The Obama Bag

Aug 3

In 2007 I started making things and selling them. Etsy was new and liberating. Some of my popular items were handbags made with acrylic handles, satin linings, and a clear, vinyl, outer shell with layers of fringe, made from laminated circles cut from magazine pages. The conceit was that they were Designer Handbags; I’d cull images from luxury brand ads in fashion magazines and make a pattern from them: Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and the like. My pop homages were a fraction of the cost of a true It Bag and I only received one Cease and Desist.

At about this time, I was hawking these wares and other meta wearables at a craft fair when I was approached by Sharon Hoffman who asked if I would be willing and able to make just such a bag using a photograph of Barack Obama and if I could have a sample for her within 48 hours. My kit was in another state but I convinced Kinkos to let me use their laminator, a friend to let me use her sewing machine, and I hit up the Home Depot for some cable ties and was able to deliver on time.

Other than her name, I had no idea who this woman was but took a chance on my hustle being worth the expense. Two years later we had sold 250 of the bags (I hand made every one and 40% of the gross went to the campaign) and the fabulous people sporting them included Oprah Winfrey, Judith Jamison, and Jaques D’Amboise. The formidable woman leading me through this process wore one of our Obama Bags to a private lunch she had with President Obama himself, after he’d won the election. She reported that he did a double take as she sat down with it and said, “Hey, that’s me!” She told me that he loved it. Mr. President asked that I make one for Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Obama asked that I make one to be entered into the National Archive.

I am giddy to report that I received a call last week from the Barack Obama Presidential Center to let me know that the Obama Bag I fashioned 17ish years ago will be installed in the permanent collection of the center’s museum when it opens in Chicago in 2026. To celebrate this honor I’m making a few more that can be found in the shop on my website. I can’t wait to wear one to the museum myself!

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Hally McGehean

Hally makes fine, pop, and wearable art. Her clients include the Whitney Museum of American Art, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Nicola Formichetti, Bre Pettis, Charles Desmarais, and Patsy Kahn. Her work has been photographed by Terry Richardson and Nick Knight and appeared in Playgirl, Marie Claire, Elle Decor, Teen Vogue, New York, Paper, Complex, and Bitch Magazines. Hally was the winner of the 2010 Chelsea International Fine Art Competition and her 2011 runway show on the Highline was named one of the nine highlights of New York Fall Fashion Week by Entertainment Weekly. Before segueing into visual art, Hally was a Broadway and television actress for 30 years. She studied philosophy at Columbia University and Shakespeare at the British American Drama Academy, Balliol College, Oxford. Hally serves on the board of directors of the Isles of Shoals Association, Porstmouth, NH and has raised over $10,000 for cancer charities running the NYC, Paris, Berlin, and Boston marathons. In November 2012, Hally co-founded Flood the Art Market, raising $13,000 for NYFA’s Emergency Relief Fund, helping artists affected by Hurricane Sandy with shows at Miami Basel and the Cristin Tierney Gallery in Chelsea. Hally is currently mounting the one-woman indie-rock, indie-soul, indie-folk musical “Upping My Numbers” with producer Anita Allison and composer David Nyman. It will premiere in New York City in the fall of 2014 and takes place entirely in her bed.