Jenny Sanford's Clothes Send Clear Message

While Mark Sanford spews "sloppy verbiage" in the "salacious terms of a Harlequin bodice-ripper," his wife is also making a statement—with her wardrobe, Robin Givhan writes in the Washington Post. Givhan finds "something splendidly defiant" in Jenny Sanford's white shorts and flowery tops. Other betrayed political wives may use clothing like "armor," but Sanford "comes across as a woman set free. Everything about her style is breezy."

Jenny easily out-dresses her predecessors, who have tried "to look dignified and controlled in a situation that is utterly devoid of dignity.” Silda Spitzer wore a suit jacket, Elizabeth Edwards “dressed like she had stopped in on her way to a PTA meeting,” and Hillary Clinton posed for Vogue. But “Sanford dressed like a woman who did not plan to let the failures of her husband ruin a lovely summer day.”


(More Jenny Sanford stories.)