Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offers advice to newly-elected congresswoman on how to economically and sustainably afford Congress-appropriate clothing

• Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advised Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush to thrift and rent clothes, so she can affordably have a Congress-appropriate wardrobe.
• Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly spoken about her financial struggles growing up.
• She's been repeatedly criticized by conservatives for her wardrobe.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered some wardrobe advice to Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush on how to sustainably and economically afford clothes for her new job in Washington.

Bush on Tuesday wrote on Twitter: "The reality of being a regular person going to Congress is that it's really expensive to get the business clothes I need for the Hill. So I'm going thrift shopping tomorrow."

In response, Ocasio-Cortez advised Bush to thrift and rent.

—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 11, 2020

"You can also thrift and buy second hand online, which helped me get higher quality, longer-lasting things that would normally be out of budget. Good luck!" she wrote.

Conservatives have long scrutinized Ocasio-Cortez for her wardrobe. In 2018, Eddie Scarry, a conservative author, and reporter tweeted a picture taken from behind Ocasio-Cortez and criticized her clothes as being too nice. Scarry said they didn't match her working-class public persona.

Read more: Here are 30 top progressives ready to lob grenades, cause headaches and otherwise cajole the incoming Biden administration from its left flank

Ocasio-Cortez, who campaigned on her working-class background during her first bid for Congress has also been public about her financial struggles.

"If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside. If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside," she tweeted in response to Scarry's comments.

—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 29, 2020

The congresswoman was also recently criticized for wearing high-end clothes in a photoshoot with Vanity Fair. The clothes for that photoshoot were borrowed.

Ocasio-Cortez was not the only woman politician to offer advice for Bush.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib chimed in telling Bush: "Cori, I still wear some of my maternity clothes under those blazers. P.S. I get the most compliments from the clothes I got from thrift shops."

Marama Davidson, a member of Parliament in New Zealand, tweeted, "Kia ora, greetings Cori and Rashida. Coleader of the Green Party of Aotearoa NZ here, Minister of the Executive Council. We have a strong proud thrift tradition that extends to elected reps. Here I am wearing my thrift suit on election night."