Blame our tired old stereotypes for the surprise that greeted TV viewers tuning into Michele Bachmann's election night victory party. While stylish in sleek sheaths and sweater sets throughout the campaign, the congresswoman-elect nonetheless turned heads in what she described as "a black, crepey-chiffony kind of cocktail dress" that she bought off the rack at Macy's mere hours before the polls closed.

"We literally were running through Macy's," Bachmann said, after calling ahead to have some dresses pulled. "We had 20 minutes, and I had to do a radio show at the same time, so here I am in the dressing room with [the radio host] on the phone and pulling a dress over my head."

If this isn't what you expect to hear from a female politician, perhaps it's because Bachmann doesn't fit the image of those who, sometimes rightly but mostly wrongly, consider Congress the domain of dowdy Bella Abzugs. Far from distancing herself from the topic as frivolous, Bachmann reveled in the invitation to describe a style that's determinedly feminine.

Over the past several years, her look has provided fodder for radio hosts, gossip columnists and bloggers. Some naysayers try to diminish her with descriptions such as "sexy" or "hot," while one simpatico site good-naturedly swooned over her as "Senator Eye Candy."

Doesn't bother her. Election night's foray into full-tilt glamor was ordained when she emerged from the dressing room to a "Wow," in unison, from campaign spokeswoman Connie Slama and a girlfriend. When Bachmann, in her victory speech, vowed to "hit the ground running, even in high heels," it was no empty promise.

"Since I was a little girl, I either wore my mother's high heels or aspired to wear high heels," she said a few days later by cell phone while being driven to a postelection appearance on "Almanac," a public affairs TV show. Tune in, she said, to see a good example of her style.

And, perhaps, a good example of strategy. Seated amid earnestly dressed hosts Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer, with Congressman-elect Tim Walz, Bachmann was the focal point in a black brocade-patterned blazer in the new midthigh length over black pencil pants and strappy sling-back heels. Her double strand of pearls and drop earrings were given their due with another upswept hairstyle. "I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it," she had said of the suit, revealing the practical foundation of her shopping philosophy.

Bachmann, 50, describes her style as "classic with a snap."

"I dress fairly simply," she said. "I like clean lines. I like solid colors. But I like an outfit to have a little kick." For inspiration, she looks to Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis -- and indeed, the pale pink suit and gloves she wore for President Bush's fundraising visit in August seemed a flashback to Camelot.

That choice was inspired by a girlfriend who owned "a darling pink suit" that she had bought at Herberger's. Bachmann thought it was the special outfit that the event required, "so my girlfriend went to get an identical one at the store's sidewalk sale," she said. "For $39!"

And the gloves? They were a garage sale find, Slama said.

Shopping help comes from another quarter, as well. Before Vice President Dick Cheney's visit this past summer, Bachmann's husband, Marcus, hit the stores -- "he's got a good sense of style" -- and came home with "a sleek, simple hourglass dress with a yoke collar in winter white." He even bought a matching coat and shoes. "I just slipped it on."

Her frankly feminine style is an evolution from her childhood days spent in pants and tennis shoes. "I grew up in a very male-dominated home with three brothers and a dad who was a real outdoorsman," she said. It was only while attending law school that she became more clothes-conscious. Then came the '90s, "when I was pregnant with one child or another," she said. "I wasn't particularly stylish then."

Her election to the Minnesota State Senate compelled the 5-foot-1 Bachmann to "take a little more care with how I looked."

But don't mistake her for a clotheshorse.

"I have a very lean wardrobe," she said. "I get hand-me-downs from my mother, who also does a lot of garage-saling. On occasion, I'll go to Nordstrom's Petites and get something for full price, but only if I think I'll get four or five years' wear out of it."