I don’t usually play requests, but nomandates asked for a diary of Inauguration fashions, and since I’ve been enjoying looking at them myself, I’m happy to oblige. Those of you who don’t give two hoots about women’s clothing, just drop on down to the short videos section!
I started out relying on tweets for their photos, because it sidesteps the issue of getting my hands on images that are legal to use. And then I happened on a tweet thread I liked so much, it just became central to the diary. (Many thanks to Meteor Blades, though, who installed this magnificent Getty shot, of Lady Gaga echoing the shape of the Capitol dome, in the image library as a “DK Official Image”.)
This inauguration was (almost!) all about the rainbow of coat colors, and that made me even happier than I already was. (The Bernie memes were also a lot of fun, but they are a whole other diary.)
Vice President Kamala Harris’s blue-purple coat with matching dress is by young Black designer Christopher John Rogers. The color is said to honor Shirley Chisholm, who used a similar color as one of her campaign colors, as well as women’s suffrage AND the Biden theme of unity (inasmuch as purple is a mix of blue and red — here, with a little more blue than red. 😉 ) Her pearls, by Wilfredo Rosado, honor her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. [Links: Kamala tweet — Dr. Jill tweet — also, here is the unroll, all the tweets collected by an app onto one page. I recommend looking at it because the pictures are larger than they can be here.]
Dr. Jill Biden’s entire ensemble is by Markarian, a label of Alexandra O’Neill that WaPo says is “sustainability-focused”.
Michelle Obama created quite a stir in an outfit variously described as “burgundy”, “cranberry”, and “plum”, all of it by Black South Carolina designer Sergio Hudson. [Michelle tweet — Amy tweet]
Senator Amy Klobuchar bookended her participation in this election by wearing the same orange-yellow coat she wore in 2019 to announce her candidacy for president.
To pause the gemstone thread for a moment, she also appeared in a lot of tweets solely as foreground, as many alert sneaker fans spotted some apparently fabulous shoes descending the steps behind her as she spoke. The wearer of the miraculous footwear was Nikolas Ajagu, who is the husband of Kamala’s niece Meena.
Ah, the Bernie Sanders photo that launched a thousand memes. Bernie’s wearing a parka from Vermont snowboarding-wear maker Burton (and this was not that parka’s first meme!) He is also wearing mittens from Vermont teacher and mitten-maker Jen Ellis, who makes them with the wool from recycled sweaters and lines them with fleece made from recycled bottles. [Bernie tweet — Doug tweet]
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff wore a coat by Ralph Lauren. No one noticed except the Post, but notice was not his plan.
Similarly, the new President and the previous actual President dressed and behaved as dignified adult men, just as one might hope. President Biden also wore a Ralph Lauren coat. [Joe tweet — Barack tweet]
So great was the impression made by Michelle Obama that not a single publication I looked at offered even a word about Barack Obama’s attire.
Senator Professor Elizabeth Warren (as Charlie Pierce has dubbed her) wore a pink Planned Parenthood scarf, gods love her. You can’t see in this picture, but it has a big ol’ logo embroidered at the end. [Elizabeth tweet — Meena tweet]
Meena Harris, Kamala’s niece, is married to that guy with the awesome sneakers. She wore a cozy-looking green shearling coat from Coach, over a dress by Ulla Johnson. No word on where she got that mask with the stars, which I covet.
We will again pause here from the gemstone thread to note that Meena’s daughters, Amara and Leela Ajagu, wore coats chosen for their similarity those worn by Kamala and her sister Maya in the old family photo seen at right.
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton joined the purple-wearing group. No one offered info on who made her purple pantsuit, although more than one writer noted that she graciously attended when the previous “president” was inaugurated. [Hillary tweet — Amanda tweet]
Amanda Gorman, the youngest poet ever to read at an inauguration, wore a Miuccia Prada coat, red Prada headband and, offscreen, a matching sparkly red mask. She also wore a ring depicting a caged bird, sent her by Oprah Winfrey as a tribute to Maya Angelou. And I have yet to see any photo of her in the past in which I did not love what she was wearing. Her performance is here.
I’m omitting the last tweet in the thread, depicting a person of no interest to us at the moment. For those who may look at the thread or the unroll and not know, a coprolite is a fossilized piece of shit. You go, Dr. Alexander!
So! Here are a few people who did not fit into the gemstone schema.
Ella Emhoff, Kamala’s stepdaughter, is a textile-design student at the Parsons School of Design. She wore this fitted tweed coat from Miu Miu with a frilly collar and a generous scatter of golden spangles on the shoulders.
Jennifer Lopez wore an all-white outfit from Chanel, with long tweed coat, blouse with a frilly jabot collar, and sequin-trimmed pants. (Click on the tweet and then the pictures, to enlarge them.) If you missed her lovely performance, it’s here.
Deb Haaland, nominee for Secretary of the Interior, will be the first Indigenous cabinet member if confirmed. A member of Laguna Pueblo (and currently representing NM-01), she wore a traditional ribbon skirt by Aiukli Designs. Obviously, her jewelry is traditional as well. You’ll want to click on this tweet/picture, too, so you can see her gorgeous moccasin boots. (Or you can just look at this Vogue article where I learned of her skirt’s origin.)
Lady Gaga sang the national anthem, really well in my opinion [video here]. Her dress was “custom made Maison Schiaparelli by Daniel Roseberry, navy cashmere jacket and red silk faille skirt” [source], and the enormous golden dove bearing an olive branch in its beak came as part of the ensemble.
My last fashion tweet is about Hunter Biden’s 8½-month-old son Beau, who accessorized his plaid coat and navy hat with a silver rattle. You’ll note that he’s wearing an American flag pin on his lapel. Only 24 years until he can run for Congress!
Today’s Short Subjects:
This is going to be a cheerful collection. First, though, here’s a reminder that, if you missed any part of Inauguration Day, or want to see something again, everything is up on their YouTube page. The multi-hour full videos are there, but they’ve also made a separate short segment of almost everything of any note.
Now: let’s start with this Jimmy Kimmel song you’ve quite likely seen, but it’s so well done, we need it here anyway.
Stephen Colbert had this joyful montage.
For the Meidas Touch, Bette Midler adapted a familiar show tune.
The Parody Project accompanies Donald’s White House departure with an a cappella parody version of
Hail to the Chief.
Stephen Colbert offers a snarky “playlist”, ostensibly from Joe and Kamala, but...
… just for balance, even though it’s a couple of years old, here’s an actual playlist he coaxed out of then-Senator Harris.
SongBird brings us this happy tune.
And our luck is holding, because Roy Zimmerman has another new song, this time calling upon New Orleans style as appropriate for swamp songs, assisted by the New Hampshire-based but NOLA-loving
Soggy Po’ Boys.
Stay safe! 💙💙💙💙💙
🌟 Democracy Docket 🌟
Okay, at least for now, I’m giving this box to Marc Elias and Democracy Docket, because there is always election news.
Then he retweeted Rev. Dr. Barber:
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We have come to the point where Chef José Andrés’ worldwide relief organization is so ubiquitous that I’m just giving it its own box here. I can’t even link all the places they’re working. They’re feeding people who need meals wherever they find them, for whatever reason and by whatever means, including supporting local restaurants by contracting with them for meals. Pretty much every tab at that website will tell you something amazing.
You can always donate or volunteer at their website, but it may not be up on the very latest news. For that, check Twitter for Chef Andrés and for World Central Kitchen.
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It has been 1,224 DAYS SINCE HURRICANE MARIA MADE LANDFALL IN PUERTO RICO ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2017.
Full power has never been restored there, and many homes still have blue tarps for roofs. The island has been hit by two more hurricanes this year, and has dealt with ongoing earthquakes, coronavirus, and a severe drought, but they have still not seen anything like the relief money Congress voted for them.
I am nothing if not stubborn, so the link to the diary of Puerto Rican/USVI relief efforts is staying here, at least until somebody takes office who will help them.
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🦠 COVID-19 🧫
Missing some past entry? My past diaries list, where the older purple boxes still live.
“Content provider” Asia Jackson speaks with Lt. Tia Rogers, a Public Health Service Officer and Epidemiologist at CDC, asking questions gathered from her viewers. A table of content for the 13-minute video appears below it; topics discussed include mental health, vaccines, and possible timelines.
The Washington Post is maintaining this page that tracks vaccine arrival and distribution state by state. Note this is NOT paywalled.
In the latest SciShow video, host Hank Green talks with Dr. Howard Bauchner, Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the AMA about mRNA vaccines, among other topics (32 min). They make some good points. See also their playlist of Covid updates on what we’re learning.
The Atlantic has listed their ongoing virus coverage here, and none is behind a paywall. Although this link is not at all new, I’m highlighting it because they’ve added a great deal of pertinent material in the last couple of weeks.
This tool from the Brown University School of Public Health, on their public website, helps you figure out how risky an activity is and how you can reduce your risk. (h/t Greg Dworkin)
Georgia Tech “Event Risk Assessment” map. Use the slider on the left to pick an event size, and it shows you, for every US county, the current % risk of having at least one Covid-positive person show up. Still being updated.
The Meidas Touch (yeah, that Meidas Touch) offers a short talk by RNA biologist Rob Swanda, explaining in laypeople’s terms how the new Covid vaccine technology differs from old-style vaccines.
This virus spread tracking site also has an excellent “wiki” page on virus information/misinformation, proper mask use, symptoms, etc. h/t eeff!
This excellent video explains clearly how viruses are killed by washing with soap. h/t Sara R!
And this one intelligently discusses the benefits of face masks.
If you know someone who feels wearing a mask is just too hard, maybe they need to see this.
The Washington Post offers video tips on dealing with common mask annoyances. h/t Sara R again!
Further discussion of masks, including some useful video and valuable tips, in Besame’s KosAbility diary.
A doctor shows how to quickly alter a disposable mask to get a safer fit.
CDC chart showing how to remove gloves properly to avoid contamination.
The lung exercises in this diary are still good for anyone, sick or not.
If you’d like some attractive handmade facemasks, see Sara’s latest diary here, or the website here, to order a set made by Sara R and WInglion from various cotton quilt fabrics: $40 + $7.75 Priority Mail shipping for a set of 5 (or other quantities at $8 each). It’s $1 more per mask to add aluminum nosebars that fit the mask more tightly against your face. You can contact Sara R to discuss your preference in fabrics or special needs.
If you are a performing musician or public speaker, you might be interested in ”The Singer’s Mask” or “The Instrumentalist’s Mask”, available from (and to benefit) the Broadway Relief Project. They are pricey compared to regular masks, but specially designed to facilitate safer in-person performances.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Unveiling a bold new plan to fight the coronavirus, President Biden called on Americans to stay at home next month and watch the impeachment trial.
“I recognize that I’m asking everyone to make a tremendous sacrifice,” he said. “That’s why I’m issuing a stay-at-home order only for a time when there’s something really good on TV.” [snip]
“Look—here’s the deal,” he said. “People watch the Super Bowl every year, even when there are two teams nobody cares about. The impeachment has two teams everybody cares about.” ...
— The Borowitz Report, at The New Yorker
This Week in Whatever This State of Mind Is:
- NASA News: NASA has brought online a new dish in the Deep Space Network, which is used to communicate with our various space missions, both crewed and robotic, including Mars rovers. Antenna DSS-56, which is 34 meters wide, is near Madrid, Spain, and has been under construction since 2017. Details here.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day: Unusual galaxy NGC 1316 has apparently eaten several of its neighbors.
- Live cam: Just about sunset at Mount Diablo in the Bay Area of California — I suppose I don’t have to tell most of you! Thanks to Coznaffect for sharing a great collection of livecams!
- Smithsonian Transcription Project: Help transcribe letters and records from the Freedmen’s Bureau, a Reconstruction-era government agency concerned with the affairs of formerly enslaved people. Digitizing these records so they are searchable online makes them available to the descendants of such people seeking information about their heritage.
- Smithsonian Online Exhibition: Everything coffee, from coffee tables, through pots, grinders, and cups, all the way to cup lids, from the collections of various Smithsonian museums.
- Tasting History: Join Max Miller as he explores the history of food, including some ancient recipes. Today, discussion of beer and ale in Medieval and Renaissance England, and making a 1594 recipe for Buttered Beere.
- Individual coffee-mug cake: A vanilla mug cake. Microwaves in 1 minute.
- Time machine: The Beatles play a 15-minute set on the live show Blackpool Night Out, promoting their Help! album in 1965.
- Obama White House video: President Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Joe Biden. (Joe finds out what’s really going on just after the 14-minute mark.)
- Ukulele Duet: New: Maia & TJ Mayeshiro play Wipeout.
- The Frick Collection’s “Cocktails with a Curator”: Discussion of Manet's "Bullfight", a portion of a larger painting that Manet cut into pieces after it was poorly received. The accompanying cocktail is the tequila-based “Toreador”. (New videos in this series post at 5 pm ET on Fridays, with the week’s cocktail recipe posted in advance. They run around 15-20 minutes.)
- The Metropolitan Opera is still streaming free operas daily. YOU CAN ALSO attend special 75-minute livestream concerts for which you must buy a $20 ticket. The livestream occurs at a certain time, but is available for ticketholders to view (and re-view) at any time in the ensuing two weeks. The current concert is tenor Piotr Beczała and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, livestreamed on Jan. 23 and available through Feb. 5. There’s further information at the link about how it works. (The Met does not plan to re-open physically until September 2021. The entire 2020-21 season, through June, is very wisely canceled.)
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