Thank YSL for Clinton pantsuits: The Swamp

Posted June 2, 2008 11:57 AM

(Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

by Frank James

How many people have stopped to think that the pantsuit actually had to be invented? Not many, I'm guessing.

And yet, just like the sandwich, the pantsuit needed a creator. And the person credited with the invention, according to the obituaries, is Yves St. Laurent, the haute couture designer who just died at age 71.

Thus, St.Laurent contributed greatly to the imagery of the 2008 presidential campaign in that he created what turned out to be the signature fashion choice of Sen. Hillary Clinton. It is so identified with her she once joked that she was wearing an asbestos pantsuit to withstand the heat from her Democratic opponents.

The pantsuit is a perfect uniform for Clinton. To some people a pantsuit is just a pantsuit. But to the cognescenti, it has been a symbol of women's empowerment since St.Laurent introduced it in the 1960s.

You get a sense for this from this snippet from an Agence France Presse story:

Hanae Mori, one of Japan's most prominent designers and the only Asian woman to be accepted as a full-fledged member of France's exclusive haute couture federation, said Saint Laurent understood women more than any other designer.

"Even before anybody else, he understood what the new woman was. He designed trousers for working women that were very comfortable, yet that were at the same time sophisticated," Mori said.

"He left the pantsuit open to interpretation. By combining it with a silk blouse or a print shirt, he could make a male style look feminine. I loved it," she said.

Even designers who did not particularly care for his style called him a visionary for women who enjoyed greater economic freedom, providing for both their functional and fashion needs.

"When the pantsuit look was first launched, I didn't - and I still don't - like it because I thought it hid the woman's legs, which I believe are some of her sexiest assets," said Japanese designer Jun Ashida.

"But he had a penetrating eye for the working woman. He accurately predicted the times and he moved the world. He is the emperor of the fashion world," he told AFP.

So the pantsuit was clearly the perfect wardrobe choice for a woman whose very presidential candidacy has symbolized women's growing political power.

St. Laurent lived long enough to see his creation become the everday wear for the candidate who was once the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But given Sen. Barack Obama's delegate advantage in the race for the nomination, it looks like we'll have to wait a while longer before it becomes the standard wardrobe for the occupant of the Oval Office.

(YSL photo by EPA/JEAN-PIERRE MULLER)