—Has Elaine Benes of Seinfeld, with her long floral skirts, blazers with padded shoulders, and granny shoes with socks, become the summer’s downtown fashion muse? [New York Times]

—A new Australian study says women can blame their brothers for not getting laid earlier. [MSNBC]

—Sarah Palin endorses Nevada wingnut Sharron Angle and adds to her “mama grizzly” pack. [Politico]

—Experts say that Nebraska’s restrictive new abortion ban faces an uphill battle. [Salon]

—Insufferable New York moms demand foreign-speaking nannies for their children. [New York Times]

Tags: abortion nebraska, Elaine Benes, fashion, fetal pain, nannies, New York mothers, parenting, puberty, Sarah Palin, seinfeld, sexual health, we're talking about

Enough of what Kagan thinks about gay marriage or gun control, let's talk about what matters: what the woman is wearing. Yesterday she showed up to court in an electric blue blazer with a black shirt under it, which, coincidentally (OR NOT) is strikingly similar to what Sonia Sotomayor wore for her confirmation hearings (see the comparison pic here.) And they're not the only women who've fallen for the look. According to Above The Law, in recent years there have been many important women who've chosen to drape themselves in electric blue for a momentous event. David Lat points out that Fox news correspondent Megyn Kelly unfortunately wore an electric blue blazer at the Sotomayor hearings on the same day Sotomayor herself donned it, and Judge Diana Sykes, oft mentioned in the same breath as Supreme Court nominees, picked the distinctive ensemble for a lecture earlier this year. What is going on here? Is the electric blue blazer endowed with magical powers for female success?

In other weird fashion coincidences, Senator Patrick Leahy wore a suit yesterday AND a suit today AND a suit every day during the Sotomayor hearings last summer. Someone please explain what this all means.

Photograph of Elena Kagan by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Tags: fashion, Kagan, Sotomayor

The print version hasn’t even hit the streets yet, but Lynn Hirschberg’s supremely unflattering New York Times Magazine profile of rapper M.I.A. (nee Maya Arulpragasam) is burning up the blogosphere. Yesterday, M.I.A.—stupidly? brilliantly?—threw oil on the fire by publishing Hirschberg’s personal phone number on Twitter.

You can see why the Sri Lankan-by-way-of London artist would be perturbed: Hirschberg has done a grade-A hatchet job, exposing everything that’s juvenile, contradictory, and hypocritical about M.I.A.’s whole sloppy Warholian/terrorist-chic persona. It should immediately be added to every J-school reading list, right after Janet Malcolm. (If you haven’t read it, Vulture has pulled out the 10 harshest moments, and Rob Harvilla has listed the 11 most undermine-y lines.)

The thing is, M.I.A.’s politics have always been incoherent at best. Do I really need 8,000 words to remind me of this?

This quote from Diplo—M.I.A.’s often-producer and erstwhile boyfriend—offers an interesting lens on Hirschberg’s critical M.O.: “In the end, Maya is postmodern: she can’t really make music or art that well, but she’s better than anyone at putting crazy ideas into motion. She knows how to manipulate, how to withhold, how to get what she wants.”

Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing today’s pop artists usually get praised for? Isn’t that kind of the point? But Hirschberg quotes it as some sort of damning gotcha. The way she sniffily details M.I.A.’s obsession with fashion also seems to miss the point—as if fashion undermines her art, when in fact it is her art. Reading Hirschberg’s takedown definitely tickled my shadenfreude center—Stars! They’re just as stupid as us!—but I wish she had tried to engage with M.I.A.’s work more sympathetically. Is there nothing interesting or valuable about her? Is everything to be dismissed so cavalierly? It’s not like I would have preferred a vapid, celebrity interview that took everything M.I.A. says on face value. But Hirschberg’s piece is uncharitable to the point of being critically unhelpful.

(Meanwhile, here’s a smart defense of M.I.A.’s work and aesthetics by Mike Barthel.)

Photograph of M.I.A. by Larry Busacca/Getty Images.

Tags: art, fashion, lynn hirschberg, M.I.A., new york times magazine

During the contretemps over Elena Kagan's posture and fashion sense, I have sometimes wondered whether gleeful photo editors were going out of their way to find the less flattering photos of her. Everybody has good days and bad days, and the photo eds seem to doggedly focus on the days when her best outfits may have been at the dry cleaners. So it's hard to know whether the lovely, stylish image of Kagan that ran today—looking well-coiffed, feminine, belted, accessorized, decorous yet faintly flirty, and most of all, exuberantly happy—represents the photo eds making amends by showing the kind of image of her that they have, in fact, had access to all along, or whether the nominee, in the face of public pressure, went out and did some shopping.

If the latter is the case—if, tired of seeing the word "frumpy" attached to her name, perhaps worried that a Google search of the word might actually call up her Wikipedia page, Kagan took time over the weekend to duck into Barney's or Nordstrom—I, for one, would not blame her. Purists might. Some might prefer her to remain defiantly frumpy, true to herself, etc., in the face of the public critique. You've got to admit, though—if you were going to be engaging in this particular set of high-level interviews, with photos of yourself showing up in the paper every day, and if people were going to be studying your attire with the energy ordinarily reserved for a challenging painting or modernist text, then wouldn't you seek an opportunity to do a little wardrobe freshening? I would. I have always thought that maxim of Thoreau's—beware of all enterprises that require new clothes—is exactly wrong. Part of the whole point of a new enterprise is that it gives you an excuse to get a new suit or dress, definitely some shoes, and feel like you are moving ahead in life, sartorially as well as professionally. Even if you go to the job interview and don't get the job, you've still got the shoes, and that's some consolation.

Of course, come to think of it, along with transcendentalist philosopher, Supreme Court justice is probably the enterprise least likely to require new clothing, and in that sense, maybe, represents Thoreau's ideal. The justices can conceivably wear anything under their robes, right? Gym clothes? Hiking shorts? As long as they have suitable shoes and socks or stockings and a nice cravat, that's all that matters? Like bloggers, they could conceivably wear pajamas? Kind of too bad, actually, to go out and get such a nice suit and not have anybody see it. No wonder Kagan is making the most of it now. Soon enough, likely as not, she'll have the last laugh when fashion scrutiny becomes, in her case, as in that of the other justices, all but impossible.

Tags: Elena Kagan, fashion, photos, Thoreau

Going in front of the cameras while in Washington, D.C., while having lady parts is seeming incredibly fraught these days. As has been thoroughly discussed here, whether a woman crosses her legs when she sits down seems to have become a major issue overnight. Now you have Matt Drudge and Glenn Beck getting the vapors because Michelle Obama had a modest amount of cleavage showing in an evening dress. If the trend continues in this direction, within a few years, there will be a national scandal when one of the first daughters dares to show a bit of ankle.

Criticizing Elena Kagan for not crossing her legs particularly annoyed me, because I've literally spent years of my life trying to break the habit of crossing my legs when I sit, because I always thought it looked stupid and defensive. Plus, I've heard it gives you varicose veins and just can't be good for you. It puts me in mind of those airline pamphlets about deep vein thrombosis. From a strictly practical viewpoint, it's less modest than not crossing your legs, especially in a skirt above the knee, since when you cross your legs you run the risk of flashing your underwear and definitely show off more leg. It's only "modest" in the symbolic sense, a small gesture to signal that you're properly ashamed of that not-penis lurking so many inches north of the crossing point.

And that's what this this is all about, isn't it? The modesty police here or in Saudi Arabia use sex as cover to shame women for having the temerity to walk around in public while possessing lady parts. Creating a situation in which everyone is staring at your crotch or boobs in hopes of finding some transgression from arbitrary modesty standards is just a way to pick on women for being women. I've often been tempted to take pictures of what I was wearing when some guy on the street harassed me, just to point out that if your harasser is determined enough, a hoodie sweatshirt and a pair of jeans can be considered hoochie-mama clothes that somehow demand harassment.

Tags: fashion, Glenn Beck, matt drudge, Michelle Obama, modesty

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, accused rapist Nicholas Eugenio Gonzalez won acquittal with the increasingly popular “skinny jeans defense.” While the alleged victim testified that Gonzalez ripped off her jeans and initiated forced intercourse, he argued that the pants were too tight for him to remove without her cooperation. The jury concurred, voicing doubt as to whether “those kind of jeans can be removed without any sort of collaboration.” If the victim consented to disrobing, then she likely consented to sex, the jury reasoned.

Not so. Over the last 40 years, lawmakers have dramatically reformed the law of sexual assault to prevent such sloppy leaps of logic. Conviction for rape in the United States, Australia, and other industrialized nations now rests largely on lack of consent rather than any physical display of resistance. That a victim complied with a request to remove clothing—whether freely or in response to a perceived threat—should have no bearing on an aggressor’s culpability for the subsequent sexual act. A topless or pantsless person may withdraw consent at any time prior to penetration.

At least those are the rules on the books. Unfortunately, this incident serves as a potent reminder that laws are only as modern as the people they govern—the people charged with their fair and faithful execution. Enlightened laws require enlightened jurors and progressive reforms are no safeguard against stubborn stereotypes about female behavior and sexuality.  Sadly, even in 21st-century urban centers like Sydney, courts cannot escape the perennial threat of ignorance and intellectual sloth.

Tags: australia, consent, fashion, juries, law, Rape, skinny jeans

If you lusted after Lady Gaga’s Kermit-head coat, wait till you see Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini’s rubber oeuvre. Inspired by her work with HIV-positive children, this former Greenpeace activist uses factory-rejected condoms to construct dresses, suits, and other elaborate sculptural pieces. Equal parts advocacy work and madcap Project Runway challenge, Bertini’s collection aims not to foment a revolution in ready-to-wear fashion but to destigmatize condoms and promote the message that these life-saving devices should be as basic and necessary as a simple pair of jeans. And if all this creative do-goodery wasn’t enough, she’s also protecting the environment by reusing pounds of synthetic material that would otherwise end up in landfills or in the air as greenhouse gas. Apparently, you can purchase a unique condom frock of your own from her website. Duct tape prom dresses, you've got some serious competition.

Photograph of dress by Adriana Bertini on Flickr. © Adriana Bertini. All rights reserved.

Tags: activism, AIDS, art, fashion, health, Project Runway

—A women’s music-magazine publisher calls "feminism" outdated, but is she the one who’s out of touch? [Salon]

—In the world of important news, Sandra Bullock trumps health care. [Washington Post]

—The abortion wars continue: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott employs legal tactics to harass Planned Parenthood. [Courthouse News Service]

—New York Governor David Paterson allegedly helped draft a statement he hoped would be endorsed by the woman accusing his aide of sexual assault. [New York Times]

—Researchers find that women are greater hypochondriacs than men. [Telegraph]

—While former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers lost her job, the infamous gate-crashing Salahis earned a spot on the new Real Housewives series. [The Daily Beast]

—Industry insiders report that obese Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe is a “joke in the fashion community” and has no chance of appearing on the cover of Vogue. [NY Daily News]

Photograph of Michaele and Tareq Salahi by Scott Barbour/Getty Images Entertainment.

Tags: david paterson, Desiree Rogers, fashion, feminism, gabourey sidibe, health, hollywood, obesity, Salahis, sandra bullock, white house crashers

—Are Republicans becoming the party of the hissy fit? [NYT Opinionator Blog]

—A former Goldman Sachs VP sues for gender discrimination, alleging the company treats working mothers like second-class citizens. [Wall Street Journal]

—Senate Republicans send the health care bill back to the House. [Washington Post]

—Should family court permit wives to sue their husbands’ mistresses? [Times Online]

—Reports indicate that the Vatican failed to defrock an American priest who molested 200 deaf boys. [New York Times]

—Nancy Pelosi, the Anna Wintour of Congress, relies on her husband to pick out her trendy power suits and Tahitian pearls. [The Daily Beast]

Tags: business, Catholic Church, child abuse, divorce, fashion, gender discrimination, health care reform, law, Nancy Pelosi, politics, Republicans

—Tiger Woods will speak publicly for the first time about his extramarital affairs, then scurry off to therapy for sex addiction. [The Daily Beast]

—Discussing her signature issue with urban communities, Michelle Obama talks openly about “food deserts” and the relationship between race and obesity. [Politico]

—American figure skater Evan Lysacek executes a stunning performance and takes home the gold at Vancouver. [New York Times]

—This season, modesty rules the runway. [New York Times]

—“Mengagement” rings join manscara and meggings as the new must-have women’s product repackaged for men. [Salon]

—Betty White is aware of the Internet and its predilection for old ladies. [New York Times]

Photograph of Evan Lysacek by Yuri Kadobnov/Getty Images.

Tags: betty white, celebrities, childhood obesity, fashion, figure skating, men's fashion, Michelle Obama, olympics, tiger woods