Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama for the White House? Among fashionistas, the wives of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are drawing the kind of enthusiasm that Nancy Reagan and Jacqueline Kennedy once attracted. As might be expected, style mavens' critiques focus less on what the potential first ladies say or do than on what they wear. While Obama won fans for wearing a relatively affordable $150 dress on talk show "The View," McCain drew attention for her expensive tastes. Vanity Fair magazine estimated one outfit she wore at the Republican National Convention this week was worth $300,000. The choice a week ago of John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who took part in beauty pageants in her youth, also has caused a buzz. But Mickey Blum, director of survey research at Baruch College, said her style could not be compared to McCain and Obama. "That's a different look because you have to look a little bit more serious and professional," Blum said. The consensus at New York Fashion Week is that both potential first ladies have style but most designers in the traditionally Democratic-leaning industry would much rather have the chance to dress Obama over McCain. "I am in the fashion industry, I live in New York -- I'm probably not going to go for McCain to dress," designer Rebecca Taylor told Reuters. "Michelle is really fresh and she could sort of go where Jackie O went given the right sort of tools and grooming," she said. "I think it could be nice for America to have somebody who's a little bit more stylish as their first lady." Obama, 44, is a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer who has appeared in Vogue and was named on Vanity Fair's 2008 International Best Dressed List for the second time. Obama has won particular praise for a purple sheath dress and black belt she wore at a rally in June when her husband clinched the Democratic nomination as candidate for the Nov. 4 election. "She has a kind of style which is accessible and also spans generations, it appeals to young girls and their grandmothers, it translates across class lines (and) racial lines," said Amy Fine Collins, special correspondent with Vanity Fair. "Cindy McCain's look is one we are familiar with, she's absolutely right and absolutely appropriate for the role she's in, but it doesn't feel new," she said. "She has expensive tastes and less of a grab-it-and-go approach to clothes." McCain, 54, chairs her family's business, beer distributor Hensley and Co., and has worked for international charities. Imogen Fox wrote in Britain's The Guardian newspaper that McCain is "always immaculate, with never a hair out of place." "But this striving for perfection is also her un-doing: she doesn't know how to have fun with fashion," she said.
