Sounds like all that time and money Anna Wintour spent raising money for Barack Obama is still paying off.
Anna Wintour may have eschewed politics for Vogue and Conde Nast (for now), but that doesn’t mean she can’t bring politics to Vogue.
Mitt Romney has named his running mate and it’s Rep. Paul Ryan. If you want to read about what it all means and why he picked him you’re in the wrong place. If you want a silly rumination on why they dressed the same for their first on air appearance together on 60 Minutes, welcome. Read more →
Last Friday former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin stopped by a rally in Cass County, MO to endorse Missouri Senate candidate Sarah Steelman. This is what she wore. The Superman shirt is not completely random–Huffpo reports it’s Steelman’s Superman-themed campaign tee. Nonetheless it’s tight fitting and bright blue and doesn’t obviously look like campaign Read more →
Congrats Anna! This is how you know you’ve truly made it in politics.
In the past couple of years, Anna Wintour has become more publicly involved with politics than at any other time in her career, leading many to wonder: Why?
Wintour, who is one of Obama’s top-tier fundraising bundlers, has been particularly politically active over the past few months. She’s attended two state dinners (one of which honored UK prime minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha) and hosted a fundraising event with Scarlett Johansson for Runway to Win, an official fashion fundraiser for the Obama-Biden campaign. This week, she’ll host another Runway to Win event with Iman in Chicago, as well as a fundraising dinner in New York at Sarah Jessica Parker’s house. While conservatives are criticizing Wintour’s involvement in Obama’s campaign as an indicator of the President’s “out of touch”-ness (the phrase-du-jour), the Brits are suddenly speculating that she may be up for a job with the president, should he be re-elected.
President Obama is the first presidential candidate that the fashion industry, as a whole, has publicly rallied behind, generating support and money. He’s also husband to arguably the most fashion-conscious First Lady in history, who has been known to generate buckets of money for any brand she wears. Could the two be related?
According to Washington Post, maybe. “Excluding jewelry designers and mass-market retailers, nearly 50 percent of American designers worn by Michelle Obama donated to her husband’s 2008 or 2012 campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission filings,” the paper’s Katherine Boyle writes. Boyle notes that in 2008, when Michelle’s fashion influence was not fully known, only a handful of designers had donated to the campaign. In 2012, that number has tripled.
Anna Wintour has always been an Obama supporter (she donated $10K to Democratic White House Victory Fund in 2008) but to say she’s ramped up her support for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign would be an understatement.
She’s one of Obama’s top tier bundlers, which means she’s raised over $500,000 for the reelection campaign. She put together Runway to Win, a project in which she recruited big name designers (many of whom Michelle Obama has worn) to create items to be sold on the campaign website. Wintour will head to Chicago on June 12 for a “Runway to Win” fundraiser (she hosted one in NYC back in February, too).
And, in perhaps her most visible move in support of Obama, last week Wintour was the subject of a campaign video announcing a contest for potential donors to win the chance to dine with her, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the First Couple at a June 14 fundraiser. A few days later, one of those chatty, casual, Obama emails landed in our inboxes with Anna Wintour’s name as the sender. “I don’t do this sort of thing often — get involved with politics, that is,” the email reads. “But I’m doing everything I can to support President Obama this summer and fall because it’s important that we all do. Nights in New York like this one are a happy side benefit.”
That video was met with immediate backlash.
The fashion industry seems to be leaning to the left, according to a recent analysis of the industry’s financial support of presidential candidates leading up to the 2012 election.
WWD commissioned the Center for Responsive Politics to crunch the numbers, which took into consideration donations from department store, mass retail and apparel brand executives and employees. The result: the industry gave a total of $435,160 to the presidential race, 53.9 percent, or $234,600, to Obama and 45.9 percent to Republicans.
Also interesting: the fashion industry may play a more significant role in getting Obama re-elected than other Democratic-leaning industries like Hollywood, tech and Wall Street, whose donations are said to have declined this time around.
We’re all pretty well-versed in the recent onslaught of news regarding the economy and shopping – consumer confidence is down, sales are down, parties are down, etc. And recently, the news has been all about how much everybody plans to spend, or not spend, this holiday season. Guess what? Polls show that most people plan Read more →
To: Tips@Fashionista.com From: Huffing@postearrings.com Spotted (everywhere): Sarah Palin’s daughter carrying a fake Speedy. I can only assume the girl was just hanging onto her mother’s purse for her, but either way, this means Sarah Palin doesn’t care about American designers (think that bag was made in Alaska?) or counterfeit goods (what would Bush’s new copyright Read more →
Hey, did you know we vote in the next President in about five weeks? Because if you work in fashion (or if you own a TV, buy newspapers, etc) there’s no way you could’ve missed it. Way back in August, it was announced that a bunch of very cool designers (Zac, Marc, the Costello boys, Read more →
