--- title: The Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress description: A Republican president. canonical: https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-20T22:04:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:41.231Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress og:description: A Republican president. og:url: https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress twitter:description: A Republican president. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's the Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 20, 2016 10:04 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 20, 2016 10:04 PM UTC As a campaign surrogate, Lena Dunham doesn’t hold back. During [a recent push for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4174025/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-new-hampshire/) in Iowa, the actress and writer wore her support on her sleeveless. The star of _Girls_ wore a 1960s-style shift dress with the word “Hillary” and blue stars screenprinted across it. As unusual as the dress was, its inspiration was even more unlikely: A dress made to support Republican candidate Richard Nixon’s 1968 bid for the White House. Clothing designer Kristine Karnaky, who [sells her designs under the name MissKK](http://www.misskk.com), said in an email to TIME that she was commissioned by Dunham stylist [Shirley Kurata](http://shirleykurata.com) to make the dress. “It definitely was inspired by the Richard Nixon paper dress,” she said. “Shirley is definitely inspired by the era, so the dress was made inspired by that. Also Lena looks good in the ’60s shift shape, so that was taken into consideration as well.” Yes, that’s right, paper. The original dress, as [detailed by _Smithsonian_ magazine](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/incredible-political-fashion-statements-from-past-elections-105721077/?no-ist), was made by Asheville, N.C.-based Mars as part of [a late 1960s fad for disposable clothing](http://www.ashevilleart.org/artists/mars-of-asheville/) that even [extended to a dress for fans of TIME](http://www.ashevilleart.org/gallery/gallery-piece/time-magazine-dress-4574/). **Read More:** [_Lena Dunham Brings Clinton Millennial Cred in New Hampshire_](http://time.com/4174025/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-new-hampshire/) According to the Smithsonian, the original dress label included this note, which may explain why the fad ended: “This material is fire resistant unless washed or dry cleaned, then becomes dangerously flammable when dry.” For that reason, Kurata chose a different material, opting for organic cotton and a hand-printed screen with water-based ink. The design did the trick, getting notice online even from a satirical account that tweets in the voice of Nixon. > [](https://twitter.com/dick%5Fnixon/status/689850640722456577) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/"},"headline":"Here's the Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress","datePublished":"2016-01-20T22:04:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:41.231Z","description":"A Republican president.","url":"https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","lena dunham","fashion"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4187789/hillary-clinton-lena-dunham-dress-design/","name":"Here's the Unlikely Inspiration for Lena Dunham's 'Hillary' Dress"}}]}] ```