While the world waits for Michelle Obama to choose her Inauguration Day threads, President-elect Barack Obama has already made his decision. Like many of his Cabinet picks, Obama is remaining loyal to Chicago and will wear a locally made Hart Schaffner Marx tuxedo for the inauguration.
The president-elect will be wearing a custom black tuxedo made by HSM, a suburban Des Plaines, Ill., union shop. Cost? $895 at Nordstrom department stores. Obama's latest purchase will add to his growing collection from the 121-year-old suitmaker. Earlier this year, he bought six suits from the largest U.S.-based menswear maker, which he wore throughout the campaign.
This latest purchase will be the first tuxedo for the president-elect in 15 years.
“We are thrilled at the opportunity to create a wardrobe for someone as dynamic as President-elect Obama and to participate, in however small way, in our nation's civic activities,” Brett Schenck, president of Hart Schaffner Marx, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Equally positive is that we are being embraced as an American, union-made manufacturer that prides itself on quality, value and fit.”
Homi Patel, president, chairman and chief executive officer of parent Hartmarx Corp., told WWD.com, the Web site for Women's Wear Daily, that he is working with the president-elect’s staff to determine whether Obama will wear a suit with a topcoat to the inauguration ceremony.
For future first lady Michelle Obama, whose dress dilemma has inevitably drawn the attention of fashionistas worldwide, the decision has yet to be reached
Fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg was one of many designers to submit sketches to the president-elect's wife.
Several designers, including Isaac Mizrahi, Carolina Herrera and Betsey Johnson, also submitted to Women's Wear Daily sketches of dresses that they would design for Michelle Obama.