny man in a conservative suit. He looks boyish in fashion's most grown-up uniform. He is a black man standing where no other black man has ever been. And he appears utterly comfortable there. To Hastreiter, that looks like cool....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022200624.html?hpid=topnews