Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed one of her secret weapons - a bright red lipstick.
The Millennial congresswoman who is a master of social media with over six million Instagram followers, said she wore red lipstick on the campaign trail two years ago when she first ran for Congress and won the Bronx safe seat in an upset victory over standing Democrat Joseph Crowley.
"Outside of our community nobody knew who I was ....when you're always running around, sometimes the best way you can look put together is a bold lip. And being a Latina, this is very much our culture, where we come from," she told Vogue in a video.
"I will wear red lip when I want confidence. When I need a boost of confidence."
Ocasio-Cortez being a opened up about her beauty and make up routine in a video for Vogue where she mused about self-representation, feminism and being a young woman in colour in politics.
The 30-year-old said she struggled with being constantly photographed, but says embracing her femininity and using make-up in a way that was about her own joy and self-expression was game-changing.
"Some days I choose to go in with a bare face. Other days when I want to do glam I do glam.... my body, my choice!
“The reason why I think it’s so important to share these things is that, first of all, femininity has power, and in politics there is so much criticism and nitpicking about how women and femme people present ourselves,” she explains.
Reactions were vocal, with Twitter fans chiming in to pay tribute to the power of red lippy.
“Just being a woman is quite politicised here in Washington. There’s this really false idea that if you care about makeup or if your interests are in beauty and fashion, that that’s somehow frivolous. But I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make—and we make them every morning.”
There’s this really false idea that if you care about makeup or if your interests are in beauty and fashion, that that’s somehow frivolous.
She told the audience that if wearing make-up 'gives you life' then 'do it', but was critical of the expectation of women to wear make-up in male dominated industries, while getting paid less. In the end, Ocasio-Cortez concluded beauty was an 'inside job'.
“If I had to give one piece of advice, it is that the key to beauty is the inside job—the key to beauty is feeling beautiful, and no amount of money or makeup can really compensate for loving yourself,” Ocasio-Cortez says.
After arming herself with a blazer and kissing her dog, Ocasio signs off with a power quote:
“This is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I hope you feel beautiful however you are. Let’s go seize the day and fight the power.”
