A Vision in Blue

 

Laid out in repose at the Pope's funeral whilst resplendent in blue was President Trump, kept somewhat upright by virtue of his belt. Alongside him as she occasionally is, was First Lady Melania, we are fairly certain, in the more usual black, or as she likes to put it, "Widow Practice." 

Despite at least being some kind of dressed up, funeral observers are questioning whether he should actually be taken anywhere, but a variety of more interesting locations have been suggested. 

The Mean Girl Just Jumps Out

 

So, hat-tip to Gawker for seeing the entire outfit, which reminds me of something I might have worn in high school. This is a US Senator. This is a person who apologized to another US Senator in an airport just recently because her constituents still thought she was someone who cared. And to the person who wanted a minute of her valuable time, she said "Noli me tangere".  Clearly she's wearing the hem of her garment closer to her vest for some reason, but she's a woman of mysteries. Evidently.

This gets us back to the age old question of when is it un-feminist to ream out a woman for stuff like her clothing choices or how she chooses to assert her physical boundaries, and whether we're judging too harshly or by standards we wouldn't hold any man up to, and I'm sorry--what is the male equivalent of this outfit? Jeans and a Senor Frog polo? My question is, would a Hill staffer get away with that getup? And is she possibly dressing for the job she actually wants? (Bartender in a college town gastropub?)

Is this some form of protest over being held responsible for people thinking she should probably act and vote like the person she set herself out to be when she ran for office? Is she checking her phone for job offers that are somehow better than being a US Senator--a person with actual power to effect change if she felt so moved? 

Am I being mean? Because something about her whole deal is just exceptionally vexxing to me, and I am not liking it. 

Field Vexillology: Don King

I don't believe I ever noticed this before, but 85 year old boxing promoter Don King really loves flags. I mean he adores them. I never saw someone carrying so many different flags on so many occasions. This is a dude who loves flags.  I don't even think a whole lot about his support of Donald Trump at all. I mean, if you are riding with Trump, of course you get to hold more flags, because Trump certainly seems to hold assorted allegiances (maybe). I can't hold the man's passion for flags against him, though. Like his passion for airbrushed distressed denim--it is a bold choice, but no doubt a deeply personal and well-considered one.

How Women Can Be Seen, or Not

A little bit of a furor came about over First Lady Michelle Obama's decision not to cover her head in Saudi Arabia when meeting the new Saudi king. I don't know why.The way I see it, the decision to cover one's head is very personal. If a woman chooses to wear a hijab or a tichel, it should be her choice, based on her convictions. I would fight for a woman's right to wear what she prefers.  Michelle Obama doesn't wear a head covering in the US or in most countries. We have many pictures documenting her not wearing any kind of head covering. It would be a weird kind of deference to start just because she's in Saudi Arabia--and where do you draw the line? She dressed moderately and appropriately, and like a modern western woman. This is what she is.

I have some reservations about the custom of head covering or veiling. It can be seen as being about modesty--but in some respects I see the argument that it can be about enforcing conformity and erasing certain aspects of individuality in women in order to "disappear" them. There's this amazing picture of former First Lady Laura Bush amid such similarly-dressed women: