7 Times Hillary Clinton Handled Fashion Haters Like A Boss
Hillary Clinton has only been a formally announced 2016 presidential candidate for a few days now, but attention is already turning toward her fashion choices, a scrutiny her male contemporaries are generally able to avoid (with the exception of President Barack Obama any time he wears dad jeans or that one tan suit). It's a level of examination the former Secretary of State has endured for years–along with plenty of other women, no matter their occupation–and she's handled it like a total boss time and time again. Check out these 7 times she expertly schooled her haters.
On people criticizing her "au naturale" makeup look:
"I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now. Because you know if I want to wear my glasses I'm wearing my glasses. If I want to wear my hair back I'm pulling my hair back. You know at some point it's just not something that deserves a lot of time and attention. And if others want to worry about it, I let them do the worrying for a change."
On women's appearances being judged more harshly:
"And it requires, for a woman, usually in today's world still, an extra amount of effort because I think it's–the fact that women are still sometimes judged more critically. If you are in the courtroom or you are presenting a case, it still is a fact–and this is not just in Kyrgyzstan, this is everywhere–that when a man walks into a courtroom it's rare for someone to say, 'Oh, look what he is wearing.' [laughter] But if you walk into a courtroom, or any young woman walks into a courtroom, people are going to notice. And that will be an additional requirement that you have to meet."
On calling out sexist fashion questions:
MODERATOR 1: OK. Which designers do you prefer?
HILLARY CLINTON: What designers of clothes?
MODERATOR 1: Yes.
HILLARY CLINTON: Would you ever ask a man that question? [laughter] [applause]
MODERATOR 1: Probably not. Probably not. [applause]
On how to grow a thick skin (and moisturize it):
"If a woman wants to succeed in the public arena, she needs to grow skin as thick as the hide of a rhinoceros. I have certainly, as you can tell, have had to learn how to do that, and there's a lot of good moisturizers I can tell you about if you're interested. The second thing is to learn how to take criticism seriously but not personally."
On how her hair makes headlines:
“If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.”
On making light of her signature style:
"I'm going to be pitching Andy [Cohen] on a new show for Bravo... we can call it 'Project Pantsuit.'"
On all those scrunchie haters:
"When I began this book [Hard Choices], shortly after leaving the State Department, I considered a number of titles. Helpfully, the Washington Post asked its readers to send in suggestions. [...] My favorite was 'The Scrunchie Chronicles: 112 Countries and It's Still All about My Hair.'"