Aah, the contradictions of being Julia and political life.
Despite her vehement protestations to the contrary late last year, the federal Opposition's deputy leader has succumbed to the sartorial surgical skills of a stylist and been tarted up for a women's magazine. Again, actually, but we'll come to that.
Surprisingly (and yet not surprisingly given the personal tone of The Australian Women's Weekly), the focus of the tell-all story is mostly on Julia Gillard's year-old romance with her boyfriend, Tim Mathieson, and features her in three flattering outfits. Hair and make-up were done by Liz Jones and, I must say, Gillard looks lovely.
All of which wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that Gillard famously blew her carrot top last year when The Daily Telegraph columnist Anita Quigley suggested she get herself a stylist, and get one fast after Gillard's questionable fashion choice on the day she was named deputy to Kevin Rudd after he usurped Kim Beazley in a leadership spill.
If she could have taken me into a back corner of parliament and had a moment with me alone, she would have. She was filthy, Quigley said.
Gillard called Quigley's comments sexist and silly and said she would neither get a stylist nor change her style.
What's that saying in politics, as in life: never say never?
Fast forward to the current edition of Australia's number-one-selling women's magazine, though, and you'll see a different, softer Gillard than her usual tough-talking, policy-driven political persona under the wan headline, When Julia met Tim .
There she is wearing a Sussan top and Jan Logan earrings on one page; a Perri Cutten jacket, top and jeans with different earrings on another; and a third look featuring yet another fetching Sussan top - this one in a crisp white - in a beachside tableau with a rowboat, rope and boyfriend for props.
For his part, Tim has three outfit changes, too, swapping from a sharp Paul Smith shirt to one by Ted Baker and a third from Country Road, all teamed with a snappy pair of Diesel jeans.
It's not a first. Gillard has subjected herself to the stylists before, posing in a smart suit for the cover of Vive magazine, looking every bit the glamorous heavy hitter.
Image is everything in politics - for men and women - and this is a very public makeover of a hardened political player. Editor Deborah Thomas said the Weekly does not do policy-oriented stories, but big personal stories and this one fits the bill perfectly.
It's feminine and soft, and paints a different picture of a 30-year political veteran (she joined the Labor Party at 15) better known as a clever politician who bested the federal Government's hard man, Tony Abbott, and for her hard and sharp political acumen.
Gillard says she is frustrated that so much time is spent on her look and image rather than the things she really cares about like climate change and education.
Talk about disingenuous. She's the one playing dress ups and doing the talking.
The story describes hers and Mathieson's easy physical affection and how they lean into each other as if pulled by a magnetic field . He coos about her, she waxes lyrical about him.
She plays coy when asked if she's in love.
Let me quote her: We're in a committed, settled relationship so, yes, so ...
she trails off with a giggle before adding, You know, it's kind of private; there's a part of your world you genuinely want to keep in the private domain.
Oh, yes, that's right. Kept in the private domain of the Weekly and its 2.
6 million readers.
And Gillard has cleverly got some potential bombshells on the table in the lead up to an election, adroitly diffusing any potential scandal closer to polling day.
How's this confession?
Like most people of my generation, I tried marijuana but it wasn't for me -- more headaches than anything else, she says. Of course it wasn't for you, Julia; after all, a doper as deputy wouldn't exactly win votes now, would it?
The 45-year-old doesn't regret her decision not to have children, saying that she is a product of the times in which she grew up.
If you were really interested in a career, as opposed to just working, that wasn't routinely seen by a girl growing up as something you could do as a mother, she says.
If she doesn't regret it, why defend it. But I digress.
There's nothing wrong with looking smart and getting styled, and there's nothing wrong with being single and child-free, if that's what you want. The thing about Gillard's magazine turn is that it smacks of rank insincerity.
Ah, yes, the election campaign has begun.
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