InStyle mag goes as far as to claim that naked is the new black : almost the most certain way to exclude black-skinned ladies from adopting the trend, since it’s reputedly not OK to wear black as black
Michelle Obama have to be used to causing a stir with her frocks. But she couldn’t have known when she selected a floorlength robe in a wonderful shade of well, let’s just pass over that for the present to meet the Indian PM last Nov , the furore that would follow. The dress was described by its designer Naeem Khan as a “sterling-silver sequin, abstract floral, nude strapless gown”. Associated Press claimed it was “flesh-coloured”, the color of Obama’s own flesh regardless of. Now AP seems to have revised that outline to “champagne”, an act which has caused debate about fashion’s usage of the word “nude”. “Nude? For whom? ” asks Jezebel mag. To anyone that reads fashion mags these terms will be familiar. ” Undressed ” shades are everywhere this season, having ruled the spring / summer 2010 catwalks, from off-white thru pale rose to gold ( “nude ” in fashion terms doesn’t refer to anything else exciting than these rather muted colors, not even with “nude bras” ).
InStyle mag goes as far as to claim that naked is the new black : almost the most certain way to exclude black-skinned ladies from adopting the trend, since it’s reputedly not OK to wear black as black, nor black as naked. Over at Elle mag, where the May issue sees the word “undressed ” repeated 9 times on a single page, “naked is the color for spring / summer”. Editor Lorraine Candy claims there’s nothing wrong with this. “Nude is an outlined color. It’s white undressed, not black naked, but it is not the color of my skin either. I am see-through white.
With somebody as forceful and extraordinary as Michelle Obama, I suspect it is the wrong thing to get worked up about.