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FASHION: The one aspect of American culture Oprah didn’t influence
Trend-seller
World’s most influential woman more fashion sheep than shepherd
BY EMMA BARKER
PHOTO: Ron Galella
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 24: Oprah Winfrey attends 43rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 24, 1986 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
PHOTO: Ron Galella, Ltd.
Oprah Winfrey during 9th Annual National Conference For Women at New York Hilton Hotel in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
PHOTO: Ron Galella
Oprah Winfrey at the Georgio Armani Store in New York City, New York (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
PHOTO: SGranitz
Oprah Winfrey during The 68th Annual Academy Awards at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
PHOTO: Kevin Mazur
Oprah Winfrey at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Our first images of Oprah Winfrey were of sweaters as loud as her booming voice. She’s had more forehead-smacking fashion moments than Britney Spears, and even her own stylists (Kelly Hurliman for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and Adam Glassman for O magazine) admit to more misses than hits (granted, she rose to fame in the 1980s). For someone who seems to affect nearly every thing she touches, Time’s most influential woman managed to avoid influencing one aspect of American culture: fashion design.
She certainly had her hand in the fashion industry, though. Oprah’s “Favorite Things” launched seeming nothings to best-sellers with the inflection of a voice. When then-newbie designer Tory Burch was endorsed on the show in 2005, her websitewww.toryburch.com topped 8 million hits. And a small Atlanta hosiery company blew up into a $350 million business after her promotion — Oprah had given us Spanx.
To her credit, Oprah has promoted trends almost as much as individual products. On her last show yesterday she joked about her velour Anne Klein separates and her geometric sweaters, but for a late-’80s talk show host she was right on key. Oprah is about making you feel good about the fad you’re rocking. Giant shoulders are in, but you feel awkward in them? So does Oprah, but you know what? She. Wears. Them. Anyway.
Over the years, Oprah has edged away from trends (we haven’t seen her in jeggings ... yet) into safer looks — pencil dresses, three-quarter sleeves, solid colors. She looked stunning on her last show in a salmon pencil dress with chiffon draping — a safe choice, but a classic one. When you think about it, being a trendsetter is far from Oprah’s message. This is a show about everybody, so how would she look if she upstaged the guests?
In all honesty, I was ready to write this as a look-back at Oprah’s craziest outfits, but I couldn’t bring myself to make fun of OOOOOooooo-Pppraaahhhh. Because just a few hours ago, she looked into my soul and told me to be kind, love, and be my best me and I nodded and said, “Ok, Oprah.” She may not have much sway in the spring/summer 2012 collections, but a lady needs a break from influencing on occasion.
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The new moral majority
Gayness more acceptable — even, slowly, in sports and politics
BY JONATHAN RAUCH THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2011
I’m gay and I’m going to tell the world. When Rick Welts, the 58-year-old president and CEO of the Phoenix Suns, delivered that message recently to National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern, Stern wasn’t at all nonplussed. In fact, he sounded positively plussed. “I think there’s a good chance the world will find this unremarkable,” Stern told the New York Times.
Maybe it should be unremarkable, but in sports it still isn’t. Coming out as gay is pretty common in America in 2011, even among public figures — except in three areas: politics, entertainment and sports. All three fields have in common a belief by their practitioners that they cannot afford to take any risks with their public images, lest they lose votes, fans or endorsements. So you know something is afoot when the wall of silence begins to crack in the world of sports. Consider:
- Until recently, a gay team CEO like Welts would have worried that coming out would make him a butt of jokes and disrespect among his players. The last thing he would have done is to tell the New York Times. Perhaps even more significant is the NBA’s official “no big deal” reaction. Not long ago, pro sports associations hastened to distance themselves from any taint of supposedly unwholesome influences.
- In April, when Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, called a referee a gay epithet, he was fined more than $100,000 for generic disrespect. The nature of the slur brought the league down on his head. “Offensive and inexcusable,” Stern called it. More important, the team seemed genuinely remorseful — or, at the very least, worried enough about seeming anti-gay to film an apologetic video. Just a few years ago, you would probably have been more shocked to learn that an athlete did not use that word.
- The San Francisco Giants announced earlier this month that they would be filming an “It Gets Better” video, contributing to a series in which both prominent and ordinary people condemn anti-gay bullying and discourage gay teen suicide. According to news reports, no pro team has joined such a cause before.
Hollywood is notoriously rife with hypocritical homosexuals who profess liberal social attitudes but refuse to come out to their fans. Why take a risk when commercial success depends so utterly on public good will and glamour? Why risk even a hint of scandal or controversy? Pro sports is (presumably) less gay and less hypocritical than Hollywood, but, for many of the same reasons, athletes generally feel they can’t afford to lead public opinion — and, generally speaking, they’re right.
By the same token, however, they can’t afford to be left behind when public opinion changes. And that is what is happening now, in an unprecedented fashion.
For as long as Gallup — the gold standard on this question — has asked those it polls whether gay relations are morally acceptable or wrong, a majority of Americans said “morally wrong.” Until last year. In 2010, the balance tipped. “Morally acceptable” became the majority view, held by 52 percent. And according to a Gallup poll released yesterday, that number has risen to 56 percent.
Two other recent polls show a similarly remarkable swing in public opinion on gay marriage. Polling by both Gallup and the Washington Post and ABC News found a 53 percent majority supporting gay marriage.
There is no mystery about what is going on here: While liberals have always been predominantly gay-friendly and conservatives have always been predominantly hostile, independents and moderates have tipped decisively. And liberals have become even more pro-gay.
What you are seeing in pro sports, then, is one of many indicators of a broader sea-change in public opinion. Not even Hollywood can be very far behind.
And politicians, the ultimate followers of public opinion? Among Democrats and liberals in politics, being openly gay is not usually a problem, though it’s still a risk politicians prefer not to take. Core Republicans, however, remain an exception to the cultural trend, unwaveringly hostile to gay marriage and disapproving of homosexuality. In this important respect, Republicans look less and less like America.
Gallup has found that support for gay marriage has risen since last year among Democrats and independents, men and women, and younger and older people. In fact, it has risen in every group except Republicans, who still oppose it by almost three to one. Similarly, Pew has found that the belief that homosexuality should be “accepted by society” is now the prevalent view among every political, regional and demographic group that it reports on — except for conservative Republicans and white evangelicals (groups that have become increasingly synonymous). In short, hostility to homosexuality, once a majority view, has become both concentrated and isolated to the Republican base.
Even moderate Republicans are swinging, however: 52 percent say homosexuality should be accepted. How far behind can the party’s conservatives be? They could hold out forever, no doubt, against the DNC, but against the NBA it’s just a question of time.
Credit: The Daily (www.thedaily.com)
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