The empress's clothes

Maybe it's the gay in me, but one thing that I will really miss about Hillary Clinton's presence in this race (presuming she doesn't somehow win the nom or get selected at VP) is her expression through clothing and style. She has been criticized at times for it, and those making the criticism have then been attacked for being misogynistic or sexist. I suppose that critiques have often been fueled by people's presumption of what femininity should look like, or of an idea that Clinton's fashion does not fit in because it is not the masculine norm of political attire. John Edwards' now infamous comment at a debate, "I don't know about that jacket," comes to mind (though when he said it, I thought more about how stupid it was for a candidate accused of being fruity to dare use satire and fashion critique in one statement!)

Anyway, I don't always like her choices (yellow isn't her color, and someone needs to break it to her), her clothing choices do present maturity but agility, strength but warmth, class but approachability. Her large, simple necklaces, bright scarves, and well-trimmed suits are at once disarming - for we see something there that is familiar, comfortable and safe - and also powerful - for we see a person who is confident, steadfast, and self-assured. Clinton's presentation of herself certainly has to do with the fact that her and her husband's 9-figure assets don't get in the way with her connecting to blue-collar, working-class people in a way that Barack Obama (who comes from a much humbler background) and John Edwards (who was raised working-class and even now maintains a populist charm) were simply not able to do.

Clinton demonstrates that a woman can be both feminine and professional, motherly and successful. Her style, and her life narrative, are a testament to breaking loose from the strict social confines of gender identity - a structure which, even today, says it's okay for women to work in a "man's world" but only if they abandon their femininity. Clinton never sacrificed her own expression of gender even as she competed in one of the most male-dominated arenas in America today.