Palin's Style Sparks Buying Fashion Frenzy
Fashion companies have discovered a lucrative new marketing vehicle: Sarah Palin.
Since John McCain chose her last month as his running mate, Gov. Palin's personal style has sparked a buying frenzy. Many women are snapping up her choices of shoes and eyeglasses and blogging about which brand of lipstick she wears. Hairstylists and wig sellers report sudden demand for her trademark up-dos. Indeed, the brands behind Gov. Palin's fashion taste have gone into overdrive seeking to cash in on the association.
On Wednesday, WigSalon.com issued a news release boasting that it has wigs and hair pieces 'that reflect the new looks made popular by Sarah Palin,' along with style tips to 'instantly' achieve the swept-back style.
'Obviously we're going to get a jump from this,' says Joe Aronesty, owner of WigSalon.com. In the past week, the company has sold about 25 Palin-esque wigs, ranging in price from $100 to the 'Bargain Sarah Palin' wig for $46. 'And it's not even close to Halloween,' Mr. Aronesty says. Early next week, Mr. Aronesty plans to send a newsletter to his 25,000 subscribers highlighting Palin wig options and styling tips.
Fashion firms have long boasted when celebrities and first ladies wore their clothing and accessories, of course. Jacqueline Kennedy lent cachet to Oleg Cassini gowns and Halston pillbox hats during the 1960s. This year, the sight of Michelle Obama in a $148 black-and-white tank dress on ABC's 'The View' in June helped popularize Chico's FAS Inc.'s White House|Black Market brand. But the prospect of having a national candidate who is a former beauty queen and in the news every day is even better for business, many fashion companies say.
Gov. Palin's spokeswoman, Maria Comella, declined to comment on any aspect of the governor's personal style.
Jay Randhawa, a brand director at House of Brands Inc. in San Diego, says he was surprised to learn that Gov. Palin was introduced as Mr. McCain's vice-presidential choice wearing a red pair of peep-toe pumps with 3 1/2-inch heels. The shoes, marketed by his company's Naughty Monkey line, generally are geared to women in their early to mid-20s who go clubbing, he says.
'The age bracket we target is a little younger. It's a very edgy, very hip, very street brand,' adds Mr. Randhawa.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton had been photographed in the brand's shoes, but seldom, if ever, a 40-something politician.
Mr. Randhawa says he realized that Gov. Palin's footwear choice offered the chance to pitch the Naughty Monkey line to a new demographic. The company quickly sent out emails to its retailers with a photo of the Alaska governor wearing the shoes and the slogan 'I vote for Naughty Monkey!'
At Amazon.com Inc.'s Endless.com shoe unit, sales of the red Naughty Monkey shoes shot up 50%, to thousands of pairs, says Mr. Randhawa.
A spokeswoman for Endless.com declined to provide specific sales data but says the unit 'saw definite spikes in sales after Sarah Palin wore the shoes' and sold out in four sizes. Other retailers reported similar increases.
Mr. Randhawa plans to send Gov. Palin some additional pairs of shoes and approach her about some kind of partnership. 'We have to capitalize on it pretty soon,' he says.
Gov. Palin's eyeglasses -- rimless $375 frames made by Kazuo Kawasaki (style series 704, color 34) -- are on back order, says Amy Hahn, vice president of Italee Optics Inc., the brand's U.S. distributor. To keep up with orders, which have more than quadrupled since the Republican National Convention, manufacturing has shifted to a 24-hour production cycle, Ms. Hahn says.
Italee executives say they sensed a possible business opportunity when Gov. Palin donned the glasses for her formal introduction as Sen. McCain's running mate.
Spotting the familiar frames, Italee executives dug through their records until they confirmed that the company handled Gov. Palin's order for the custom frames in December, Ms. Hahn says. 'But the turning point was at the convention,' she says. 'The next day, our phone started ringing off the hook. Now we're doing everything we can to keep up.'
John Barrett, whose salon sits in the penthouse of tony New York retailer Bergdorf Goodman, says that in the past week he has given five clients the loosely tied-back hairstyle Gov. Palin wore during the convention. 'People are requesting it -- it shows off the cheekbones,' says Mr. Barrett. 'I can't emphasize enough how her angled bangs and hair color are so beautifully executed.'
Online detectives, meanwhile, continue debating which lipstick brand Gov. Palin wore during her convention speech. And the Web site of beauty magazine Allure suggests 'Pitbull-friendly' and 'Pig Appropriate' colors to try, alluding to Gov. Palin's joking comparison of herself to a lipstick-wearing pitbull and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's reference to Mr. McCain's economic policy as 'lipstick on a pig.'
In her home state, retailers are looking to capitalize on the governor's patronage. Just before she was offered the nomination two weeks ago, Gov. Palin went shopping at Out of the Closet, an Anchorage-based secondhand store, with her 14-year-old daughter Willow and her infant son Trig. She picked up a Juicy Couture coat for Willow and a tweed blazer for herself by Escada, which is one of her favorite labels, a saleswoman says.
The saleswoman, who gave her first name as Alison but wouldn't disclose her last name, says Gov. Palin comes in often and is friendly with the store's owner, Ellen Arvold. Ms. Arvold says Gov. Palin has shopped at the store since before she became governor. She confirms that Gov. Palin has worn some Out of the Closet purchases on TV since she clinched the nomination, but declined to say when.
A spokeswoman for the Escada label said she was unable to identify any of Gov. Palin's outfits on the campaign trail as Escada and was unaware that the governor liked the brand.
But Out of the Closet couldn't resist some publicity. On Sept. 1, the store posted an item on its blog: 'Finally, we are thrilled that our favorite Governor is making such a name for herself on the national stage! Go Girl! We love seeing you in your Out of the Closet duds!' Shoefly + Hudsons, the Juneau boutique where Gov. Palin bought the Naughty Monkey heels, has the shoes prominently displayed on its Web site declaring: 'First Stop: Shoefly + Hudsons, Second Stop: Run for Vice President of the U.S.?'
Not everyone is cashing in on their association with the Alaskan governor. The famously liberal New York fashion establishment seems to have paid little attention to Gov. Palin while publicly embracing the Obamas.
Vogue Editor Anna Wintour and designer Calvin Klein held a fund-raiser for the Democratic nominee in June, and over a dozen designers, including Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Narciso Rodriguez, Tory Burch and Isaac Mizrahi, have designed T-shirts and other merchandise for the Obama Web site.
Steven Kolb, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, says he 'couldn't envision' that the fashion industry would be lending its design talents to the Republican ticket.
Likewise, Patagonia Inc., which Gov. Palin has identified at least partly in jest as one of her favorite designers, has 'absolutely no' plans to promote the association, says company spokeswoman Jen Rapp.
'Patagonia's environmental mission greatly differs from Sarah Palin's,' Ms. Rapp says. 'Just wearing the clothing of an environmental company does not necessarily make someone an environmentalist.'
Ellen Byron / Jennifer Saranow / Rachel Dodes |
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