I was right: Obama's influence on names

I predicted here that Obama's candidacy/presidency would prompt more black Americans to give their children traditional African names, and that this trend might extend to Americans of all ethnicities giving their children names borrowed from other cultures.

What's happening instead, already, as this NYT article reports, is that grown Obama supporters are giving themselves his middle name, Hussein, as their middle names, adopting it as a symbol of solidarity in the face of all the anti-Muslim hysteria about his background.

So far Obama's campaign has done an extremely good job of managing Obama's "brand."  Obama-sponsored memes ("Yes we can") have been extremely successful.  And a couple of (planned?) physical-gesture memes that started out looking potentially damaging (the Jay-Z brush-off, the terrorist fist jab) were swiftly picked up and championed by pop culture (no question, the fist-bump is the new high-five).

Obama's imagery is powerful.  And the reason it's so powerful is that it's impeccably, vertically unified.  The campaign's power comes from the bottom up, but its themes and aesthetic come from the top down.  People interact with that imagery in a grassroots way -- make their own posters, buttons, etc. -- but they're using as their raw material the Obama "look."  That look is incredibly well-thought-out and designed to look right, sound right, feel right -- so when it gets repeated and repeated as it trickles through culture, it all reinforces the Obama message.  

What doesn't work is for the grassroots to come up with a meme and force it upwards, because it will clash with Obama's visual and rhetorical aesthetic.  And Hussein clashes.  Although Obama's middle name is a part of his "brand" (part of his name/"brand name") whether he likes it or not, it's not been chosen as part of his brand messaging.  And so what these kids are doing becomes unintentionally subversive of what Obama's trying to do.  The main problem with their gesture isn't that it adds to the false association between Obama and Islam (because, although it does, Obama is already treading the line on offending Muslims), but that it picks apart Obama's image when what's clearly been working best for him is summing-up, generalizing, unifying.  And because it picks apart instead of generalizing, it distracts from the candidate, leading us away into a debate on religion and race between individuals instead of back toward Obama and the mass movement.

Radical Chic redux

Along with the natural/afro hair, politicized hip-hop style, and authentic African names that I think an Obama candidacy and presidency is going to bring to the forefront, I'm starting to wonder if some Black Power-influenced style is going to come back in 2009.

I mentioned in this post that I think the color black in general is going to only get more pervasive, and that in the winter the classic black turtleneck is going to be huge. I'm also imagining lots of sober, simply-cut (minimalist) black jackets, suits, and coats, and flat black boots. And I'm thinking that the camouflage trend of this winter/spring is only going to get bigger and encompass a generally militant-ish look. Plus, I continue to insist, long hair for men. Add to that a dumbing-down of (or maybe even dispensing-with?) makeup (here, here), the continuation of skinny jeans, the not-dying popularity of sunglasses, especially still the Wayfarers, the seemingly-random turban and hats-in-general trend, and it's all sounding a little familiar:

...Christ, if the Panthers don't know how to get it all together, as they say, the tight pants, the tight black turtlenecks, the leather coats, Cuban shades, Afros. But real Afros, not the ones that have been shaped and trimmed like a topiary hedge and sprayed until they have a sheen like acrylic wall-to-wall--but like funky, natural, scraggly . . . wild . . .

...The Panther women...are so lean, so lithe, as they say, with tight pants and Yoruba-style headdresses, almost like turbans, as if they'd stepped out of the pages of Vogue, although no doubt Vogue got it from them. All at once every woman in the room knows what Amanda Burden meant when she said she was now anti-fashion because "the sophistication of the baby blacks made me rethink my attitudes." God knows the Panther women don't spend thirty minutes in front of the mirror in the morning shoring up their eye holes with contact lenses, eyeliner, eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, occipital rim brush, false eyelashes, mascara, Shadow-Ban for undereye and Eterna Creme for the corners . . . (from Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers ©1970 by Tom Wolfe)

Of course Black Power overtones are exactly the last thing Barack Obama needs, so I hope this doesn't come back too strong or too soon. Hopefully not really until he's in office. And I really, really hope it'll be about black pride instead of black separatism.

Ideally it will represent, also, not the nihilistic defeated attitude of 1969, but a non-materialistic, honest attitude, and be part of a sweeping-away of the overconsumption-oriented style that has reigned for almost this entire first decade of the 21st century.

Can-collector costume

I always get transfixed by the clothes of the Chinese-American women who collect bottles and cans in downtown New York. Though definitely the result of poverty and with the main goal of utility, these women's outfits are quite beautiful and fascinating.

First of all, they just have their outfits DOWN! They are always dressed from head to toe in an utterly functional, comfortable-looking combination of layers. In the winter, this often means an assortment of cotton jackets piled on top of each other, with socks ingeniously made into wrist-warmers. But look at the picture here, taken recently in warm weather: She's wearing a short-sleeved top, and seemingly underneath a dark-red long-sleeve top. But I could see from closer up that what appear to be sleeves are actually arm coverings, home-made out of other cloth and with elastic at both ends to keep them on!!! They must be for sun protection, cleanliness, or both. Whatever they're for, they provide adjustable, easy-to-remove coverage and look amazing. Then there's her smock: these women always wear one. It's again a very functional, thrifty garment to wear. And yet it also adds another layer to the collage of clothes, making the whole outfit look more rich and almost exotic. The sun hat, too, is functional, but gives this woman and others an added dignity -- affirming, somehow, that they too are workers with a job to do and a role to fulfill.

Above all I love how all the different parts of these women's outfits work together. They always clash, possibly because the women can't afford to -- but my hunch is that they don't care to -- match their clothes to one another. It's not that they're oblivious to aesthetics: it's quite clear that they prefer certain prints (florals, paisleys), colors (pastels, muted neutrals and primaries), and styles (boxy jackets, especially traditional Chinese ones, and elastic-waist pants). But they're operating with a completely different eye for how these things should go together.

The can collector aesthetic is effectively very similar to Beautiful Ugliness, only from an opposite direction. Unlike a post-hipster who would have to combine clashing items self-consciously, these women -- and poor non-Westerners and marginal Westerners across the world -- put anti-matching, anti-fashion outfits together totally naturally. They don't have to force themselves to ignore what a rich Westerner can't help but see as contradictory, inappropriate, potentially-ironic juxtapositions of style -- because they don't have anything invested in those styles not clashing. So while they probably don't see their clothing as beautiful, neither do they see it as "wrong." And that puts them way ahead of typical affluent Americans, with their concerns about putting together right-wrong outfits, at great expense, which will just have to be given away or thrown away when the next right-wrong fashion comes along.

The can collectors don't care about any of that. They're just surviving. And they've come up with a clothing style perfectly oriented towards helping them survive. In this sense, their style is not just like Beautiful Ugliness, but also New Sportswear, in that it's all about functionality and performance. That's the most modern way to dress.

It's my belief that these women are actually, in a way, better-adapted to living in New York City than the expensively-suited office workers who pass by them and pity them every day. They really see clothes for what they are, and use them for exactly what they need. And they look more amazing than anyone else.

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes

The darkness isn't going to go if you turn your head, though.  More darkness is on the way.  In fact it would be appropriate, if you see a red dress, to paint it black, because black and more black is what we're going to be seeing this summer.

That's right, here it is, my favorite time of year: time to make the New York Downtown Young Ladies' Summer Fashion Trend Report.

It's all about separates, neutrals, minimalism, utilitarianism, lots of skin, and a tough attitude.

All the outfits worn by New York Downtown Young Ladies are a variation on this theme:

• white, black, gray, denim, or khaki short shorts or short skirt, high-waisted
• + white, black, or gray top of some kind
• OR black or white sundress BELTED AT THE WAIST -- NO empire line
• potential vest, layered shirt, or jacket in white, black, or denim -- NO SWEATERS

Guidelines for accessories:

• sandals, esp. gladiators or anything with an ankle strap, leather NOT jelly, espadrille, or other, TRUE sandal NOT FLIP-FLOP -- OR leather or canvas black/white/neutral lace-ups OR boots -- tough boots as motorcycle or winkle-picker, NOT round-toe scrunchy
• NO bag -- OR utilitarian bag - backpack, fanny pack, or as last resort TRUE handbag (no shoulder straps and especially NO HOBOS)
• the best accessories have some sort of significance or symbolism: for instance, political pins, wedding rings, friendship bracelets
• earrings are long and made of feathers or fringe or are hoops or simple studs but are NOT chandelier.  multiple ear piercings are good.
• chokers

Grooming:

• hair: should not be styled -- it should be air-dried and left in its natural state.  If it's frizzy in its natural state, it should be frizzy; if it's flat, it should be flat.  your growing-out bangs should be in your eyes.  don't trim your hair.
• makeup: pretty skin, some mascara.  NO EYELINER.  lip balm.
• no nail polish

Underwear

• I was a little wrong about bras.  it's OK to wear a bra, but it shouldn't be a heavy-duty bra.  It should be a garment and not an undergarment.  it should show -- the straps should show, or the color should show through your shirt.  or you can wear it on its own -- if it's a sports bra.  that could be really cool, actually.

The following are forbidden:

• irony
• color
• notions of "luxury" or "glamour"
• boho

Other notes:

• the right denim is old, thrifted, men's denim -- ideally a little torn.
• don't try to be sexy.  it's an election year, get over yourself
• shoes are going to be getting more and more utilitarian.  sandals this summer will give way to sneakers this fall and hiking boots and flat boots this winter.  notice how the nineties are coming back?
• also in that vein: perhaps instead of long hair, a bit of a sinead/ani moment?
• this winter the black turtleneck will succeed these black winter clothes.

Political hip-hop style

I was waiting for something like this. I saw an amazing, amazing Obama shirt this afternoon. It was in the window of a tiny hip-hop boutique on 28th near 6th Avenue: this big black shirt with a picture of Obama (shot from below, like in all the web site photos) giving the thumbs-up, and surrounding him the giant words "YES" (above his head) and, below him, "WE CAN," in puffy gold glitter fat bold type. There were other hip-hop-style Obama shirts in the window, too, but this one was the winner.

Tons of blacks and Latinos in their teens and twenties were psyched to wear the Obama stickers I and other volunteers were handing out at the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday. Lots of people passed me waving these stickers around and then would circle back and say, "Oh, Obama. Yeah, I want a sticker."

What youth culture, black culture, and entertainment culture media will the Ice Cold Obama influence infiltrate next??