It might be time for our media to take a breather from non-stop praise of Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post just called her a style icon. Really.
You’ve likely noticed that many in the media are a bit emotionally invested in defeating Donald Trump. Even so, this headline from the Washington Post takes things to dramatic new journalistic lows:
Hillary Clinton, style icon? The unexpected inspiration for women’s spring fashion
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Hillary Clinton looks better than ever this year. When she works on her style, it really pays off. But she remains Hillary Clinton and, as such, she’s basically the opposite of a style icon, unless you think boxy pantsuits and tented Chairman Mao jackets are what every woman is clamoring to wear.
Granted, she’s not running for fashion icon, but for president. Fashion is important, and good fashion will be beautiful and may exhibit various virtues, but one’s wardrobe is not exactly on the list of top 20 reasons why you should or should not vote for someone.
Having said all that, are you high, Washington Post? I mean, everyone involved in the preparation, research, writing, and publication of this story from start to finish is obviously high, right? The piece is authored by the strangely hyper-partisan Robin Givhan, and is the journalistic equivalent of micturating on one’s readers and telling them it’s raining.
It’s embarrassing. Embarrassing for Givhan and embarrassing for her editors. She begins by talking about designer Derek Lam’s inspiration for his spring 2017 collection:
Specifically, he’d been inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, the artist who was so often described as ‘handsome,’ a polite way of saying that she was not a great beauty. But that striking face of hers, alongside her formidable body of work, made her an icon nonetheless.
Allow me to quote my fashionable friend Caroline: “This is what happens when you remove literature from schools. Washington Post reporters don’t know what words really mean. Literature is full of beautiful women described as handsome because they were considered great beauties.”
Indeed. Here’s the first definition of the word:
- having an attractive, well-proportioned, and imposing appearance suggestive of health and strength; good-looking:
a handsome man; a handsome woman.
Givhan was unable to find anything to tie together the fashion she saw last week at New York Fashion Week. She appears to have pulled “strength” out of a location approximating her derriere and then tried, and failed, to connect it to Clinton. After some nice (and completely unrelated to politics) pictures of some sleek designs, Givhan explains:
But beyond cut and color, designers are obsessing about strong and powerful women who are independent and enduring — perhaps even a bit scandalous. There has been talk of O’Keeffe, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, influential mothers and grandmothers — and of course, Hillary Clinton.
They don’t want to write about her crimes and because she got no accomplishments, hm that is not an option .. So, what to write? What to write? Hmm .. Let’s make old, sick and tired a “style” and let’s make her a style-icon! Hurry! Tell her before she has to be carried back to bed ..
