By Robert Bryan with photographs by Greg Watermann
04 November 2012
M's 1992 Style Advice for Candidates
"If the mud-slinging on this campaign gets as heavy as the pundits predict, all the runners are going to need a few changes of clothes."
"When he appears on TV, it's hard at first to know if you're watching Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas or just an average televangelist." Blazer, shirt, jeans and tie from Hugo Boss, shoes by Edward Green.
"Bush needs to bring that preppy look up to 1992 with a softer, three button blazer and uncreased birds-eye gray trousers." Blazer, trousers, shirt and tie by Donna Karan, shoes by Edward Green.
"Quayle dresses like an old bureaucrat, and seems about as imaginative and lively." Jacket, trousers and shirt by Baracuta.
"Tsongas looks serious, acts serious, talks serious and patently yearns to be taken seriously, that's too serious." Suit, shirt and tie by Jhane Barnes.
"Jerry Brown needs to appear as a solid citizen, and there's nothing flaky about this vested, pin strip suit." Suit, shirt, tie and socks from Ralph Lauren.
"Bob Kerrey looks as bland and sounds as exciting as a local sportscaster in a small to medium market." Jacket and trousers from Krizia Uomo, shirt and tie from Tango by Max Raab.
"Wilder dresses sharp -- maybe a little too sharp for a Virginia gentleman." Jacket, trousers, shirt and tie by Nick Hilton
"If Duke wants more than the redneck vote, he's got to get street smart. And this outfit should suit him prefectly; he's used to wearing hoods." Denim jacket, hooded shirt and denim jeans from Mossimo.
"Franklin Roosevelt loved seersucker suits. If it worked for FDR in '32, why not Mario Cuomo in '92?" Suit by Avery Lucas, shirt by Gieves & Hawkes, tie by Robert Talbott, shoes from Cole Haan.
By Robert Bryan with photographs by Greg Watermann
By Robert Bryan with photographs by Greg Watermann
If Clinton were running again the election would be a dead heat - The Republicans would be dead and Clinton would be in heat.
ReplyDeleteBut wow, what a blast from the past. Douglas Wilder, David Duke, Paul Tsongas. That issue must have been from late 91 though bc by February Cuomo and Wilder had ended their Hamlet impersonations and decided it was better NOT to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And no mention of Buchanan who was giving GHWB fits in early '92.
Full confession, 91-92 was my freshiman year of college and as an obnoxious conservative (in a way only the young can be) I was a memeber of Buchanan Brigade that helped Buchanan scare GHWB in NH. What can I say? I was young and foolish. Now I am no longer young.
The thing you begin to notice about the cut of the jackets back then is the tapering silhouette to the bottom that is absent today, enhanced by broader shoulders and looser trousers.
ReplyDeleteToday it seems it's all about the much tighter waist and tight-fitting pants as displayed in the Daniel Craig Bond movies. Could any human actually move in those suits, let alone fight? And when Graig goes casual on film I swear that sometimes he looks like he's wearing jeggings.
-DB