Amal Clooney, speaking in fashion “She’s the woman I want to be but know I’ll

Amal Clooney, speaking in fashion “She’s the woman I want to be but know I’ll never be” a friend WhatsApped me in late September, accompanied by a picture of Amal Clooney in the Giambattista Valli Couture dress she wore the day after her wedding. As Clooney hasn’t spoken outside work functions in the year since she started dating George Clooney and became a recognisable name beyond law insiders, this enthusiasm is essentially based on what we have gathered from street-style photos of her. This being 2014, I assume Clooney goes out every day knowing she might get photographed. As a result, I presume that she dresses with purpose, the way I dress differently depending on what I want to project. We have been building her personality on street-style photos, op-eds and legal writing, as well as quotes from friends (or so-called friends, always hard to know in the papers). For instance, based solely on these facts, journalist and Forbes blogger Ruchika Tulshyan has extrapolated that “she is confident without being arrogant and graceful and tasteful without showing off.” This is also who I think Clooney is as a person but, for all I know, we are both way off. A trilingual barrister specialised in international law, human rights, extradition and criminal law with a BA/LLB from Oxford University and an LLM from New York University School of Law, Clooney crystallises the “can smart women like fashion“ debate which pops up every time a woman in a male-dominated, powerful profession (politics, writing, law) wears something other than an ill-fitting pant suit. My view on the topic is clear from the title of this blog: “It’s OK for intellectual feminists to like fashion”. As far as I am concerned, the debate is framed the wrong way round and Amal Clooney proves why. The question should be: “Can you like fashion without being smart and informed?” By fashion, I don’t mean shopping at every opportunity, purchasing clothes seen on a celebrity or following trends that don’t fit. That isn’t loving fashion, that is bowing to consumerism and societal pressure. By loving fashion, I mean appreciating a well-built garment and why it is well-built; understanding how your clothes fit in fashion history, maybe art history and even national history; knowing how to dress to show who you are and achieve the impact you wish for, which requires self-knowledge and EQ. I don’t believe you can do any of those things while being stupid or uninformed. You can be smart and neither care about nor like fashion, but you can’t be stupid and like it. We know Clooney is smart, able and ambitious thanks to her CV but the rest is our conjecture, it’s the outfits doing the talking. Tulshyan thinks that speaking through clothes has worked in Clooney’s favour: “If she had given a flurry of media interviews and talked incessantly about marrying George Clooney, we would have seen a different portrayal of her. I greatly respect and admire the fact that she remains private, and therefore, while she was introduced to the world as “George Clooney’s girlfriend,” she has definitely come into her own as “Amal Alamuddin”. Hundreds of articles have already been written about who Clooney is, as well as her look. The subject even has a dedicated blog, Amal Clooney Style which, since launching in May 2013 (five months before Amal Alamuddin got on the gossip map for dining with George Clooney), has gathered over 1,010,000 hits. In the coming weeks and months, Clooney, within the limits of what media attention will allow, can go back to being an anonymous lawyer, turning up to Hollywood functions and political fundraisers from time to time; or use her married name to further her causes and support her husband in his. Helene Leblanc, author of The Luxe Chronicles and a lawyer herself, summarises: “As a human rights lawyer, she lends him the gravitas he’s been missing. From her perspective, she’s a human rights lawyer who is now also a global celebrity and therefore has a much larger public platform and network for her causes. Together, they’re bigger than the sum of their parts, so-to-speak.” Most commentators also believe Clooney will take the second route, as I hope she will. If that’s the case, I am interested to see which kind of relationship Clooney will develop with brands. Few women in the public eye can sell me clothes or accessories. If anything, seeing a celebrity wear something turns me off the item but Clooney is a different story. Although our lifestyles and means are miles apart, since her level of professional success and confidence is something I aspire to, I would consider buying an item I have seen on her. So far, her brand collaborations have been limited and never contractual, with the possible exception of her Oscar de la Renta wedding dress, shot for Vogue in a piece which showed both Clooney’s smarts and fashion sense. A similar gown is now being sold as part of the late designer’s bridal Fall 2015 collection. According to industry newspaper Women’s Wear Daily, the design “informed most of [his] latest fall line-up.” British make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury has also used the Alamuddin-Clooney wedding to promote in US Weekly the products Clooney used for her Venice look. Less likely to have been vetted, Italian leather goods brand Ballin renamed the structured tan bag Clooney has been spotted with the "Amal”. The company promotes it heavily on its homepage, encouraging customers to “Meet Amal, the new It bag by Ballin”. Though they have now been taken down, pictures of the bag were previously accompanied by photos of Clooney, some straight from Getty Images and still watermarked. Sarah’s bag, a Lebanese handbag company, promotes on its Facebook page the bags Clooney has been carrying, with more or less grainy pap pictures. Seeding to film, music or TV celebrities works well with Millennials. However, when it comes to women with a disposable income, the ones who actually buy the clothes rather than the fragrance or the lipstick, luxury brands go after high-profile influencers in professional fields. Counting them as brand ambassadors shows that the clothes and accessories are appropriate and adapted to a career like theirs. This is why so many glossy magazines include features on C-Suite women and the suits they wear. If you aspire to be them, and considering that acting the job up is half of getting it, you’ll buy the clothes - or so the rationale goes. None of the women I interviewed for this blog entry said they would buy clothes based on seeing Clooney in them. Her influence might be subtler. For instance, creative copywriter Almaz Ohene, who describes her own style as “bold sartorial statements”, says she “looks into the designers, when details of what she’s wearing appear”. Clooney might not sell out clothes the way the Duchess of Cambridge does but she raises a designer’s profile - that in the overcrowded fashion ecosystem, is already half the battle. Aside from putting Ballin and Sarah’s bag on my radar, Clooney introduced me (courtesy of an item ID by blog Amal Clooney Style) to Figini Footwear, an Italian shoe brand whose mismatched purple and pink heels she wore in May, fresh from her engagement with George Clooney, in an outfit which immediately had the fashion world taking her seriously. “I think her unique footwear choices will catch on as a trend!” predicts Tulshyan. The Fall/Winter 2015 shows next February will be a chance to see if the brands Clooney wears pick up any influence from her. -- source link

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