Governed by high fashion
Arnold the bodybuilder, the actor, the governor and now ... the fashion plate?
The nipped, tucked, Mystic-tanned and designer-dressed of the navel-gazing state have spoken: They have elected a governor in their fleckless image.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a voracious consumer of fashion, from his quartet of chunky rings to his collection of monster-sized watches. And he could well be the first civil servant to have pledged to rescue a state from financial ruin while wearing Prada.
More Kennedy than California, Maria Shriver is less style-conscious than her husband. She favors classic shapes in nautical colors. Although she’s an anchorwoman, you won’t find her in a power suit; she prefers dresses -- sleeveless if possible -- to show off her bronzed, buffed biceps.
Neither Schwarzenegger nor Shriver has ever been at the top of the world’s best-dressed lists. But the combination of star power, political clout and Kennedy aura is proving irresistible for fashion watchers.
“We typically think of our public leaders as looking fairly schlumpy or uninspired,” said Sally Singer, an editor at Vogue, who has asked the couple to appear in the magazine’s pages. “Whether you agree with them or not, Arnold and Maria do bring a tremendous amount of glamour to politics.”
Like any self-respecting Hollywood heavyweights, California’s first couple employ a stylist -- Jane Ross, whose sister, Katherine, is the spokeswoman for Prada, the Italian fashion house.
It was Prada that outfitted the hulky actor in a gray stretch flannel suit for the swearing-in ceremony in Sacramento last month. He also wore a custom shirt by Anto Distinctive Shirt Makers, the Beverly Hills outfit where another smooth operator, Frank Sinatra, got his dress shirts.
Schwarzenegger, 56, wore a striking silver necktie that Ross had picked up at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. She can’t remember the label, but the color was chosen for its simplicity.
“I loved the idea that it was silver and chic like Maria’s dress,” said Ross, who has worked with the couple for a decade. “It was important to me that Maria look like his equal. They were in harmony in clothing as in life.”
Shriver’s silk cashmere, champagne-and-silver herringbone ensemble, with its unusual tied closures, was by the Italian designer Valentino, known for his red-carpet gowns and pretty suits that are favored by helmet-haired ladies who lunch. “Valentino made clothes for her when she was a child living in Paris, and she was so happy to have that kind of history with the designer,” said Ross. (Shriver’s father, Sargent, was the U.S. ambassador to France 1968-70.)
Although many of his suits are custom-made, Schwarzenegger can wear designer clothes “off the rack,” according to his publicist, Jill Eisenstadt. “He won many awards for having the most perfect -- and perfectly proportioned -- body during his days as a professional bodybuilder, so it should come as no surprise that he wears clothes very well,” she said.
Schwarzenegger’s size varies according to his workout routine. In general, said Eisenstadt, his back, from shoulder to shoulder, is 22 inches wide; his chest is 48 to 51 inches; his shirt size is 17/35. (John Carroll of Carroll & Co., a men’s clothing store in Beverly Hills, said that would make his suit size about a 48 regular.)
Schwarzenegger distinguishes his Prada, Gucci, Brioni and Giorgio Armani suits with signature accessories. He has four rings: a gold-and-sapphire wedding band; a silver ring with an oversized lapis lazuli stone given him in 1991 by a Navajo man he met while touring the country as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; a chunky silver skull-shaped ring designed by a friend; and a boxing championship ring given him by Muhammad Ali that is inscribed with the phrases “the Greatest” and “Three Time World Champion.”
Some observers find the jewelry off-putting. “I keep thinking he’s a football coach or really proud of his alma mater, and he’s neither,” said Chris Berend, associate editor at Esquire. “The rule we abide by at the magazine is that if you are going to wear a ring, it should be subtle.”
Schwarzenegger, who told Vanity Fair in July that he’s a “shoe queen,” often wears cowboy boots with his suits. “I love boots on him,” said Ross, his stylist. “And I noticed Prada had cowboy boots on the runway with suits for spring. So maybe they were copying Arnold!”
Like so many uber-rich men in Hollywood, the new governor collects pricey, oversized watches. “Some of them are so big, we have to make the cuffs on his left sleeves bigger,” said Ross. Among his favorite brands are Roger Dubois, Panerai and Audemars Piguet.
Fashion doesn’t come so naturally to Shriver, a size 4.
“She is the type of person who wouldn’t know a Fendi bag from a Ferragamo,” said Wanda McDaniel, a close friend who is Giorgio Armani’s L.A. celebrity liaison. “I can’t tell you how many shopping trips the three of us have been on where Maria and I have been trailing Arnold.”
Shriver, 48, “likes to get it over and done with, and move onto other things,” said McDaniel. “People can project onto her what they want her to be. But she is not anyone I would have thought of as a fashion icon.... She has never devoted a lot of time and energy to her clothes. Most of the time, you catch her in a suede duster coat and leggings running up and down Montana getting ice cream for her kids.”
Unlike her husband, she’s not an accessories enthusiast. Until recently, she carried the same oft-repaired black nylon Prada backpack she’d had for years. “We used to tease her about it,” McDaniel said.
“Maria has always been very low-key,” said Vogue’s Singer. “She’s always been very appropriate, but she has kept her hair long, which is a nod to glamour for a woman over 40. It indicates something about her sense of herself as a sexy being.”
Singer was impressed by Shriver’s fashion choice on election night: a simple, sleeveless white Dolce & Gabbana dress with black trim around the armholes. It’s being knocked off for the junior set by Un Deux Trois, and will be sold in stores as the “Maria Shriver dress” for $80.
For now, Shriver seems eager to downplay the importance of her wardrobe.
Shortly after the election, said McDaniel, Shriver mentioned a letter that Jackie Kennedy wrote to Oleg Cassini while her husband was in office. She wanted to streamline the designing process, she told Cassini, because she was spending too much time on her clothes and not enough time on her children.
Shriver said, “See, even my Aunt Jackie knew how to spend her time correctly.”
