The Twitterverse was abuzz at the undiplomatic critique leveled this week at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pantsuits-favoring fashion sense by style expert Tim Gunn.
"Why must she dress that way?" Gunn lamented, in an appearance on TBS' "Lopez Tonight" Tuesday, after host George Lopez asked for Gunn's judgment on the style of various U.S. female politicians. "I think she's confused about her gender [with] all these big, baggy menswear tailored pantsuits."
The audience gasped.
"No, I'm really serious," the "Project Runway" workroom leader continued, calling the ensembles "unflattering."
Gunn had strong praise, however, for Hillary Clinton's stewardship of U.S. foreign policy. But he argued Clinton's famous pantsuits are unflattering, and that at the very least she should lower the hemlines to cover her "cankles."
"I have great respect for her intellect and her tenacity and for what she does for our country in her governmental role," Gunn said. "I just wish she could send a stronger message about American fashion."
"Why, exactly, is that her job?" Jezebel railed at the exchange. "Apparently, it never gets old to mock Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 'cankles' and pantsuits, at least if you're Tim Gunn and George Lopez, who took the sexist trash-talking to the next level on Lopez's show last night."
But Atlantic Monthly editor James Gibney said Gunn has a point, and the whole U.S. diplomatic corps could step it up.
"Tim Gunn is right: top U.S. diplomat should dress better, and so should all U.S. dips, who are mostly lumpy Lands-Enders," Gibney defended the Project Runway host on Twitter.
Gunn, who originally hails from the famously fashion-challenged nation's capital, also weighed in on Republican politicians Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann—as well as on the Jersey Shore's Snooki.
He spoke "at length on that fact that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are actually one person," the Huffington Post wrote, calling Gunn and Lopez during their exchange "as catty as a couple of Housewives."
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