OS ANGELES - It's a bipartisan dilemma and a weighty one: How do you pack for a political convention?
Whether they were boarding a train for Philadelphia or making a cross-country flight to Los Angeles, Massachusetts delegates faced the same prospects this year. Delegates had to be comfortable enough to last through lengthy days, and stylish enough to honor the constituents back home. So their suitcases had to be ready for all varieties of weather and social occasions.
After that, it was just a matter of whether to dress liberally or conservatively.
That's where the party differences came in. Democratic delegates didn't just have to pack for the event. They had to buy new wardrobes.
First, there was the issue of competing with trendy Angelenos and movie stars. Then there was the issue of having an outfit to carry you through a day on the convention floor and straight to a chic party at, say, Paramount Studios. And then, there was the issue of contrasting temperatures inside and outside the exuberantly air-conditioned Staples Center.
''It was difficult to figure out what you'd be comfortable in because it's 90 degrees outside and it's freezing in here,'' said Kristen Morris, a 29-year-old state party worker from Charlestown, Mass. ''I packed way too much. But some of the outfits are quite extravagant. Elegant suits. High heels. They look great.''
So did Morris, in a purple tank top, black stylish sandals and black capri pants, with a sweater, for temperature control.
The women were almost always fashionable. Few wore stockings. Heels were high. Occasionally, some women were so well-dressed, well-coifed and lathered up with makeup that you thought they must be stars, but couldn't be sure because chunky black sunglasses covered their eyes, even inside the convention center.
Among the Massachusetts contingent at a party one night, there were stylish, three-quarter-length suit jackets with matching pants, bias-cut gauzy sundresses in vibrant colors, and funky harlequin-print cropped pants.
The men also made a show of looking good. US Representative J. Joseph Moakley of South Boston, the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, had a new suit in a distinctive maize color, with a silk handkerchief in his jacket pocket.
As a general rule, Massachusetts delegates for the Republican National Convention packed heavy, too, but the reason was somewhat different. Many of them, including McCain supporters who were new to politics, had never been to a convention. So they didn't know the rules: How dressy do you need to be on the convention floor? When might you need the flowing sundress or the trendy tank?
But toting the casual clothes turned out to be a wise move.
All in all, Republican delegates from across the nation wore fewer tailored suits and more open-toed shoes than one might have expected. Which doesn't mean they weren't conservative, in the fashion sense. The woman who wore a sheer jacket with sequins over an iridescent dress one night looked decidedly out of place, as did the woman in a loud polka-dotted pantsuit.
Indeed, with one notable exception - a man in a tall felt Uncle Sam hat and matching red, white, and-blue suit - Massachusetts delegates gravitated toward the safety of dressy-casual. Republican delegation chairwoman Jean Inman, a veteran of these kinds of events, seemed to have the routine down. She wore sleeveless flowered dresses some of the time, but donned a dark pink tailored suit for her moment in the spotlight, when she announced Massachusetts' votes in the roll call of states.
Most men in the GOP delegation, too, opted for ''business casual'' clothes - except on the final night of the convention, when many turned up in suits. Were they paying homage to nominee George W. Bush? No, delegate Jonathan Freiman said; he had run out of casual clothing.
Some of the styles reflected regional variations. The Massachusetts Republican crowd looked different from, say, the Alabamans sitting behind them. Among the younger Alabama women, the look was decidedly Southern belle: heavy makeup, long tresses, spaghetti straps.
In Los Angeles, there were delegational differences as well, with men from Florida wearing tropical print shirts and members of the Louisiana delegation decked with Mardi Gras beads.
But the greatest sartorial showings turned up at the parties. Fetes around trendy issues, such as handgun control, were filled with skimpy outfits and fashionable food. This is, after all, California.
Cassidy reported from Los Angeles; Weiss from Philadelphia.
