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Ayanna Pressley named to New York Times list of most stylish people of 2022
The congresswoman was singled out for her championing of the CROWN Act and her advocacy for alopecia awareness.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley is being recognized for her style as the year comes to a close, being named to the New York Times’ list of the “93 Most Stylish People of 2022.”
The Massachusetts congresswoman was singled out along with celebs like Rihanna, Serena Williams, and Timothée Chalamet. (Cambridge’s Ben Affleck also made the list, with the Times noting that in his reunion with Jennifer Lopez, “he has submitted without apparent resistance to a glow-up, going from Dunkin’ to Gucci in less than a year.”)
Pressley, who first shared in 2020 her experience living with alopecia, was recognized by the publication for both her efforts to raise awareness about the autoimmune disease and her “aplomb” in showing off her bald scalp, as well as her championing of the CROWN Act, which would prohibit race-based hair discrimination.
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“The Massachusetts congresswoman, who has alopecia and has worn her bare scalp with aplomb, this year co-sponsored the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), legislation that seeks to reframe the politics around everyone’s ‘crowning glory,’” the write-up of Pressley reads.
Alopecia, which affects millions of people around the world, can emerge quickly, causing hair to fall out from the scalp in patches, and also can affect other parts of the body, like eyebrows and nose hair. It affects about 1.7 percent of Americans, but it has been found to disproportionately affect African Americans. A 2016 Boston University study found that 47.6 percent of nearly 5,600 surveyed African American women reported hair loss.
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Pressley said she first began experiencing hair loss in the fall of 2019 and initially tried to conceal it. She went public about her diagnosis in early 2020.
“I’m not here just to occupy space, I’m here to create it,” she told the Root. “And I wanna be free. I am making peace with having alopecia. I have not arrived there. I am very early in my alopecia journey. But I’m making progress every day. And that’s why I’m doing this today. It’s about self-agency, it’s about power, it’s about acceptance.”
