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NextObama a fashion icon?
There are campaign buttons, jewellery, teddy bears and even women's g-string underpants--and academics and vendors say the items are being sold at unprecedented levels.
"Young people are acting like it's some kind of revolution. He's in demand right now. He's selling better than everybody," said Union Square vendor Edwin Shan, who sells T-shirts hand-painted with images of Mr Obama
Or, as another Union Square vendor, Maria Khomenko, explained: "Obama is like a trademark now." She said she planned to add him to her line of T-shirts depicting James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.
"We just try to sell products that appeal to our customers. We're not making any kind of political statement at all," Urban Outfitters Chief Financial Officer John Kyees said.
Penn State political science professor Eric Plutzer, who studies youth voting trends, said America's young see Mr Obama's candidacy as "more than politics as usual," and that the craze for Obama items reflects high numbers of young supporters.
Obama a fashion icon? Hardly, say his daughters
In an interview with entertainment channel Access Hollywood, Malia, aged 10, and Sasha, seven, laugh at the idea that their father has become a fashion pin-up, pointing to his 10-year old trousers, his worn-out shoes and "that belt".
Malia then relates a recent shopping trip when he bought "three pairs of black pants and the same jacket in green, brown and black".
Mr Obama tells viewers he is "baffled by this whole thing myself, because I hate to shop".
Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion
Recently, a fund-raiser held in Michelle Obama's honor attended by a giant fashion crowd. Tickets to the cocktail reception cost $1,000 to $2,300, and tickets to the dinner following at Calvin Klein's house cost $10,000. Normally such events allow reporters and famous people who draw the reporters in for free. But Michelle's fund-raiser, it seems, was so exclusive everyone had to pay to attend. They were all "pumped" to meet her--even though the room was uncomfortably warm--and she dazzled with charm and a chic Isabela Toledo gown and Tom Binns necklace she picked out herself.
Francisco Costa called her a "star"; Behnaz Sarafpour said she had never seen a couple like the Obamas in politics in her lifetime and called Michelle's style "refreshing." Nicole Miller was struck by her height and called her "pretty fabulous," "gracious," and "very intelligent."
But the most delicious part about the whole thing? The next day when Michelle went on The View she wore a black-and-white dress from White House Black Market. After that, women started pouring into the retail chain's stores, clamoring for the $148 dress.
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