The Germ is back, this time targeting new US First Lady Michelle Obama.
Outspoken feminist Germaine Greer has lined up Michelle Obama as her latest target, criticising the “butcher’s apron” dress the next First Lady wore when her husband won the US presidential election.
Writing her usual column for the Guardian, Greer slays the outfit choice, calling it, “All black with an eye-burning red panel that splattered itself down the front like a geometrical haemorrhage”.
She goes on to describe the effect as: “A poster in the most disturbing colours known to man, the colours of chaos…Coral snakes and venomous spiders signal their destructive potential by the display of similarly violent contrasts.”
Greer was a powerful voice of feminism in the 1970s, and her books were international best sellers, but over the past decade she has become better known for her contrary and controversial remarks.
When nature lover Steve Irwin was killed, she famously remarked that the animals would be relieved. She also described Princess Di as “slow”.
Greer refers to online critics of Michelle Obama’s dress to back up her argument and remarks that if Michelle had dressed herself and her daughters for defeat, she could not have chose bettter outfits.
“Most newspapers were too high-minded to refer to it, but reaction trickled through the internet and surfaced in USA Today, where a poll revealed that twice as many people hated the gown as thought it irrelevant or OK,” she said.
Say what you want about Michelle Obama’s dress, but it’s not nearly as disturbing as Greer’s fashion statements.*
* Link NSFAE (not safe for anyone eating)
