The Obamanos Coat from Campaign for Change, Couture Collection

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A coat composed images from paper door hangers used by canvassers for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign. The images, primarily one of Obama standing in a crowd of people waving United States flags and Obama posters, have been cut into strips and sewn across the entire exterior of a black 1950s man’s wool overcoat. Interspersed with the main image are other portraits of Obama and, near the bottom right hem, three repeating images of Obama and his then running-mate Joe Biden. This image repeats again on the back of the coat, in a vertical strip of seven above the date of election day [TUESDAY / NOV. 4]. At back center is a column composed primarily of larger images of Obama waving in front of a poster reading “Change We Need.” The coat’s collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps have been covered with paper strips in gradients of solid blue.

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