The proliferation of aristocratic signifiers (Of Qatar, Of Asturias, Count, Duchess, Princess) in Vanity Fair’s annual best dressed list suggests sartorial accolades should fall not to the stylish but to those who use gold leaf toilet paper, have boats named in their honour and appear on currency.
We get it Vanity Fair, rich people dress well. But that happens by default, how about celebrating personal style instead? Had he the funds or inclination, even the mostly-genial, sometimes scary local hobo would appear dapper in Haute Couture. In this regard Vanity Fair’s “Best-Dressed” list is less about personal style and more about a narrower far more pompous ideal. Words like breeding and political power spring to mind aka things that have nothing to do with style.
In the list, dueling First Ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy continue their fight for sartorial supremacy while Barack, despite an unfortunate foray into Dad Jeans, also gets a nod. Interestingly Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Anne Hathaway and Penelope Cruz comprise the few actors included in the list while Italian Vogue’s Franca Sozzani is the only Vogue Editor-In-Chief deemed “best-dressed” worthy in 2009. In a secluded office somewhere Carine and Anna are quietly scowling.
The full list is as follows…
MICHELLE OBAMA
CARLA BRUNI SARKOZY
H.H. SHEIKHA MOZAH OF QATAR
PENELOPE CRUZ
H.R.H. PRINCESS LETIZIA OF ASTURIAS
KELLY RIPA
KATHY FRESTON
AGNES GUND
ANNE HATHAWAY
ALICIA KEYS
CHIARA CLEMENTE
LIZZIE TISCH
BRAD PITT
BARACK OBAMA
CY TWOMBLY
ARPAD BUSSON
OGDEN PHIPPS II
MATTEO MARZOTTO
ALEJANDRO SANTO DOMINGO
TIKI BARBER
ROO ROGERS
DANIEL CRAIG
IKÉ UDÉ
BRUCE WEBER
NICKY HASLAM
DUCHESS OF ALBA
PETER BEARD
RACHEL ROY
FRANCA SOZZANI
STACEY BENDET
GEORGINA CHAPMAN
ALI HEWSON
DAVID LAUREN
MATHILDE MEYER- AGOSTINELLI
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG and DIANA TAYLOR
JANE and AERIN LAUDER
STAVROS and EUGÉNIE NIARCHOS
SHELLEY WANGER and DAVID MORTIMER
NATALIA VODIANOVA and JUSTIN PORTMAN
ENRIQUE PONCE and PALOMA CUEVAS
HALL OF FAME
RENÉE ZELLWEGER
LAPO ELKANN
CATHERINE DENEUVE
LILIANE BETTENCOURT
COUNT MANFREDI DELLA GHERARDESCA
Via Vanity Fair
Image by Pascal Le Segretain, Adrian Sanchez for Getty Images.
