Barbra Streisand said she is now "too old to care" what people think of her clothing choices.
Streisand, who turned 81 in April, opened up about her style in a new interview with The New York Times. The "Funny Girl" actress recalled once wanting to pose in a white shirt with "no pants," "just legs," she told the outlet.
"I was too afraid to be seen that way at that time," Streisand noted. "Now I’m too old to care."
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Streisand gained fame in the late 1960s. She starred in movies such as "Funny Girl," "The Way We Were," "A Star is Born" and "The Prince of Tides." Early in her career, Streisand chose to take a different approach to style.
"I guess I looked different, I dressed different," she explained. "I never just went with the style of the day. I had other images in my head. I was inspired by period films, paintings in museums and those fabulous Mucha posters of Sarah Bernhardt that I first saw when I was a teenager."
The actress recalled wearing a pinstripe suit, which featured a low-cut vest and a skirt with a seductive slit, to then-President Clinton's inaugural gala and being called out by a journalist who declared the outfit sent a "disturbing signal" and a "coy mixed message."
"I thought that writer was reading a lot into that outfit, and it said more about her than about me," she said over email. "Like I wrote in my book, ‘Why can’t women be accomplished and attractive, strong and sensitive, intelligent and sensual?’"
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For Streisand, fashion has "nothing" to do with how old someone is.
"People should express themselves and wear whatever they feel on any given day," she explained. "And that has nothing to do with age."
Streisand recently shared secrets from her past in her highly-anticipated memoir, "My Name Is Barbra."
The actress wrote about her famous film "The Way We Were" and other topics in the book, including her friendship with Marlon Brando and her relationship with James Brolin.
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The memoir was announced in February and hit the shelves in November.
"The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming," the publisher described.
"She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making ‘Yentl’; her direction of ‘The Prince of Tides’; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
