How to wear emerald

You may have heard: Pantone's color of the year for 2013 is emerald.  (Pantone is a color system and forecasting service. Now you know.)

Rep. Michele Bachmann selected emerald for a hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: http://youtu.be/NsZaaV5JSEs


Emerald is a strong color, but many people can wear it. The key is to break it up a little bit, as Rep. Bachmann has done here with a necklace. She also kept her makeup strong, preventing the color from washing her out.

Here's how you can wear emerald too:

Emerald: 2013 Color of the Year by styleofpolitics featuring a crystal pendant necklace

Will Bachmann turn back the clock?

We've been following Michele Bachmann's Presidential campaign wardrobe since the very beginning. Hasn't it been interesting? And now here at the end, it seems to have come full circle.

On the night of the Iowa caucus, when she was still a candidate, she wore navy blue:

Dark color, almost no jewelry, small flag pin. Her outfit is simple, conservative, and, except for the jacket neckline, devoid of detail. It's everything we've come to expect from her on the campaign trail.

But when she announced the next day that she was leaving the race, her look had already begun to change:

She's still in a dark color palette, but her jacket has a pattern and beaded trim. She's wearing larger earrings.  Her eye makeup is considerably bolder, and I'm pretty sure those are false lashes. She hasn't gone all the way back to the pink twinset, but this is definitely a return to more overt femininity.

We'll continue to watch as Bachmann returns to Congress no longer a presidential candidate but with an elevated national profile. I'm not sure if we'll ever get back to her "date night with Fox" look, but I do expect we'll start to see more color soon. This Congresswoman Bachmann will look both familiar and new.

See also the Reliable Source in the Post today and the slideshow that goes with it!

Bachmann wins in white

As you probably know by now, Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll this weekend. She wore a white suit:

This suit returns to her achromatic theme of campaign dressing, and although it's not as business-like as the black and gray we've seen in her campaign announcement or the debates, it's still a far cry from the soft sweater sets of last year. The jacket is shaped and darted, but noticeably loose on her body, a clear attempt to avoid too much body-consciousness in her clothes. Although the long nails point back towards that overt femininity, it's still notable that her look is less girly-girl than it used to be.

It's baaack!

Color has returned to Michele Bachmann's official campaign wardrobe. And not just any color.

For this Iowa campaign ad, she wore canary yellow:

After weeks of gray, Rep. Bachmann appears to have chosen a jacket for this video that we saw at least once before: when she introduced Sarah Palin at a Minnesota campaign rally last April.

This choice is significant for two reasons:
1. It diverges from her apparent strategy of trying to look more "neutral" by wearing mostly gray, black and white and toning down her jewelry, at least in the mainstream press.
2. The previous look was widely commented on as being unserious and dated, although that may have just been a result of her close proximity to Palin's outrageously over-accessorized look that day.

This jacket is actually a lot more successful in this video because she's by herself and in a natural setting, which can offset the bright saturation of the color. When she was surrounded by other people in harsh stage lighting at the rally, the color drowned her out. This jacket depends heavily on context.

Michele Bachmann is going gray

No sooner do we identify Michele Bachmann's switch to dark suits with white shirts than she blends it together and chooses all-over gray for her announcement of her Presidential run.

Here is a view of her silver shift with matching jacket:


Here we can see the sleeve, turned up to three-quarter length, which is perfectly on-trend this spring:

By Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone

This fabric has a little bit of sheen to it, which is only a bit problematic in the bright sunlight here. What's trickier is the continuation of a single color in the whole outfit, especially when it's a light one. It's the core of the problem with Hillary Clinton's pastel pantsuits that got her needled in the press for years. Matching suit pieces in a light color can sometimes make you look a bit like a cartoon character. This particular suit also bears an unfortunate similarity to a recent Bachmann parody in Rolling Stone: Her supporters won't be likely to make this comparison immediately, but others might.

Gray isn't turning up in Bachmann's wardrobe just for this announcement, though. We saw another (more familiar) gray suit in her pre-announcement media appearances as well:



The trouble with gray is less about the semantic implications of it sounding dull, and more to do with it having the potential to be dull. So far, Bachmann has avoided that fate. Although a color that complements your complexion can an extraordinarily effective tool for looking good, medium gray is also considered a "universal" color that looks good on everyone. (Want to know the others? Email me for a color consultation appointment!) But it seems unlikely that she can go on without color forever.

I'm officially declaring a color watch for the Bachmann 2012 campaign.

The Bachmann Formula

Last fall, we here at The Style of Politics began to notice a change in the way Michele Bachmann was dressing. For appearances with the mainstream press or in the House, her style became much more conservative and achromatic. The colorful, more feminine look that had been her signature became reserved for appearances at Tea Party rallies and on Fox News.

The frillier, decorative look that I began to think of as "date night with Fox" survived on cable news well in to 2011.  Here she is in March:

The rosy cheeks and flip hairdo we've known for so long hadn't been seen much in Congress this year, but here they were on conservative cable. Bachmann played well to this particular audience, that places keen emphasis on femininity in women candidates (for an excellent discussion of this, see Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women by Rebecca Traister).

But by May, it was gone. As speculation of a Bachmann presidential run reached the boiling point, her straight hair and gray suit had reach Fox News too:

Look carefully here, and remember what you see: plain suit, three-strand pearl necklace, pearl drop earrings. Got that?

Here it is again in her campaign announcement:


And again in the CNN debate:


It seems Bachmann has found her look.

I'm not sure that she can sustain a no-color wardrobe over an entire campaign, but we see a strategy emerging here. Where Hillary Clinton was mocked for too much color (and too many pants) and Sarah Palin was mocked for spending too much money and wearing labels as famous as she was, this wardrobe seeks to disappear. It may work for now, as long as the candidate inside doesn't disappear with it.

Is blue the new pink?

Rep. Michele Bachmann's remarks opened the CPAC conference last week. She wore a blue suit:

We have increasingly seen Ms. Bachmann appearing in these buttoned up silhouettes and shades of blue. Could her signature pink cardigans and girly accessories officially be a thing of the past? She certainly looks like the major player here that her position on the docket implies. It's certainly a far cry from the playful, colorful look she was sporting on the campaign trail with Sarah Palin.

Who's that lady?

Did you catch Michele Bachmann on Face the Nation this week? You could be excused if you didn't recognize her:

This look represents a continuation of the more businesslike image she began projecting this fall. Gone are the flip hairstyle and piles of dangling jewelry that have been her hallmark for "friendly" appearances on Fox News. For the network news magazine, her image is sober, serious and down to business. This lady knows what she's doing.

Baroque

Rep. Michele Bachmann went on the O'Reilly Factor last week to discuss her Congressional agenda. She wore a twinset:


There are some matters of style that are subjective, that we can debate back and forth the possible merits of a particular look.

This is not one of those times.

The beading on the cardigan AND the shell AND the big necklace AND the dangling earrings makes this look a study of excess. It's so distracting. If you're going to wear a garment with this much heavy beading, you need to leave the jewelry at home.

Bachmann buttons up

Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared recently at a Republican press conference in a very buttoned up navy blue suit:

We've seen the Congresswoman before in seersucker, in sweater sets, in shiny yellow jackets, and we know that she has no qualms about making television appearances with bare arms (not just that one time but all summer on Fox and on the House floor).

But we have not often seen her like this, in a style that is so covered up and...conservative. Bachmann's style has typically been overtly feminine, in the same mode as many Republican women this season, who allude to their values by referencing traditional gender roles in their clothing. This outfit reminds us much more of a corporate board room than one of Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies." 

Summer, summer, summertime

Rep. Michele Bachmann can wear pink very well - light peachy pink. But last week she chose a dusty raspberry seersucker for an appearance on Fox News, and it didn't work nearly as well:

Seersucker is a great summer fabric. But have a look at Rep. Bachmann's skin here. She's clearly gotten a bit of sun, making pink a poor choice. It just makes her look pinker, and not in a good way.

Here's a seersucker look that might work better, which we created for Seersucker Thursday last month:

Bare arms are for cocktails

Remember that time when we talked about how dressy and professional are not the same thing, and people got all riled up? Well hang on to your pearls folks because we're gonna do it again.

Rep. Michele Bachmann was on Fox Business earlier this week to discuss the oil spill. She wore a black sleeveless top:

A sleeveless top with no layer over it isn't terribly professional to begin with. It's an awful lot of skin to show during a serious discussion of a major disaster. But just as in Governor Brewer's outfit that we discussed before, it's the combination of items here that really drives the complete outfit past the borders of professional. Sleeveless and multistrand necklace and dangling earrings and smoky eye makeup and she looks a bit like she came from happy hour in Georgetown.

Outside, hairspray is your friend

Natural light makes us all look great, doesn't it? But when we venture outside for a chance at the sunlight, we also have some risks to contend with. One of those risks is wind. Michele Bachmann learned that the hard way in her National Day of Prayer message:

Rep. Bachmann's usual flip hairstyle certainly already involves some styling products to create. But this is one of those times when she should have made sure she had a last minute check on her look. A little hairspray applied at the part would have done the trick.

Bachmann and Palin take a trip to the 1980s

If Michele Bachmann didn't say the year at the start of this clip, you could be forgiven for guessing the year was perhaps 1984. Both she and Sarah Palin sport some serious throwback styles here:


Now, I know the '80s are having a comeback right now. But you have to be careful.

The combination of the stiff, shiny fabric, the yellow/black color combination, the standup collar and the pushed up sleeves on Rep. Bachmann's jacket cross the line from modern trend to dated look. Her teased hairstyle exacerbates the problem.

Sarah Palin is definitely suffering from a moment of over-accessorization. Jewelry + flag pin + sequined jacket = a lot of look. The layering of pearls and cross also reminds me very strongly of Like A Virgin-era Madonna, and I can't be the only one. I'm sure that's not what she was going for.

I don't know about you, but I'm rather disturbed by hearing Michele Bachmann introduce Sarah Palin by emphasizing, in part, that she is "drop dead gorgeous." Here we are, carefully considering what we wear to produce a polished, professional image, but if the first thing people have to say about us is that we're pretty, we'll go with that? To hell with professional and appropriate if we can be "drop dead gorgeous" instead? Don't get me wrong, gorgeous has a place. We all want to be gorgeous sometimes. But it shouldn't be a professional qualification unless you're a model. How disappointing.

Grayson and Bachmann on Larry King Live: Applegate and Glinda debate healthcare?

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am prone to neither hyperbole or sarcasm in this forum.

However.

Did you see Larry King Live last week, when Reps. Michele Bachmann and Alan Grayson discussed the health care debate? Watch:

Maybe they don't remind you of anything. But I used to be a theatrical costume designer, and I was struck by two very strong visual references for these two characters. Congressman Grayson's black, shiny pinstripe suit, white shirt, bright red tie and

red pocket square folded into points reminded me so strongly of Mr. Applegate from Damn Yankees, I actually had to double check the YouTube address and make sure this clip wasn't some kind of parody. If you're not familiar with the musical, Mr. Applegate is the devil in a sharp suit.

And once my mind went there, well, all hope for serious thought was lost. All I

could think of when I saw Congresswoman Bachmann's soft pink sweater, pearls and flip hairdo was Glinda, the Good Witch of the North from the Wizard of Oz.

Please understand that this is not a political commentary at all, but hopefully a bit of a cautionary tale. Sometimes our clothes can make references, connections or images that we don't intend and might not even be familiar with. Either of these outfits might not have been terribly remarkable on their own, but when juxtaposed next to each other in the classic Larry King split screen, a story was born.

Be careful out there, folks.

Michele Bachmann speaks at rally against Senate health care bill

Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared at a rally on Capitol Hill opposing the health care bill being debated in the Senate. Although it is December, she wore white:

This is a great looking jacket, but it's completely out of season. If I didn't know for sure that this happened last week, I would assume it was footage from earlier this fall. I don't hold very tightly to the idea of no white after Labor Day, but the style is summery too, not just the color.

Also, notice her necklace - it's so long it goes below the podium and out of the frame, which is distracting.

Michele Bachmann: A Color Comparison

I almost don't want to write about Rep. Michele Bachmann's clothes because articles like this lead me to believe she may soon go the way of Sarah Palin in scrutiny of her wardrobe (among other things). But these two recent clips demonstrate very well why it does in fact matter what color you wear.

The first example is from her remarks on the House floor about global warming back in April:



She's wearing slate gray, as she often does. This is a great color for her. Her hair color looks warm, and it makes her eyes look bright (hard to tell in this video, but check out this photo).

In contrast, the second example is from her remarks at the Heritage Foundation in response to Keith Olbermann's criticism:



The brown color of this blouse is almost the same color as her hair, making her look like one big splotch of brown. It also looks too big for her, and appears to be maybe corduroy? That's a pretty casual fabric. All of those elements add up to an unusually sloppy look for the Congresswoman.

Both gray and brown are good neutral colors, but not all neutrals are created equal!