The US electorate in general may be voicing ambivalence about the current administration (though it’s unclear who the alternative will be, or what they will think of him), and Wall Street may be swinging toward Mitt Romney, but one sector, at least, is standing by the current president: Fashion. In this election, as in the last, a number of America’s highest profile designers have stood up to lend their names and creative skills to fund-raising for their candidate.
Today, Runway to Win, a website created by the Obama Victory Fund 2012, is “previewing” products from 23 designers, all working under their own names, not their brand names, whose proceeds will go toward the melée to come. Some choice examples: $45 T-shirts from Marc Jacobs, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez (otherwise known as Proenza Schouler), Rachel Roy and Narciso Rodriguez, who has made my personal favourite, a white Tee with black sleeves and neckline and a “button” silk screened on the front with a blue rainbow over a red and white striped land; an Art Nouveau print scarf from Thakoon that is notably unrecognisable as a political statement (maybe too unrecognisable?) for $95; and a DVF tote with her signature heart and scrawl (Obama 12) on one side, and the stars — transformed into hearts — and stripes on the other ($85).




Vanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.