Model Behavior: When Politicians Walk the Runway Together
Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” filled the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House on September 9, and for a moment the divide between Democrat and Republican, city official and small business owner, disappeared into the crowd’s grinning recognition of the song’s famous opening notes. That was the point. “Style Across the Aisle”, now in its third year, had built its entire premise on the idea that fashion can bridge great divides, getting people who disagree on almost everything to stand next to each other and smile.
I got to see this all up close as a volunteer. I met the show’s founder, Skye Ostreicher, at a YU event last year, and reached out in August in anticipation of New York Fashion Week coming up. Skye, who is Jewish and has spoken about how Jewish values shape her work, brought her vision to life in one of New York’s most storied venues.
This year’s theme was “Common Threads,” a phrase organizers used to describe the personal connections that exist when the public labels come off. Over thirty elected officials were paired with local designers and sent up the same staircase, in looks meant to tell a story of who they were outside their offices. Google, the evening’s presenting partner, included this message in their own interactive demonstration that allowed guests to virtually try on the designers’ works in photo-ops, meaning their creations would reach audiences well beyond the room.
The pairing that opened the show meant a lot to me personally. NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin, the city’s first Jewish council speaker, walked in a design by Elie Tahari, the Israeli-American designer often credited with inventing the tube top. While they walked the runway together to much applause, organizers shared their connecting thread of rebuilding. Tahari arrived in New York with nothing, sleeping on park benches to get by, and built a fashion empire. Menin relaunched her career after her own small business was destroyed on September 11. Given that this year’s show fell two days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the story carried extra meaning.
Tributes to September 11 threaded through the night in ways that were both formal and personal. The program opened with a march from the FDNY Ceremonial unity and a moment of silence. Former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney returned to the runway in a bright yellow gown matching the lettering on a custom FDNY jacket she wore, honoring her long record of advocacy for first responders, and their service on September 11.
Not every look carried that gravity, and the show was better off for the balance. Comptroller Mark Levine walked in a piece by Yosel Tiefenbrun, a Chabad rabbi turned bespoke tailor whose Tribeca studio sits just blocks from Levine’s office, another case of the show matching people by shared geography and heritage rather than party lines. Another official walked in a sparkly gown with a bedazzled Knicks-themed clutch in her hand, while her designer showed off a shimmering Knicks sweatsuit, holding a dog decked out in sparkling Mets gear. Another look, worn by Lucy Lang, the New York State Inspector General, stood out as one of my favorites of the night. She wore a blazer built around an American Watchdog motif, playing into her role as Inspector General, and the beloved children’s cartoon.
Rep. Tom Suozzi closed out the show. He did not just walk down the runway; he practically danced down it, breaking from the usual stiff political stride and drawing some of the loudest cheers of the night. I know of Rep. Suozzi from Long Island, where he represents NY-03, the district right above mine. Most notably, Suozzi co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress, a group that aims to get Democrats and Republicans to actually work together. Watching him loosen up and really embrace the moment felt like a small preview of what the Problem Solvers Caucus is supposed to be about: people setting the posturing aside long enough to actually connect.
What got me through the door was the mix of bipartisanship and fashion, but watching it come together felt like something more, a real, working model of what common ground can look like. New York Fashion Week tends to reward spectacle for its own sake. “Style Across the Aisle” asked for something harder from its models and designers, humility from public officials willing to be a little silly and open, and a spotlight for the tailors and small business owners who rarely get a runway of their own. In an era of hyper-partisanship, the night’s real achievement was getting officials who disagree on almost everything to model behavior most of Washington has forgotten: that you can share a room, and even a runway, with someone you oppose without treating them like an enemy. By the time the reception started, Menin, Levine, Suozzi, dozens of designers and hundreds of guests were all mingling under the same chandeliers. And the aisle everyone had crossed to get there mattered less than what everyone had in common.
Photo Caption: “Style Across the Aisle” Event Magazine Cover
Photo Credit: Keira Kahn
