Thursday, October 9, 2014

The Next Best Thing to an Ivy League Education: Fashion

Finally, the event we’ve all been waiting for: Lady M’s important White House "Fashion Education Workshop.”

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Not everyone can go to Princeton and Harvard Law, so Lady M addressed students gathered in the East Room yesterday to speak about the significance and importance of the fashion industry:

"Now, when it comes to the fashion industry, so often people think it’s all about catwalks and red carpets and 'who wore it best,' and whether some famous person wore the right belt with the right shoes –- like I’d know what that’s like," she said to laughter from the audience.

boob belt_gma2. mojpg

"But the truth is that the clothes you see in the magazine covers are really just the finished product in what is a very long very complicated and very difficult process, as I’ve come to learn working with many designers."

Boy, isn’t that the truth!

anorexic

You can never be too thin, ladies!

redbook coverh/t iOwnTheWorld and Gerard

What most people don’t realize is that there are so many different aspects to this industry.

Nicki Minaj and Anna Wintour attend the Carolina Herrera Spring 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Theater at Lincoln Center on September 12, 2011 in New York City.jpgaultier x-ray chicAmandaWakelLFWAW2010runwa2

Whether it’s business marketing or technology and manufacturing, even agriculture that produces the wool and the cotton that ultimately becomes our clothes, it’s a big, complicated industry.

Just like your government!

obamacareObamacare-Chartpjm-7-28-10Obamacare flowchart, part A

The industry is also a huge contributor to this economy. Last year alone, Americans spent more than $350 billion on clothing and footwear,

And that’s $350 billion that actually does work its way through the economy! Like San Fran Nan told us – it’s just like food stamps and unemployment: for every dollar we spend on these welfare programs, it puts like $2 back into the economy! Or something.

multiplier-effect-bogusEconomics from the gang who flunked Econ 101 and never heard of “opportunity cost”

 

and about 1.4 million American workers are employed annually by retailers and others in the fashion industry --

Albeit part-time these days; thank you Obamacare!

so a lot of jobs, a lot of income that is generated by many of the people who are sitting in this room.

anna-wintour-grace-coddington-candy-magazineAnna, spreading the wealth around by shopping at Starbucks

 

But for so many of you –- whether you’re already in the industry or aspiring to be there some day -– I know that in the end, fashion is really about passion and creativity.

EU laughing stockCan we tone done the passion just a tad? And maybe rein in the creativity a bit?

Just like music or dance or poetry, it’s what drives you. It’s what gets you out of bed each morning. It’s what you write about in essays in school and what you read about in the news.[ed. because you sure won’t read anything about all those phony scandals] It occupies every ounce of your daily lives.

I know this because with creative people, that’s what their passion does -- it makes everything else worthwhile.

michelle-obama-and-barack-obama-pic-reuters-757346771Creative Passion: it makes everything else worthwhile.

Or something.

Fashion is about so much more than just a pretty pair of pumps

20091228_mobama_091227michelle shoes 635 dollarsMO’s $635 half “pumps” - not just pretty

or the perfect hemline.

mo's ugliest frock ever multi color paternsperfect hemline…all of them

For so many people across the country, it is a calling, it is a career, and it’s a way they feed their families.

State UnemploymentRemember when ordinary people used to be able to do that too?

post-unemploymentHave a career and feed their family I mean?

So that’s why we thought it was important to bring the industry to the White House, and to share it with all of you who are coming up in the next generation.

Later, (Lady M) told the story of Spanx, and talked up the product to the crowd. "Just take Sara Blakely, for example…14 years later, Sara’s idea, Spanx, is a multibillion-dollar company with products selling in more than 50 countries. (Applause.) And we all wear them with pride. (Laughter.)"

spanx alert mo

Whether we should or not.

fat spandexOne size fits all

So what do you say, how about a thank you and a big round of applause to our wonderful FLOTUS for bringing a little fashion into our otherwise sad little fly over lives!!

michelle-obama-fashion-sept-11-2014-national-day-of-serviceWhoa! How about some of those spanx?

(applause)

Class dismissed.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted and Featured on Patriot Action Network