Meet the de Blasios' 'Expressive' Hair

And their dance, the 'Smackdown'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 7, 2013 2:10 PM CST

If you followed the New York mayoral race, you probably noticed that the city's incoming first family is follicly diverse and they're not exactly putting a lid on it for political appearances, write Krissah Thompson and Lonnae O’Neal Parker in the Washington Post. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's close-cropped cut is pretty standard stuff, but son Dante sports an impressive Afro he's been growing since third grade (he's now 16), daughter Chiara opted for a flowery crown Tuesday night, and New York's next first lady, Chirlane McCray, often wears her lengthy dreadlocks in a ponytail. "The family is self-expressive, and that comes across," write Thompson and O'Neal Parker.

"This family probably understands the diversity of New York in a way we haven’t seen before," says New York image activist and writer Michaela Angela Davis. "They kind of help explain the bouquet of who we are." The cuts have already drawn attention from many corners, including the White House. "I have to confess, my Afro was never that good," President Obama has said of Dante. Another standout de Blasio family trait: their dancing, including their signature move, "The Smackdown," the New York Post reports. (More Bill de Blasio stories.)

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