ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702040010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NICOLE PISCOPO COX NEWS SERVICE
When the public first saw Chelsea Clinton, she was smack in the middle of that awkward stage - shy and gawky in puffy-sleeved little-girl dresses, her mouth full of braces and her body carrying some baby fat.
Most people kindly ignored the pre-teen. But not everybody.
Rush Limbaugh - in a jab that caused a collective cringe among conservatives and liberals alike - referred to then-12-year-old Chelsea as ``the White House dog.'' On a ``Saturday Night Live'' Wayne's World skit, comedian Mike Myers leveled the ultimate insult: Chelsea Clinton - not a babe.
But teens metamorphose in double time. And, oh, what a difference four years can make.
The braces are gone. The ballet training has paid off. She's now a brainy high school senior with her sights on the Ivy League. Chelsea Clinton - wearing a snug little Melrose-style suit and waving confidently to onlookers as she walked with her parents in the Jan. 20 inaugural parade - has become a White House asset.
And people are starting to notice.
The 16-year-old (she'll turn 17 this month) made People magazine's ``25 most intriguing'' list for 1996. In cyberspace, net surfers with names like Gnarly Dude discuss the first daughter's legs on Chelsea Clinton Worship Pages. She even gets a lusty ``heh-heh-heh'' in ``Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.''
And fashion-wise, most style watchers agree, the teen-ager could give some tips to her mother. She even graced the persnickety Mr. Blackwell's best-dressed list for 1996 - along with hot young celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder and Whitney Houston - as a ``fabulous fashion independent.''
``We've seen Chelsea come into her own over the past four years,'' agrees youth fashion institution Tommy Hilfiger. ``One of her greatest assets is that she does not follow trends, and she has her own sense of style.''
And with Chelsea - only recently seen very often and still rarely, if ever, heard - her emerging style is really the only glimpse into her life available to the public. Her parents fiercely guard her privacy and, by all accounts, her recent visibility is at her specific request.
Chelsea's developing style - which leans toward clean, preppie looks for day, and short-skirted, fitted suits for special events - gets accolades from those who regularly deal with the best and worst of teen-age taste.
``Her style looks totally appropriate for the kinds of functions she has to attend,'' says Lisa Lombardi, executive editor of YM magazine. ``She's the president's daughter, so she shouldn't be wearing tiny T's and little miniskirts.''
She also gets points for tasteful makeup - usually just a little mascara and lipstick - and her long, now-controlled curls (which have benefited, experts speculate, from a silicone-based taming product).
``At a time when lots of girls like to experiment, she never seems to go overboard,'' Lombardi says.
She's also praised for poise and grace - an unusual combination for a teen-ager.
``She's very put together,'' says Cynthia Bell, executive editor of 'TEEN magazine (now merged with Sassy). ``Even her body language is mature. She doesn't slouch like a lot of teen-agers.''
Yet, for all of this new-found Chelsea interest and praise, experts agree there is no real ``Chelsea look'' emerging.
``At this point, I wouldn't say she's a trendsetter,'' says Joanne Arbuckle, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and specialist in children's wear. ``From what we've seen of her, she looks like a typical teen-ager.''
'TEEN's Bell agrees.
``In a lot of ways, she's the All-American girl,'' Bell says. ``She conforms, but not in a cookie-cutter way. She leaves her hair natural. She doesn't wear gobs of makeup. She's not trying to make some huge fashion statement.
``But she's comfortable with herself, and that's really nice to see.''
To become a trendsetter, too, one must spend a bit more time in the spotlight.
And unlike a former first daughter, who was plunked down in front of the Carters' Georgia home to serve lemonade during the 1976 election, Chelsea has spent the last four years strictly off limits to reporters.
What little information does leak out appears to reveal a fairly normal teen-age life for a president's daughter: She goes to school - albeit an exclusive, private one - where she reportedly excels in math, science and history.
She danced the part of the favorite aunt in a local ballet company's production of "The Nutcracker." She watches school wrestling matches with her friends and hangs out with them at malls and Planet Hollywood - albeit always with Secret Service agents in tow.
For her 16th birthday, she reportedly took a bunch of friends to play paintball - at Camp David. And she has started to date (once again, with those Secret Service agents following close behind and the names of would-be suitors closely guarded).
Even seemingly innocuous tidbits about her life, such as the name of the designer who created her inauguration suit and gown, are not revealed by the White House staff. (``The Clintons have asked that we not discuss Chelsea in an effort to protect her privacy,'' says Hillary Clinton's press secretary, Neel Lattimore.)
Some of this seems poised to change - both by choice and necessity. She leaves the White House for college next year. She also has begun to request - always on her own terms, Clinton family friends say - more visibility in public affairs.
She was widely praised for her poise and grace during a 1995 trip with her mother to Asia and India. In 1996, she sat with her mother at her first State of the Union address. And in April, she once again traveled overseas, stopping in Bosnia, where she was cheered by thousands of U.S. troops.
She even took to the campaign trail with her father last summer, shaking hands and posing for pictures on the way to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she attended a convention party and chatted with John F. Kennedy Jr.
But the inauguration seemed, in particular, to be a coming out of sorts for the new and improved Chelsea.
Some have criticized her short, snug suit as inappropriate. (``And when I saw that those stockings were white,'' says fashion pundit Leon Hall, ``I almost went into shock.'')
Others say the teen-ager was radiant.
``If she'd worn a longer skirt, they would have called her dowdy,'' says Bell. And, others predict, the form-fitting satiny gown she wore to an inauguration ball will probably be imitated at many proms this spring.
Fashion aside, both Bell and Lombardi agree that Chelsea's greatest gift may be the confidence she can help instill in other young girls.
``The thing that gives a person style is having a lot going on in your life,'' Lombardi says. ``She's popular. She's a good student. She's a dancer. That she handled that whole awkward stage so gracefully is something that all young girls can learn from.''
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Chelsea, in a much-discussed form-fitting gown,by CNBdances with her father at an inauguration ball. 2. Confident and
stylish, Chelsea joined her parents in the inauguration parade in
Washington after her father was sworn in. color. 3. AP Chelsea was
photographed as she jogged along the beach at Hilton Head, S.C., on
New Year's Eve, 1996. The president was on the island to participate
in Renaissance Weekend, an annual event for the Clintons.