Great column, check it out

I just want to point everyone's attention to a masterfully written column by Post ombudsman Deborah Howell on the Hillary cleavage conundrum. And here is an excerpt that I reiterate all the time about this very site.

There's a bigger issue about her Clinton piece: Does this have anything to do with whether Clinton should be president? Not a thing. But do we want to read the column about her cleavage? Yes indeed. It was the most viewed story on the Web site all day. So was a recent story on John Edwards's hairdresser.

This is how women should dress on the Hill

Rachel over at Project Beltway snapped this shot of Linda Daschle (Tom's lobbyist wife) and Abigail Blunt (Roy's lobbyist wife) at a Hill newspaper party last week and I think it is just a fantastic example of how politicos can do to a feminine and chic suit. They're both sexy and you don't even see any cleavage - Hillary, again, take note. The hues are perfect for summer and can clearly take you from day to evening with no problem.

– Rachel Cothran at Project Beltway

Project Beltway weighs in on the flats vs. heel dilema

Because there is no real politics going on in Washington right now (sense the sarcasim?), a political newspaper decided to write about a pressing issue: High heels on the Hill. (OK, I know it's the pot calling the kettle, but I'm at least up front about the fact that this is primarily a fashion site...) At least they quoted blogger Rachel Cothran from Project Beltway. So, here is an excerpt from the earth-shattering, breaking-news report:

For the woman who works on Capitol Hill, high heels can present a fashion dilemma. Does she slip on a pair and risk the discomfort keeping up with her tall boss while walking down those marble hallways? Or does she sacrifice style and scrap the pumps? ...

... “I’m a heels gal, even though it’s risky when your boss is a fast-walking Marine,” said Jessica Smith, deputy spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.). ...

... Rachel Cothran, creator of Project Beltway, a D.C. fashion blog, has mixed feelings. “I love and hate heels all at once,” she said. “While they do make your legs look longer and inject a tried-and-true dose of femininity to your boring Hill outfit, they can literally be a pain.

“There’s nothing worse than limping through the Hart [Senate Office Building] hallways with five Band-Aids flapping around your ankles. And I will never understand why those cobblestone walkways were installed outside of Union Station, of all places. That being said, I know plenty of women who say they simply don’t feel pretty or in charge in flats.” ...

To read the entire piece, click here...

Well, Rachel continued her thoughts on her blog:

I’ve found a happy medium to be a wedge shoe, which provides height without sacrificing comfort. I find curvy, more feminine styles as opposed to chunky ones most flattering—there’s already a lot of shoe going on. You wouldn’t want to look like you have a brick attached to your foot.

For a while there, I swore off heels completely. However, once I realized that height wasn’t really the problem but rather the construction of the heel, I was a believer once again. Well-made shoes can really be an epiphany for heels, and well-made does not necessarily have to mean expensive. I love stacked heels and conical shapes have a retro vibe. They’re all over the retail stores, but you could easily look in vintage and consignment shops. Skinny heels often look too dainty for everyday outfits, and if you’re like me, you wear out the heel tips in less than five wearings. ...

... Hillrats needn’t be afraid of color or of showing toes, says an anonymous PB spy, who saw Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) wearing “the cutest open-toe green heels the other day…lime and kelly-green, maybe two-inch heels.” They should just steer clear of what the anonymous Hillgoer called stripper heels: “never okay.”

Then she goes on to give some examples of Hill-appropriate shoes - most of which I dislike, and some of which I feel aren't Hill worthy - but it's a good go. But her list of shoes made me want to do my own list. I am not including any flats, because I don't think they're appropriate (even though I wear them all the time), nor anything with too high of a heel because I'm trying to be realistic here. And for some real-life inspiration, keep an eye out for Condi and usually Laura's peds. So here are my picks for walking the marble come this fall, and "they're the coolest kicks in the cave," as Kelso would say.

Classic in-between flat pump
AK Anne Klein Sportella ($79)
A comfortable 2-inch heel
* I just bought these and they're great

Suede round-toe with a slight metallic edge
Taryn Rose Suede Pumps ($495)
A sleek 2 1/2-chunky heel

A suede wedge with a perforated twist
Dolce Vita Ferrera 2 ($105)
A 2-inch plastic heel
* Also available in cranberry, but most pols can't get away with that

Penny loafers for the 21st century
J. Crew Katy tumbled-leather heels ($178)
A sturdy 2 3/4-stacked heel

Sassy sweetheart detailing on simple pump
BP. 'Lavender' Suede Pump ($59.95)
A lofty 3 1/2-inch sturdy heel
* Also available in patent and my favorite-for-fall color, gray

Suede and patent come together
Kenneth Cole New York True Love ($195)
A not-as-steep-as-it-looks 3 1/2-inch heel

Logo medallion vamped
Tory Burch Betty Suede Pump ($295)
A platform sole, so the heel isn't all that high...

A matte satin mishap waiting in muggy D.C.
Bettye Muller Norell ($400)
A modest 3 1/2-inch heel

I plan on doing some sort of suit-fashion piece soon - with lots of examples for the female fashionistas working those Capitol steps - defintely before the end of recess, so Hillary, keep on the look out.

Clinton's jacket a subject for debate

After Edwards' comment at the debates last week a whole can of worms was opened and there were a lot of google searches that popped up my site. Needless to say, Julie Hinds at the Detroit Free Press found my rants on Hillary's seemingly limited wardrobe from last month and quoted the site - she probably would have quoted me if I didn't get back to her four days too late... Who did get quoted, however? None other than my favorite reporter and my not-so-favorite non-newspaper (I wont mention names, but it's obvious if you read the article and live in D.C.).

On another note, before I let you read the story, I'd like to point out that in this photo, not only is Edwards' wearing one of those bracelets, but also his jacket is pulling oddly and his arms aren't even outstretched - what's going on?

Anyway, here is bits from the piece:

... Some pundits gave Edwards a dressing down for the crack. "Write this down, guys: Attack her policies, attack her past votes, attack her personality ... but don't attack what she's wearing. It looks sexist and cheap," opined Politico.com's Roger Simon.

"I hope his wife gave him a good smack upside the head afterward," wrote Lisa Takeuchi Cullen on her Time blog. ...

... Clinton appears to own blue and yellow quilted jackets that seem nearly identical to the coral one, according to photos posted on D.C. Pleats.

"Does she own anything non-textured?" asks a headline on the politics/fashion blog. Postings describe the jackets as scary and horrid.

"I thought the jacket looked fabulous," says Helena Andrews, who covers pop culture for Politico.com and called Edwards' joke lame in a column. "She looked very sleek."

So did some of the men onstage, but their clothing wasn't a debate topic. ...

To read the whole story, click here...

– AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Rethinking the bracelet: Pin, set, match

While watching Fox News Sunday this morning with my boyfriend, he pointed out the fact that Fred Barnes was wearing a teal plastic bracelet (probably for prostate cancer, though a google search didn't show any correlation), and I thought about my posting again. So I don't really have any problem with the idea of the bracelets, I mean they're ugly, but that's not really my issue here. It's about wearing them with business suits - it just doesn't really work. I think the much more appropriate item to wear would be a lapel pin, or even a tie tack, or even both! in the shape of the cancer ribbon. Everyone's been wearing the American flag pin to show their patriotism, but you can even combine the two (see pin at left). This is a much more classy option for political figures who want to express their cause.

– AP

Hillary's such a repeat offender

So at least she ditched the coral jacket for a day, but why would Hill wear the ruffles again? I'd much rather see a little V-neck cleavage action with a simple jacket for the Senator at the Friday National Urban League conference. She dresses so much more Buffalo than New York.

– AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

The debate, a week too late

I don't want to keep apologizing in every entry for my slacking blogging. I promise come August you will have me wholeheartedly and I will comment to all of your hearts' desires on our Congressional power players' recess attire - which I am sure will be atrocious since it'll be mainly campaigning with "the people."


Now, to the post. Thanks to reader Becky for forwarding me this link. I wasn't sure what the anonymous commenter meant when he/she asked for me to comment on John Edwards' comment. And still wasn't even aware when I got an e-mail from a reporter at the Detroit Free Press asking my opinion on Hilary's jacket from the debate. That's how crazy this week leading up to recess has been! Now I know. And he was right on. "I'm not sure about that coat..." Of course he's not, who is? Why would Obama stick up for it? He has better taste than that - it must have been a political tactic. Why does she keep wearing that hideous quilted disaster? Branding herself maybe? I do think I have said my peace on this topic, just follow the thread...

My last note: This is a really lousy 100th post. It just shows, though, that I have some fantastic readers who help me out when I'm struggling to keep up and that there's national interest in my blog (which is something I only dreamt of when I started this just a couple months ago)! Thanks to everyone for sticking with me and I do promise it'll be all that much better by post 150, 200 and beyond.

The Hill 50 Most Beautiful list: The day after

I know I should have commented in some way about yesterday's release of Capitol Hill's beautiful people list, but I've been too busy planning my August recess vacation and haven't been keeping up with my blogging, sorry. So here is my rant...

And I thought you couldn't get any shallower than The Hill's Top 50 Most Beautiful People... but I was wrong. Patrick Gavin was on MSNBC talking about the list (what they couldn't get someone from newspaper that actually wrote it?). Here are some highlights of his interview:

"Politians are getting better looking. I mean you just look at the presidential debate going on now, they're not kidding when they say when a candidate looses weight they're thinking about jumping in, because looks really do matter. So there is some truth to this sort of shallow politics."

"In this town power is definitely an aphrodisiac."

"If you have a great job, a great business card, that does go a long way in this town."

"Just look at the field now. Everyone worries about Hillary Clinton's clothes, or, you know, Rudy Guilliani's balding, or Fred Thompson's weight, or Al Gore's weight or anybody's weight. And so because of TV, Internet, YouTube, it's such a fulltime job at this point. Abraham Lincoln got away with it; he couldn't get away with it nowadays." – Responding to a question about if looks matter for politicians during the elections

On another MSNBC show, Jeff Dufour comments on the same Hill hotties list - and Yea (as I like to call him, since Patrick is definitely more the Nea) is much more serious about the topic, here talking about why Nancy Pelosi made the list:

DUFOUR: Nancy Pelosi is, I think, she obviously gets points for the House Speaker and being in that prominent position. But Pelosi's become sort of a style icon in the way that first ladies I don't think have been.
MSNBC: I mean she's 67 years old...
DUFOUR: Sixty-seven years old
MSNBC: ...and she's considered a hottie!?!
DUFOUR: Yeah. Six grandkids. A lot of people have raised questions of plastic surgery with her. But she looks great. She wears Armani almost exclusively. And really spreads her wings as a fashion plate really more than a lot of other women in Washington feel comfortable doing.

– Hill photographers

Chertoff looks human for once

Not much to say about this photo taken Friday in Long Beach, Calif., just that Rep. Jane Harman looks very well-manicured and stylish in a just-right-for-summer cream suit and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff actually looks human with his unbuttoned collar and sunglasses. Nice.

– AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Hillary's dip into new neckline territory

I know I am really late on this, but I promise to be better with August recess slowing things down A LOT! Robin Givhan on Hillary's cleavage (the article's pretty interesting, I am just going to give you the intro, but if you have time, read the whole thing.) It caused quite a stir in blogs across the nation - and while I don't really think it's worth a stir (not like the jacket) - it's well written, though I think it has a slight political bias, but whatever...

There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

She was talking on the Senate floor about the burdensome cost of higher education. She was wearing a rose-colored blazer over a black top. The neckline sat low on her chest and had a subtle V-shape. The cleavage registered after only a quick glance. No scrunch-faced scrutiny was necessary. There wasn't an unseemly amount of cleavage showing, but there it was. Undeniable.

It was startling to see that small acknowledgment of sexuality and femininity peeking out of the conservative - aesthetically speaking - environment of Congress. After all, it wasn't until the early '90s that women were even allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor. It was even more surprising to note that it was coming from Clinton, someone who has been so publicly ambivalent about style, image and the burdens of both.

To read the entire article, click here...