the personal and the political

Election is a 1999 film adapted from a critically acclaimed 1998 novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school that satirizes high school life and politics.

Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Enid Flick is an ambitious student determined to win her school election. She believes in hard work and ambition. Her drive can be attributed to her desire to be better than other people and she shows contempt for those who have wealth and popularity but don't appreciate it. Her contempt leads her to be malicious to her competitors, and to violate her own ethical standard by lashing out against Paul Metzler in spite of all his hard work and dedication.

Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister is a teacher who truly enjoys educating. His passion is with his work and the study of ethics. He cares about his students, but has contempt for those whose ambition gets in the way of their humanity. In spite of his lofty moral ideals, his contempt for Tracy renders him unable to live by his own ethical standard.

Chris Klein as Paul Metzler is a extremely popular star athlete running in the student election. His inherent fortune, popularity and high ethical standard serves as the foil for both Tracy and McAllister, since he has what both of them strive for but cannot achieve.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction........

"Fashion is a reflection of our time,'' said Yves Saint Laurent in 1971. How does fashion reflect the times we live in? This is an election year - Americans have a choice to make that will affect the rest of the world. Only 41.9% of this blog's readers are from the United States.



Fashion designers rarely get involved in politics. Oscar de la Renta dressed Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. In 1967 Geoffrey Beene designed the the high-necked princess-line dress that Lynda Bird Johnson, the daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, wore at her wedding to Charles S. Robb. His other clients included Richard Nixon's wife, Pat, and Ronald Reagan's wife, Nancy.

President George W. Bush's daughter, Barbara, interned at Proenza Schouler.

Taking a political stand during a recession, during wartime, poses a challenge to stability, status and money. In 2004 Marc Jacobs designed a T-shirt with Hillary Clinton's face on it to raise money for her Senate reelection campaign. He also designed a Hillary Clinton tshirt in February to raise money for her presidential campaign. I admire him for putting his money where his mouth is. He bravely took a stand.