The Woman Behind @HillaryStreetStyle Speaks

When Hillary Clinton won her first race for public office in 2000 to become New York’s newest junior senator, she thanked her supporters in her victory speech. “Sixty-two counties, sixteen months, three debates, two opponents, and six black pantsuits later, because of you, here we are,” she said.

Throughout her career and time spent in the political spotlight — in roles from first lady to secretary of state — much has been made of her signature style. And now, as the first woman to be nominated a presidential candidate for a major party in the U.S., Clinton’s penchant for tailored blazers and trousers has continued on the campaign trail.

Yet while Clinton’s style isn’t on the same level as Michelle Obama’s or — dare I say — even former model Melania Trump’s — that doesn’t mean that her flair for the more sophisticated business look should so easily reduced to a few easy pantsuit jokes. At least, that’s the point the Instagram account @HillaryStreetStyle is trying to make.

Its founder, who spoke with Yahoo Style on condition of anonymity, explains that she first started thinking about Clinton’s style in early 2015 — and how similar it was to the kinds of looks the darlings of the fashion world wear today. But it wasn’t until the spring 2016 that she took action and brought her idea to social media.

After being struck by what she describes as “the huge difference … between the social media engagement of Bernie’s — for whom I have a real soft spot — young supporters and Hillary’s supporters” and “seeing pictures of young women in awesome #FeelTheBern outfits, I thought, ‘How has this not happened — and even more so — for Hillary?’ Like, why isn’t there a gaggle of colorfully pantsuit-ed young women holding up signs?”

Which is where the fun, side-by-side posts on @HillaryStreetStyle come in, filling the virtual gap of Clinton fan fashion.

The Instagram account’s founder said it was “kind of an experiment” when she first started. “I knew I enjoyed doing it,” she says, prompting her to think, “Let’s see if people enjoy seeing it.”

After taking a day off from work to get it launched, she worked for three days straight, planning, gathering, and compiling images, and creating an editorial schedule to celebrate the beautiful cross-section of Clinton style and celeb style.

After deciding on important things for the account — like the hashtag #pantsuitfriday — she decided that if she had picked up 100 followers in a month, she would let the project run for one more month and then reassess. Five months in, she’s now up to just under 4,000 followers, a number that grows by the day. As a result, the account is “more commitment” but has also “gotten easier. I know so many of Hillary’s looks — I see them everywhere I go.”

And yet one thing that is harder to commit to is nailing down an exact description of Clinton’s style.

“I keep changing my mind on what Hillary’s style is. And that is part of what I love about @HillaryStreetStyle — that it hopefully shows the breadth of her style. There is a lot of speculation about how we — America — don’t know Hillary as a person. But I think if you take away the politics from her fashion, you can see a lot of a person,” she says. “There are some good looks; there are some bad ones. There are changes that obviously account for changes in style, trends, her age, her body, her income. Is it that evolution of a fashion icon like Iris Apfel? No. It is the evolution of a professional woman, mother, and grandmother? Seems that way to me from the outside.”

But that isn’t to say that the mastermind behind @HillaryStreetStyle doesn’t have any favorites from the Clinton oeuvre.

“I’m generally a fan of Hillary’s shirt dresses and sweaters of the mid-early 1990s. However, this could be because I’m getting back into turtlenecks myself,” she says. “I’ve said this a million times, but I’m also a big fan of Hillary’s headbands. She was wearing them in her secretary of state days, so it is not like they are a thing of the distant past. I think it is time to bring them back.”

Another favorite? “Like everyone else, I loved her Donna Karan [cold shoulder] dress. Now with LVMH selling Donna Karan, perhaps I’m getting nostalgic.”

Ultimately, however, the account’s creator says she hopes to create “a respite for people during this election year. I hope that it makes people see her style from a difference perspective, that it makes people think, but I really hope it makes people smile and laugh … and want to wear a neon-green pantsuit tomorrow.”

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