Obama’s Sleeker Look
“While the fashion world has been preoccupied with first lady Michelle Obama’s state dinner frocks, heel height, vacation wear and eyebrow arch, her husband has quietly launched a style remake of his own. And it’s all happening below the belt.
From the moment he stepped into the public eye as the junior senator from Illinois, nothing much had changed in Barack Obama’s sartorial world until this year, when he suddenly gussied up his closet with a rack of new suits. For the most part, the president has shed his traditional center-cut suit coats in favor of jackets sporting two side vents, a sleeker look that originated on London’s Savile Row to cater to the riding set.
Obama hasn’t joined that crowd, so far as we know, but he has been photographed multiple times since the start of the year cutting a sharper figure in the more tailored attire.
Those around him say the president chooses for himself what he’s going to wear each day (maybe with just a little help from the wife). Since they wouldn’t elaborate, we’re left to speculate as to why he’s made the swap: A new stylist? A gift subscription to GQ? Secret consultations with Tim Gunn?
Whatever the reason, fashion mavens say it’s a wise move.
“Side vents feel much more modern, but still keeping in good taste in classic men’s styling,” leading menswear designer Joseph Abboud told POLITICO. Abboud is president and chief creative officer of HMX LLC’s portfolio, which features Hart Schaffner Marx as its flagship brand. Obama is a longtime fan of the Chicago-area clothier; he wore HSM suits when he accepted the Democratic nomination in August 2008 and for his inauguration five months later.
Abboud applauds the president’s switch to the in-vogue double-vented style. “He’s tall and lean, and he looks better in side vents,” Abboud said. The suits have “a bit of dash to them,” he added, but it’s just a pinch – “a subtle change men can do without going to extremes.”
Matt Landsberg, founder of Eric Finn Custom Clothiers in Washington, D.C., said that while the center vent is a “traditional American style” and side vents are “historically more European,” Obama is wearing the right cut for his 6-foot-1, roughly 175-pound frame.
“He’s maximizing his look and wearing what looks best,” Landsberg said, adding that the side vent “steers him away from the stodgy look that many politicians have … a boxy, older style.”
“It says that he’s in touch with what the majority of people are choosing right now,” Landsberg added. ‘And he’s aware that it is the style. Whoever is consulting him is selecting the right thing for him.’ ” -Politico
