ShareThisPALM HARBOR, Fla. - Gennifer Flowers stood in a sea of ladies who lunch. She wore a mesh shirt covered by a blazer, and her lips were slick fuchsia. She styled her own platinum hair. She balanced on platform lace booties, peep holes exposing a perfect French pedicure.
She wasn't nervous, exactly. But she was careful.
"You only get one chance at a first impression," she said. "In my experience, you make that the best it can be."
Her jewelry line, the Gennifer Flowers Collection, made its debut on a folding table here before a charity fashion show recently. She joined vendors selling tropical Christmas ornaments, handbags and crystallized college T-shirts.
Flowers reviewed every piece of jewelry, halted the website until it was, in her mind, perfect. She would be judged, she hoped, on these crystals and stones and bangles, not on that other thing.
She is 61 now. It gets easier, or at least more familiar, with time. Younger people don't remember it, and older people think of her as a novelty. But America is the land of encore acts for those who work, and if she works, maybe she can just be Gennifer.
An old man peeked around the corner and snapped a picture.
Flowers filled a tiny glass at a water fountain, sipped, and sat back from the crowd.
Two women peeked into her booth.
"Who is that?"
"She's ... Bill Clinton's ..."
"Oh."
Flowers knows she's a curiosity, forever "Gennifer" with a "G" in those angry magazine snapshots. She has no illusions about her place in history. But when the subject comes up, you can sense her fatigue.
"I don't enjoy sitting down with Joe Blow and him asking me questions," she said. "How much do you really want to talk about an ex? The thing about this particular ex and this situation is a part of history. It's not something that's ever going to go away. It could minimize, and it does. But I deal with it every day on some level."
In 1992, when Clinton was governor of Arkansas running for president, Flowers claimed they had a 12-year affair. Clinton denied it before later admitting only part of it. Vitriol came from all sides. She was called an incredible liar.
Flowers posed for Penthouse and wrote a memoir called "Passion and Betrayal." But she is custodial of her fame. She never set out to be a housewife or teacher or live a quiet life in the country, she said. She was always an entertainer, even before the book deals and tabloids.
"I had goals," she said. "When the Clinton thing happened, it changed all that. What I've managed to accomplish since, I've really had to claw and fight for. I deserve respect."
At the fashion show, her first jewelry customer was Cathy Odette. A fellow blonde. Just like Flowers, she is 61.
Odette scooped up a chunky silver collar of tiny beads joined with a freshwater pearl. It was understated, perfect for her son's upcoming wedding. She paid $95 and wrapped it around her neck.
Flowers got up to meet Odette. They posed for a photo together, and Odette leaned into Flowers. "I was always on your side," she whispered. "It's so easy for the world to twist things."
Flowers' icy eyes rimmed with tears, and she raised a manicured finger to dab them away.
In 2010, a woman named Sherry Stockwell found Flowers through a mutual friend. Stockwell and two other women wanted a star to endorse accessories. Someone who appealed to baby boomers. Someone who was glamorous.
Gennifer Flowers wore rhinestone collars with her jogging suit.
The team contacted Georgette Diaz, who owns Georgette's Boutique and Shoe Salon in Tampa, Fla. She agreed to carry the line and invited Flowers to her February fashion show to benefit the Upper Pinellas Association for Retarded Citizens.
"I really think everyone should have an opportunity to do their dream," Diaz said.
Flowers wants to be on HSN. She'd like to create cosmetics, skin care, lingerie. She envisions lines in Target and Wal-Mart. She sees herself under the glow of the stage lights like HSN queens Twiggy and Rhonda Shear and Forbes Riley.
But that will take time. People don't know her, she said.
"What they think they know is an image. I'm a very down-to-earth, nice person. I love people."
At the show, Flowers' group perched on a sound booth above the crowd. Flowers watched with great care, perhaps a yen to be up there. She studied the moves, and when the dancers hit their mark she nodded. She sang along to "Big Spender."
A few of her jewelry items made it down the runway, but the announcers forgot to acknowledge her.
"It's OK," she said. "I'm happy to be included."
On her way out, a server who had been pouring iced tea approached Flowers. Jessica Bishop is 25 now, 7 when the Clinton scandal happened.
"I have to ask you ...?" said Bishop.
Flowers stopped.
"... Where did you get your shoes? They're dazzling."
Flowers breathed, said Saks Fifth Avenue, and walked out into the light.
(Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shays(at)sptimes.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.)
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