The Hill's 50 Most Beautiful People

Age: 24
Hometown: Dover, Mass.
Political party: Republican
Relationship status: Girlfriend

Derek Khanna might have mastered his way around Washington and made it into Georgetown University Law School, but there’s one challenge he has yet to successfully tackle: coordinating his wardrobe.

It’s a problem, the professional policy staffer for the House Republican Study Committee says, that’s plagued him since he was young. 

“When I was little, in high school, I would ask my sister, ‘Does this match?’ ” he says. “And she would say, ‘Oh yeah, that matches. You’re good to go.’ And then I’d go to school and people would be like, ‘That totally doesn’t match.’ And then my sister would … make fun of me and be like, ‘Yeah, why would you wear that? That’s totally stupid.’ ”

But after completing his college degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and working in the office of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Khanna became savvier about how to pick out his duds — he relied on the interns.

“I would come in with one tie and three reserved ties because I knew it wouldn’t match. And usually the response from the interns was, ‘None of those match, but this one clashes the least,’ ” recalls Khanna with a laugh.

Besides piles of neckwear options, you’re likely to find plenty of books and movies at the film buff and avid reader’s Capitol Hill abode. When he’s not in law school classes at night, the “low maintenance” D.C. resident works out every other day.

While Khanna can likely afford some finer threads as he works his way up the congressional career ladder, money still can’t help him figure out what to wear, he admits.

“I try to buy nice things, but I don’t know what works together.”

— Judy Kurtz

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