Oscar de La Renta Describes Hillary Clinton's Inaugural Gown: She's "Very Prudish" About Clothes

On Monday Barbara Walters sat down with designer Oscar de la Renta for her weekly Sirius XM show "Here's Barbara." He described what Hillary Clinton will wear to Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony ("the most beautiful royal blue") and inaugural balls ("a beautiful pink and gray embroidered with silver and gold"), and detailed his ongoing struggle to get her to show a little skin. Barbara also points out that Clinton has a "nice bosom."

See an excerpt below.

BARBARA WALTERS: Now, you're very close to Hillary Clinton?

OSCAR DE LA RENTA: Of course I am. I love Hillary.

BARBARA WALTERS: Do you say to her, Hillary I don't like that on you, or that's not good and you should do this [and] not that?

OSCAR DE LA RENTA: I try to advise her the best I can, you know, we always have a big, huge fight about - - you know, Hillary, in a sense, is sort of very prudish about the type of clothes she likes to wear and you know from the waist up she really looks great.

BARBARA WALTERS: She's really tiny. She has a small waist and nice bosom.

OSCAR DE LA RENTA: She feels very uncomfortable about wearing revealing kind[s] of cloths and so we are always fighting about the neckline. I do remember one time, we were at a party at the Metropolitan Museum and she was wearing, for the first time, something very, very open and then all of sudden she arrived with a big, huge shawl over her shoulder. And I kept pulling the shawl down and [she] kept pulling it up because she felt uncomfortable about showing her shoulders.

Comments

[doloresleft]

02:58 PM on 01/20/2009

if i were first lady and a designer spoke about me this way, to further his own career or persona,
i would never go to him/her again.
it's a priviledge to be able to work for a first lady, and whether you think she has taste or style,
or is prudish- which is a bad word choice- especially in this case-
is not something you need to say on the view.
he makes nice clothes for wealthy people- very wealthy people- and is in a bubble of sorts-
but that's no excuse for being rude .

[tedbear]

03:16 PM on 01/18/2009

Hillary Clinton, now that I think about it, has probably always dressed conservatively in her own way.

At 60+ it can be a difficult call to decide what is too young or too dowdy. Especially if you are a woman who is always in the public eye. Besides, if she decided to "show some skin" the press would be all over how wrong it was. She can't win, so she may as well wear what she wants.

[klandish]

12:41 PM on 01/18/2009

Hillary has to balance style with respectability. But she should let go and get a little sexy. Why not?

[lynnn]

05:56 PM on 01/18/2009

For a woman who is a politician I like HRC's style bc the cloths don't over power her. You don't really notice them (unless you are the lame a** MSM).

[StephenJK]

04:42 AM on 01/18/2009

Hillary is awesome and she could wear whatever suits her taste. She looks good and her fashion is fine. None of this matters. She's got a job to do and she'll be busy repairing Bushco's mess around the world. All the best to Hillary!

[Recessionista]

02:09 AM on 01/18/2009

Y'all need to back off on the comments on Hillary's style. I like how she looks, and even better, I like her intelligence & qualifications! Hillary may not be a trend setter, but she is wicked smart. And at this point, being wicked smart is just the kind of trend setting I want to see on the White House staff.

Hilary is not going to show up at the Inauguration wearing some kind of J. Lo type dress that requires tape to keep from opening up & revealing her chest!

I don't recall anyone taking Dick Cheney to task for wearing navy for 8 years with the same tie my brother wore at his Catholic prep school as part of his uniform.

For more of my view's on Hillary's style, read my post: Hillary on the Hill: http://therecessionista.blogspot.com/2009/01/recessionista-regime-hillary-on-hill.html

[johnnynyc]

01:36 AM on 01/18/2009

Yeah wear more revealing clothes because Matthews, Olbermann and Maddow need another week's worth of material.

[myoungholt]

11:32 PM on 01/17/2009

She's more sensual covered up and classy than most of the women on tv and in public who think erroneously that showing everything is beautiful. Those who show everything want to titilate mens' senses and then scream at them if they act on that provocation. And the beauty that might have been is lost.

Bravo, Hillary!!!

[DinSea]

07:50 PM on 01/17/2009

"nice from the waist up" - "She has a small waist and nice bosom..."
hmmm..... what are you trying to say? Her A$s is the problem?

Let's just hope there's more attention on the first lady than power/attention grab.bing Ms. C.

[CUL8R]

05:52 PM on 01/17/2009

I attended a political event where HRC was one of the guests. She's surprisingly petite and her photos don't do her justice.

[lynnn]

05:57 PM on 01/18/2009

Yes very true.

[susie1776]

02:26 PM on 01/17/2009

I am the same age as Hillary Clinton and think she always dresses well. She dresses like a grown woman....not a teenage Barbie doll. I've seen a number of older celebrities who should have taken a REALLY long look in the mirror before venturing out. They looked silly trying to dress too young. Hillary has the right instincts.

[natalie0nine]

04:13 PM on 01/17/2009

I agree.

I also think she should wear more dresses, and ditch some of the pantsuits.

[BowlingForRevenge]

04:30 PM on 01/17/2009

The pantsuits cover her biggest fault CANKLES.
Hate to be blunt but she is correct to wear pantsuits. Even the dark hose and matching shoes are of no real help and she is in the same boat as many others on that. It is genetic!

That said she could opt for more feminine suits with shorter jackets to show off her waist and wide leg soft pants. No ruffles but some soft tweeds and boucles. She should mix up her fabrics and textures on the top more. IMHO

[lynnn]

05:58 PM on 01/18/2009

Why? I think the issue w/pants suits is that men can wear the same suits over and over and no one cares. Why should women be any diff?

[Sparty1]

02:16 PM on 01/17/2009

I like how Hillary dresses. Why would she want to dress like the hoochie that is Cindy "Homewrecker" McCain? She has class and she dresses age appropriately. Her and my mom are the same age and if I saw my mom showing cleavage, I might just faint.

[illampu]

01:18 PM on 01/17/2009

It's probably because of stories like this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071902668.html
she shows a little skin and the press corp freaks.

[MagisterLudi]

01:11 PM on 01/17/2009

I noticed there was never a thread about that ghastly job with red splotches Michelle Obama wore on Nov.7.

[Sparty1]

02:14 PM on 01/17/2009

I normally love her fashion choices, but that dress was AWFUL! It highlighted her curves in a weird way. I was a little upset when she came out with that on. I was like "where's that Chi-town fashion sense?"

[anelder]

02:40 PM on 01/17/2009

You must have been selective in your reading. There was much said about that dress.

[mick7191]

11:51 AM on 01/17/2009

Maybe she could wear that dress that J-Lo wore to the Oscars a few years ago. How about that, Oscar?

[dems08]

11:16 AM on 01/17/2009

Thank you Huffpo for printing this, and reminding us of how silly and superficial the de la Renta and baba wawa-types are.

ps - almost 700 iraqis have been killed and wounded in the past 16 days

[MagisterLudi]

01:11 PM on 01/17/2009

Demso, did you lose skip any meals because of Iraq? I doubt it.

[linfort]

03:41 PM on 01/17/2009

This is the STYLE page. It is like a newspaper, but without the recycling bin. You read the sections that interest you, and leave the rest for others. I typed this slowly, so you will be sure to understand.