Lewinsky gets the vote out with modelling campaign
MONICA LEWINSKY has made her modelling debut as part of a campaign urging people to vote in the 2024 US elections.
The 50-year-old has been described as a personal hero to young women by fashion brand Reformation, which is collaborating with a non-partisan voting rights group on the adverts. It is a remarkable shift in public appeal for Ms Lewinsky, who was catapulted to fame after Bill Clinton, a former president, admitted to having an affair with her while she was working as an intern in the White House in the mid-90s.
Ms Lewinsky, now an activist, has previously said that feminists “failed” her after news of her affair with Mr Clinton engulfed the Democratic president in a sleaze scandal.
On her foray into this November’s high stakes election, she said that at 50 years old she felt like an “empowered woman” and wanted other women to “use their voice” at the polls.
“It’s pretty simple: voting is using our voice to be heard and it’s the most defining – and powerful – aspect of democracy,” she said of the campaign.
Reformation’s latest fashion campaign is in collaboration with vote.org , a non-political organisation that aims to boost turnout with information on voting registration and the guidelines for each US state. Other celebrities who have promoted the non-profit include Taylor Swift, who was credited with driving more than 35,000 registrations last year.
Ms Lewinsky was photographed in a range of outfits for the campaign in front of a city skyline. Reformation has also named a handbag after her called the “Monica” cross body bag, which retails for $448 (£353).
Lauren Cohan, Reformation’s chief creative officer, said Ms Lewinsky had gained traction with Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z women in the wake of her TED Talk on public shaming, which garnered over 21 million views online.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, this woman is incredibly funny and smart and also a Ref babe,’ and that was the bullseye.”
Ms Cohan said of the impression Ms Lewinsky has built with a younger audience.
She felt Ms Lewinsky’s public prominence would make her the perfect face of the work-wear brand’s voting campaign, called “you’ve got the power”, describing “the universal jaw drop of her name”.
After enduring what Ms Lewinsky called “global humiliation” over the Clinton affair, she saidshe was now more comfortable with herself.
She said: “I was able to accept so much about myself and my life and where I am. I’m excited about this new decade.”