Focus on candidate's record, not her neckline

The Baltimore Sun

BOSTON -- Among the endless reasons I will never run for public office is a deep-seated fear of having my wardrobe subject to the fashion police. Excuse me, the fashion shrinks - those media monitors who seek deep meaning in every shoe, sexual clues in every hemline, and psychological insights in every shirt collar.

Just imagine the casual summer wardrobe that I am modeling so stylishly at this very moment. What would the fashionbabblers have to say about my well-worn khaki capris? That they display a certain comfort-first sensibility? Or does that flash of calf reveal a senior-citizen insouciance? What of the green polo shirt? Does it symbolize my bond with the Lands' End sisterhood? Or my rebellion from the designer-label sophisticate? And what to make of my lime-colored Crocs with their peek-a-boo holes. Do they express a certain post-feminist funkiness? Or do they expose a feminine (if chipped) pedicure?

This self-couture-analysis comes in response to the latest piece on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's attire by The Washington Post's resident fashionista. Robin Givhan's cultural critique began with a holy-moly observation: "There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton."

Ms. Givhan's 750-word plunge into the shirt of the Democratic senator and presidential candidate had women throwing up their hands all over the blogosphere.

Mrs. Clinton's cleavage, she wrote, was a "small acknowledgment of sexuality and femininity." It was "like catching a man with his fly unzipped." It was also a "teasing display." And to wrap things up, she explained: "To display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d'oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style."

Not even Nora Ephron, who wrote I Feel Bad About My Neck, could have spent more energy deconstructing a neckline.

Mrs. Clinton is not the only female pol to have made more news with what she wore than what she said. Just a few weeks ago, a camera from on high focused down on the chest of Jacqui Smith, the British home secretary, and created what some Brits called the Tempest in a D-Cup. The failed female candidate for president of France, Segolene Royal, was captured in a bikini looking like an ad for French Women Don't Get Fat.

Candidates' wives too have long been subject to scrutiny. Joe Scarborough wins the prize for trash-talking Jeri Thompson, second wife of former Sen. Fred Thompson. Mr. Scarborough asked, "Do you think she works the pole?" He did not mean Gallup.

Yes, men in politics are also subject to fashionbabbling about masculinity. Al Gore was mocked for wearing earth tones. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama was dubbed the pin-up in the 2008 swimsuit competition. Former Sen. John Edwards was YouTubed for styling his hair. Even Sen. John McCain's V-neck sweater was labeled, at least, "metrosexual." But this is nothing like what happens to women.

In the end, the question is not whether a candidate can show a hint of breast but whether you can have breasts and be president.

Fashionbabblers of the world, let me remind you: Sometimes a V-neck is just a V-neck.

Ellen Goodman is a columnist for The Boston Globe. Her column appears Fridays in The Sun. Her e-mail is ellengoodman@globe.com.

Copyright © 2021, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication | Place an Ad
72°