The Fashion Conservatives

Lisa A. Kline,the image consultant behind Palins controversial 150,000-plus fashion makeover during the 2008 presidential campaign,views her clients embrace of an overtly female archetype as a signal of rebellion. Women had been in the mimicking-men phase for so long. Now they are going for femininity.

But for all the ridicule that Hillary boxy pantsuits have generated over the years she seems to own one in every corner,her mannishly functional wardrobe remains the go-to choice for women on the path to power.

The majority of candidates are retreating,as they have for decades,to the relative safety of an anodyne uniform. Its chief components are a formless suit,flat or low-heeled shoes and a noncommittal hairstyle. Its a brusquely masculine image tempered occasionally by a strand of pearls and dainty,never dangly,earrings.

Women arent trying to look like Sarah Palin. They are still walking a tightrope, said Christine K. Jahnke,a media trainer who advised Clinton during her presidential campaign. You have to look approachable and like you can handle the job, she said.

Frightened,even terrified,of committing a wardrobe gaffe on national airwaves,most women adhere to a rigid,patently dated style that has all the allure of a milk carton.

The prevailing look,modelled on corporate executives,with an occasional nod to the astringent style of female news anchors,is anathema to professional style-watchers. Clinton had declined an invitation to appear in Vogue magazine for fear,her handlers said,of appearing too feminine, Editor Anna Wintour fired off a scathing editors letter.

The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously is frankly dismaying, Wintour chided. I do think Americans have moved on from the power suit mentality.

Simon Doonan,the creative director of Barneys New York,has attempted to temper such arguments with a dose of common sense. Writing in Slate,he argued that flamboyance and politics are mutually exclusive.

In matters of wardrobe there is no discernible generational divide,according to Jahnke. Women of varying ages adopt a style that is office appropriate, she said,and that by definition is conservative.

But there is a generational divide in the way these women approach their appearance. Younger women almost instinctively know they have to pay attention to how they look. Theyll say: Help me fix my hair. What makeup do I need for high-definition television? Older women tend to be less focused on appearance.

Didi Barrett,a Democratic candidate for the State Senate in New York,favors all-occasion shirt-jackets. At a recent political rally she wore a plain-Jane teal jacket and windowpane shawl. When you are courting voters, she said,you need to accommodate their expectations.

In a 2008 article,Cutting Women Out: The Medias Bias Against Female Candidates, Erika Falk,who studied eight races in the 2008 elections,concluded that coverage of how women candidates look while ignoring such observations about men candidateshas been an ongoing problem.

About 29 per cent of articles about Hillary Clinton contained a physical description, she said.

A July profile of Haley in Newsweek began by observing that the candidate wore a snug,saffron-colored suit and stilettos you could impale a small animal with.

Only last week it took a swipe at Clinton,observing that she has had more hairstyles than a beauty-school dummy.

A successful politician,Doonan wrote in Slate,must appear Prada-oblivious: Any hint of dandyism or vanity would indicate a superficial,self-indulgent character.RUTH LA FERLA