If you follow her on Instagram, you probably saw that Cara Delevingne was in Washington, D.C. yesterday visiting the White House. She wasn't there for a routine public appearance to ceremoniously shake President Barack Obama's hand, have her photo taken thousands of times for press, and be honored like a professional sports team or to receive a key to the city for some civic duty. Instead, she swung through for a Funny or Die!-sponsored roundtable discussion about climate change. OK. So far, so good.
As such, the supermodel-actress wore a pretty basic outfit—black coat over a black dress. But instead of pairing it with some sensible heels, boots, or flats she decided to wear—wait for it—sneakers. More specifically those black and white Puma x Rihanna creepers.
I can hear your collective gasp from the other side of the computer. But in case you aren't shocked, The Washington Post did enough gasping for everybody. Columnist Emily Heil wrote, "Pearl-clutchers might want to avert their eyes, because the British import also wore sneakers for the visit. Black and white Pumas, to be exact. That’s athletic footwear treading the marble of the inner chambers of global power." She also consulted Marissa Mitrovich, a former government-affairs executive who now writes a politics and fashion blog called Politiquette. Mitrovich did not approve of Cara's choice, as he laid out pretty plainly, "...when you are at the White House for a business meeting, I say you do not wear sneakers."
Here's the deal: I would expect this kind of disapproval if Cara were there as a truly honored guest, with CNN, Fox News and MSNBC cameras honed in on her and the President as he hands her some sort of prestigious honor. But for a more lighthearted affair with Funny or Die, who also sponsored that "Between Two Ferns" clip with Zach Galifianakis' mediocre boots, I think we should probably chill out about it. The easiest way to keep this in perspective is to think that for every pair of fairly nice sneakers like Cara's, there are about a thousand awful, black square-toed shoes that some guy got at the bargain bin at the local Men's Wearhouse on Capitol Hill.
So how about we let Cara live for this one? Not like it matters anyway, since she's going to continue to do what she wants when she wants. (As she should.)
