Let's leave the substantive issues to others -- I focus on the how the clothes affect the image and the message and what they say about our culture.
I should have guessed Palin would wear a skirt of some sort -- she clearly loves her legs! They were showcased last night in a suit whose skirt was too tight. (Yes, a skirt can cup the tush in some settings, but not, in my opinion, this one.) The suit was neutral and nondescript except insofar as it highlighted her body. That's her only power message.
At the outset of the debate, she had something of a hair malfunction, with one chunk of hair interfering with every blink of the eye. It was annoying and distracting, no doubt to her as much as to the viewer. (At some point I noticed she'd brushed the hair aside a little.) And it's interesting to see that she wore her hair down at the big, big events (her convention speech and the debate) but her default hairstyle is the updo.
Palin wore four-inch heels that must have been tiring after a while -- she started shifting her weight from foot to foot as the debate wore on. More noticeable was that flag pin on steroids -- patriotic bling. Like Palin herself, the pin is brassy, down-market and hard to miss. It's as if to say that Biden's smaller, more conventional pin -- the kind seen on politicians all the time -- was, like his quieter command of the facts and policy nuances, somehow insufficiently patriotic.
Palin didn't embarrass herself (well, not much -- especially if you weren't listening to the butchering of the word "nuclear") in her overall presentation, and that included her clothes. And too bad for me, because it makes her so much less fun.
Did you notice any other details about last night that I've missed? Please leave comment. And subscribe this blog -- there will be lots to say next week with the campaigns kicking into high gear and the presidential debates.
(Photo credit: Richard Perry/The New York Times)
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