Listen Up Team Clinton: A Fashion Makeover Can Make Hillary More Electable! Ignore This Advice At Your Peril!
Now that Hillary has taken Ohio and Texas, could a subtle fashion makeover make her even more electable? I say yes and I say this seriously, Hillary and her handlers may have given hours and hours of thought to her positions and platforms but they haven't focused enough on perfecting her look. And they need to...PRONTO!
Consider the competition. Not only is 46-year-old 6' Obama a great orator but when "you're young, tall and thin everything looks good on you," points out top American designer and "Project Runway" star Michael Kors. Plus, Obama has the added advantage that he is A MAN! He doesn't have to make a choice between a skirt or pants, flats or heels, bright colors or neutrals, red lipstick or pink. He could wear the same suit every day of the week and no one would ever notice. He doesn't have "bad hair" days. For Hillary, it's like what "someone" once said about Ginger Rogers &madsh; "she had to do everything that Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels."
Hillary has a whole perplexing bunch of decisions to make every morning that Obama 
doesn't need to contend with, even before she appears at her first breakfast meeting. No one is ever going to look at his ankles, let alone make a nasty comment about whether they are slim enough. It is absolutely not fair!
And if Team Hillary thinks that how she dresses doesn't matter all that much, then consider what celebrity stylist and television personality Robert Verdi points out — "we don't always hear what people say, but in our flash image society we make flash judgments based on what they look like — images are very powerful. And if clothes didn't matter, then we'd all be walking around naked. Besides, the first people I hear saying fashion doesn't matter for Hillary are the first to say, I hate her in pants."
All the fashion pros I talked to about the Hillary situation agreed — it may be silly but realistically everything that the 5' 6" 60-year-old woman wears will be scrutinized.
"She's walking a tightrope," says Kors. "If she comes across as too soft or feminine, then people wonder 'is she powerful enough?' and then, if she's too tailored...'is she butchy?'"
Her strategy right now seems to be counterintuitive — "I'm the first woman running for President, but I don't want to look like a woman," believes Members Only designer and creative director, Kelli Delaney. In her mannish pants and long boxy jackets, Hillary is trying to wrongly take her physicality off the table, believes Delaney. "If we're modern enough to consider a woman for president, shouldn't she be allowed to be a lady and dress like a chic, gorgeous woman?" she asks.
So what's candidate Hillary to do? Listen up advisers — I think Kors, Verdi and Delaney have some excellent style advice.
"She needs to dress to inspire and command," But also softer and more approachable says Verdi. "If she looks more likeable, she'll be more electable," believes Delaney.
Yes! It is a tightrope but I agree and I think Hillary can walk it.
Now here's a plan from this style trio:
Drop the 80s Super Bright Designing Women Jacket Colors
"When I see Hillary in a yellow jacket, I'm seeing Sponge Bob," says Verdi.
Bright red and blue are too First Lady, points out Kors — Nancy Reagan owns red, Barbara Bush, blue.
Campaign Big in Warm Colors
Kors likes Hillary in russety brown, caramel, honey colors and coral.
Verdi wants her in "ishy colors" like brownish/grayish, which he says are softer.
Use Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters as Inspiration
They don't look "fashiony" says Kors, but they look fabulous and authoritative. Looks that look good on them and can work for Hillary, according to Kors — white or black silk shirts with a gold chainlink necklaces. "Gold smacks of success. And we want to feel she's a winner."
Softer, More Fitted Suits Will Suit Her
Shorter herringbone, boucle, or cashmere knit jackets that show off her waist. Small shoulder pads, shorter jacket sleeves..
And Finally Don't Be Afraid to Dress in a Dress
"A dress will not diminish her power," says Kors. Delaney recommends a sleeveless dress with a matching jacket.
So will a more stylish Hillary strike electoral success with both men and women?
"Let's be honest, we don't need any man to say Hillary is 'hot' even though women are looking at Obama and saying 'he's hot,'" points out Kors. "But a man likes a woman who looks successful and feminine."
As for us women, we didn't like Jackie Kennedy any less because she dressed beautifully. We loved her for it and we copied her, says Delaney.
I've met Hillary myself and she was totally smart and friendly. Those who know her well like publicist Ken Sunshine tell me that she is funny and a wonderful mother and friend.
I believe it. And I think she could be a wonderful president. So, while I don't think anyone wants Hillary to morph into a full-time fashionista, she can take what celebrities, stylists and even women's magazine editors have come to know — a style makeover can have a magical effect. Even in an election!
Photo credits, clockwise from top right: AP, Patrick McMullan, Patrick McMullan, Style.com
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I'm finding it hard to think of something rational to say to this... article.
Quite frankly, it's pieces like this that give feminists a bad name. Oh I can just hear it now, "Look at the crazy hormone infested woman giggling over CLOTHES in the most important primary in history."
Really, the whole it's not fair thing and the whole focus on the clothing and the etc etc. It's a very telling thing to me that it was a woman that wrote this post and not a man. This is a perfect case of what my own lady tells me in that women are their own worst enemies.
It is women that create (and if you have trouble accepting that, it's certainly true that they forcefully perpetuate) the image that has been decried by feminists world over.
It's the women, and certainly not the men, that obsess over physicality, that obsess over so and so's shoes, and break their nervous systems over whether to wear pink or red lipstick.
And women everywhere, that are trying to rise above these sexist notions? They absolutely hate it.
Do a Google search "Hillary Clinton's legs" and you will see why she wears pantsuits.
I don't know if improving her looks now can make her more electable, but she's sure looking Margaret Thatcher like.
If Hillary put on a dress at this point she would look like she was in drag.
'It's absolutely not fair.' - the writer writes about women's fashion woes. I say as a woman - STOP bitching!!!!! We, as women, should celebate being a woman, not trying to convince men and women that we're really men.
I'm sorry to say, Bonnie, but it's Hillary. Condi wears skirts and dresses and no one doubts for a moment that she's incapable or not tough enough. Hillary just doesn't got it - the IT factor - and can't carry it; stop blaming Obama for this.
My mother, like Hillary, is 5'6" and 60 and she is FIERCE!!!! It's Hillary! It's Hillary! It's Hillary!
Can't wait to hear what Sir Mike Medavoy has to say about Spitzer. Anyone else feel the same. He has such strong and well thought out opinions. Please Sir Medavoy. Tells us your thoughts about Cheating, lying the man we feel so sorry for getting caught Eliot Spitzer.
Fashion make overs and clothes will not help Hillary...
Unfortunat
Now she's made herself the laughingstock - 'offering' Obama the VP slot when he's got more popular votes, won more states, and has more delegates than she does....
This is pure hoodwinking, undermining Obama, sorta promising his supporters that they can
vote for her and still have him....
Ultimate cheap shot....cl
I just came over from the right side of HuffPo where there's a link to SNL's skit imagining "FIerce: A Hot Mess Makeover" the new Bravo show starring Christian Siriano, Tim Gunn and Keidi Klum from Project Runway.
So now I'm thinking about Hillary dressed by Christian Siriano in a ruffled shirt that hides the bottom half of her face, a huge hat that hides the rest of her head, huge poofy sleeves that get in the salad, squeaky-tight pants and skyscraper heels.
Imagine THAT approaching the podium for a press conference!
'Nancy owns red, Barbara owns blue,' and now It appears Hillary wants to own yield-sign yellow, the national symbol for ''caution'' and ''slow down, prepare to stop.'' Has anyone thought about the subliminal message this is sending?
:
She is Saying "YIELD"
Tikes.
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this post is funny. i keep thinking she needs to hire Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear for a makeover. haha
She needs to change her style. I agree on the 80's style she has been sporting, and the matchy jewelry.
Stacy - help Hillary! :OD
It doesn't matter what she looks like on the outside. "Ugly" still comes out of her mouth. She comes off as totally mean-spirited. I don't think a wardrobe change is going to make a difference.
This is ridiculous. Even if she were the best dressed woman in America, it's not going to change her votes, or public perception. Especially after she voted for the continued use of cluster bombs in civilian areas, and refused to sign a treaty to ban land mines. Her vote for Kyl/Lieberman too, give Bush the authority to bomb Iran. And all of that, after her Iraq vote. I'd be interested to know what is fashionable and stylish for a Neocon masquerading as a Democrat? Finally, no matter how beautiful and fashionably dressed someone appears, if they happen to be a kneecapping, lying corrupt politician, it's not going to change anyone's mind.
Puleeez people, I don't like Hilary for all she is and stands for as much as all of you here, but this essay was just a teaser, just for a laugh, come on guys lighten up already.
She doesn't have much to work with, does she......b
She can never soften up her votes for the Iraq War Resolution and the Patriot Act.
Oh brother. Did I wake up in the 1930s?
why not just have hillary come out of the closet finally, and be done with it. than she can continue to shop at lane bryant and cash in on those two for one, mix and match 'man suits' she wears.
there are many suggestions that hillary should take from her 28 year old daughter. chelsea knows what's up, no? she should tell her mother, if we are supposed to be turning the page, we must also recognize that the wardrobe must match! she should have consulted chelsea much earlier, and so should have bill...aft
obama'08
Bonnie, Mrs. Clinton should, on occasion, select an appropriate dress just to keep the media on their toes. The first time she does so, the media will be so engrossed that the costuming coverage will eclipse the Obama campaign for a while and be worth the equivalent of a month's worth of fund-raising. Perhaps the first occasion should be the time the senator wants to make a particular point or express an important position. I leave to the fashion experts the most appropriate type of dress and assume that it will be fully vetted by focus groups. By the way, the "someone" who gave the Ginger Rogers line may be attributed to the late Ann Richards.
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Posted March 7, 2008 | 01:26 PM (EST)