Anna Wintour Takes Hillary Clinton To Task

WWD:

Don't mess with Anna Wintour. A lesson learned by many in fashion, but obviously not by Sen. Hillary Clinton or her advisers. Clinton was to appear in Vogue as the presidential race reached high gear, but backed out late last fall before a photo shoot was scheduled for fear of appearing too alluring. New York Post columnist Liz Smith reported Nov. 1 that "the astute [Vogue contributing editor] Julia Reed hung ten waiting to write about her and the giant fotog Annie Leibovitz had her cameras at the ready for nothing." A Vogue spokesman confirmed: "We were told by Ms. Clinton's camp that they were concerned if Clinton appeared in Vogue that she would appear too feminine." (Clearly, though, the presidential candidate didn't worry about that when she cried in New Hampshire.)

But Wintour didn't take Clinton's dis lightly. In her February editor's letter, Wintour takes Clinton to task for being behind the times. "Imagine my amazement, then, when I learned that Hillary Clinton, our only female president hopeful, had decided to steer clear of our pages at this point in her campaign for fear of looking too feminine. The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying." Wintour continues: "This is America, not Saudi Arabia. It's also 2008: Margaret Thatcher may have looked terrific in a blue power suit, but that was 20 years ago. I do think Americans have moved on from the power-suit mentality, which served as a bridge for a generation of women to reach boardrooms filled with men. Political campaigns that do not recognize this are making a serious misjudgment."

Read the whole story: WWD

Comments

[grannysharp]

Sounds like Hill is just doing her best Bush imitation of my way or the highway. Hope Vogue keeps her off their pages

[rh654]

Nothing like watching a woman get all catty after Hillary says "No thank you" to her magazine.

Whoever this Wintour is she sure sounds rather demeaning to women.

To presume to know how any particular woman must act, look or how they should be protrayed is just as sexist as if a man were to make these suggestions.

Doesn't Wintour think that women are individual people who can make up their own minds on how they want to present themselves?

I guess not - Wintour brings up Saudi Arabia.

The problem with Saudi Arabia is that they force women into a certain way of behaving - this is the same thing Wintour wants - except to the other extreme.

Yup - nothing like watching a woman get all pissed off about a woman not kneeling before the pages of Vogue...

[williamina]

Please tell Wintour to give Coulter hir adam's apple BACK!

[ThisBoyElroy]

C'mon HuffPo there's got to be a better anti-Clinton story you're going to run for today? Or is the anti-Clinton spin machine in need of some grease?

Who cares if she's in Vogue or not? Let's discuss the ISSUES and not the femininity of the candidate.

[ThisBoyElroy]

Who cares about Vogue anyway? Do you really think the people who read Vogue are that interested in voting?

Oh HuffPo is this the bet anti-Clinton story you can come up with today? If so then I dare say your anto-Clinton spin machine is waning a bit.

[Kerkyra]

This another example of how the Clintons weigh every decision--and, indeed, every abandoned commitment--based on what image and spin dictate on the day. The question is, what on earth was Wintour thinking when she made the invitation in the first place?

[PMSBarbie]

Ahh...sisterhood Vogue-style.

Better want to look alluring on the pages of Vogue, Hillary, if you want some respect from Anna.

Anna Wintour sounds pretty sheltered from mainstream America. That's nice.

[Jimmyboyo]

Bluesky

You obviously do not realize how much power Wintour has.

Bad move on Hillary's part.

Nobody crosses Anna

Hillary gets called a "bitch" all the time. Anna is called the devil. She totaly trumps Hillary big time.

[bluesky49876]

Hillary's decision not to appear in Vogue was absolutely a correct decision. Don't listen to idiots like whats her name Wintour, is it?