Fashion and the Colors of the Inauguration

Fashion is a tell. Given that ideologists who claim the moral highroad – your more zealous socialists and Christians for example– fall so short of any thinking person's notion of an ideal, I'm using another yardstick: not ideology, but Style- elegance as its own virtue.

By this measure, an event so disappointing to so many, for reasons arguably more substantial than palette, often fell short. But there were a few wins, on both sides of the aisle.

Red, White, and Blue (Or in this case, bleu, blanc, et rouge):

Blue

We could start with red- our commander in chief and that blinding tie. But like much else in life, it's all about the girl- Mrs. Trump. The Jackie Kennedy cut of that dress and jacket was regal, especially when the jacket came off at luncheon, revealing nothing but more austere, becoming modesty. It was pure class, with a pleasingly militaristic edge of discipline- very nearly kink- underscored by the gloves, to say nothing of the point-toed, slender-heeled shoes. Restraint is always in excellent taste- here, in the restriction to that single shade of blue.

But the wrong shade. Among so many, many more significant things I might have wished were different, I wanted life in that blue- something juicy, something that quenches. I wanted a blue I would gaze at for its own sake, a touchable blue, a blue like the Tiffany's box Mrs. Trump presented to Mrs. Obama (a classy, warm gesture). This was a cold and clammy blue, lifeless, rather than a shade cool and refreshing.

Yves Klein Nike of Samothace

Blue hit its high note at the inaugural ball. After a dowdy afternoon, Mrs Pence was radiant in sophisticated "Yves Klein" blue. Apart from the color's source, this was homegrown chic. The designer? Designers actually- a collective of dressmakers working out of a small shop called “Something Wonderful” in Broad Ripple, Indiana (her home state) designed the gowns of all the Pence ladies. A beautiful message.

White

Ivanka Trump with her golden hair was elegant in cream; Tiffany was less fortunate, looking more washed out than bold in a shade of bright white. But most striking was that, although seemingly dressed as a unit, the sisters failed to coordinate: the eyes of world on them, they stood in chromatic discord rather than harmony, several shades away from striking a pleasing counterpoint to each other. Their body language mirrored dissonance. Like the shade of their stepmother's superb dress, it was a cold elegance.

A third beautiful head of blonde hair was Jackie Evancho's, The singer of the national anthem, she was another prominent young woman at the inauguration whose entrance was followed, and her outfit- also a double breasted coat in dead white, made an unwitting theme of whiteness itself. Only the most paranoid leftist could think this was a statement- even on a subconscious level. But against the background of the race related turmoil that characterized the divisive pre-election climate, the three prominent blondes in all white struck an odd note.

(Mrs. Clinton- also a blond- looked better than she ever did during the campaign. She was simply splendid in cream as well.)

Red

This is a powerful, even dangerous color- when it's right, it's all warmth and courage, and when its wrong, it's clownish. It's also the symbolic color of the Republican party, so you'd think they would get it right. And on the third try, they did.

President Trump's tie was that clownish shade of red- more brash than bold, a color we also saw on the collar of Kellyanne Conway's bizarre red, white and blue military coat- more of a costume, really- sort of like the nutcracker. In stylish contrast was five year old Arabella Kushner, looking fabulous in a deep red coat with a big bow at the neck, like a little Audrey Hepburn.  Mrs. Obama was beautiful in her textured coat with broad lapels in a rich garnet. But then she hasn't hit a false shade since charming us in that yellow dress and coat she wore to her husband's 2009 inauguration. (And that casual chignon just barely coming undone was just that approachable elegance that is the best of American style).

On the opposite end of the style spectrum, what about that switching up to shimmering gold curtains in the Oval Office? The nation that produced Elvis and Liberace will probably recover.