Continuing this online knock-down-drag-out yet another day, I have to comment on Hillary’s speech last night.
First of all: wardrobe. I know that it seems like a stereotypically unfair way to start my evaluation of this speech. But I’m just going to say: women, it’s your own dang fault. You have an INFINITELY larger range of styles and colors that one could don for this occasion. If you only had the foresight to be as boring and predictable as the men…
So to be fair, I’ll comment on the Governor of Montana’s choice of wearing a bolo over a necktie.
Nice work Montana!
So… wardrobe… when Hillary first came out in her brightly burnt orange pantsuit, I was wondering, “What is she thinking!? Bright orange?”
Then when she settled in behind the podium and the camera came to rest, I realized why. She was standing in front of the hyper-saturated blue backdrop, and had (amazingly) picked a perfectly complementary hue of orange.
This led me to ask the question: Does she get her pantsuits custom dyed to fit these kinds of occasions? Where does one find a brightly burnt orange pantsuit that will just perfectly complement the DNC’s chosen color of backdrop?
As for substance: well… it was what we all “expected.” She again endorsed Obama, took some jabs at the Republicans (“No Way, No How, No McCain” had Bill Clinton written all over it…), and thanked her supporters.
While I don’t particularly love the Clintons, and I certainly don’t support all of her solutions to our nation’s problems, I have to say that I thoroughly respect this woman. When she talks of the “18 million cracks in the glass ceiling”, you know she’s speaking from a lifetime of experience. When she spoke of how America has gone from her mother being born without the right to vote to her daughter being able to vote for her mother for the highest office in the land, I was sold. This is a great country, and those type of progressive reforms have helped to make us the strongest nation on the earth.
She has the tenacity and thickness of skin to play in the toughest, most public, and most brutal political races in the world. That is impressive in itself, but I was most refreshed when she showed the human side of her. Two such times come to mind in her campaign. One is when she was really struggling somewhere around the New Hampshire primary, and she teared up in a town hall meeting. The media really slammed her for it, but I was proud of her. It was a beautifully honest moment in which I finally felt that she truly was doing all of this out of love of her country. The second was when she was asked by a reporter what her most difficult trial in life had been. Her response: ‘Well, we all went through it together, didn’t we.’ Tough. Tough. To go through all of that, and go on to do what she has done is incredible.
As I said before, I don’t support her positions, but I am extremely glad that she has now paved the way for any serious female Presidential candidate to run on an even playing field. Maybe we’ll even have one of them… hopefully a bit more of a centrist… win in my lifetime!
I happened to catch a portion of a local talk-radio program this morning, and they were explaining that they had seen staffers on the stage, before the evening’s ceremony began, holding up half a dozen pant suits of various colors. One of which was the suit that Hillary wore last night. Apparently this is something quite common for TV production, especially since the advent of HD broadcasting. So, while it may have seemed to just be a good choice of color, it was actually an extremely well-planned and well-executed portion of the evening’s overall production.
Sorry if this ruined it for you… I just had to share. 🙂
My brother had bolo ties in his closet that were my grandfather’s (who was a hick, in case you didn’t catch that). Mark would occasionally wear them to church. One had a silver dollar on it, another a big Army-green stone. I think he still has them, but unless he’s wearing them in the privacy of his own home, they have been retired from use since 1988. Thank goodness!
Do you work with colors all day? For you to know that its hyper saturated, and a burnt orange “hue,” denotes the knowledge of color tones, and depth. I would like to know where this knowledge came from
uhh… I’m a graphic designer. 🙂
Yes, Kudos on the great color pick, but honestly does she have to wear the same pattern of pant suit everywhere she goes? A skirt would be nice once in a while, and more feminine jacket would also be a nice change. Kudos to Michelle Obama for having a great taste in clothes and understanding what looks good on her body type, I think Hilary could take a few lessons.
I think bolos are ready for a comeback.