The Wrong Skills at the Wrong Time

Kathleen Parker is getting pilloried on social media for this column on John Fetterman's relaxed Senate dress codes, and particularly for this passage:

As little as I have loved Republicans the past few years, coinciding with the rise of our own little autocrat, at least Donald Trump knows how to dress. I can’t imagine that even he would demean his office or his country by dressing down, as is now the “code” for senators.

"Democracy dies in darkness" indeed. 

I do have a twinge -- just a twinge -- of sympathy for Parker, however.  Sometime recently (I can't find it), I wrote a post about the misfortune when a given person's particular skills or virtues are not suited to the historical era they live through. At some times we might need the bold charge-ahead fearlessness of a martial warrior; at others, the crafty prudence of a backroom negotiator. It's unfortunate for the person who has all the virtues necessary for the former situation if it turns out they are living in an epoch where the latter is called upon, and vice versa. It's a cosmic unfairness, but not an actual one: history does not owe it to us to bend itself to our talents. But that doesn't mean we can't sympathize with the people caught on the wrong side of history's weave.

With respect to Parker, the heat she's taking -- and rightfully so -- is about the profound silliness and tone-deafness to focus on this now. The juxtaposition of a failure to maintain a certain sartorial standard against "our own little autocrat" underscores its own ridiculousness.

The thing is, perhaps there was a time when this sort of commentary would be appropriate and make sense. I don't agree with Parker on the merits anyway, but maybe if it were the 1990s there would be valid space for this sort of fashion-commentary to be a part of our political discourse. Or perhaps not. I was pretty contemptuous of the journalists salivating over taking a piece out of "earth-tone" Al Gore, and Jonathan Chait ten years ago delivered the fatal knockout punch to Sally Quinn's dewy reminiscence about the days of Georgetown Dinner Parties solving our all political crises. Maybe politics is always too serious for this sort of commentary to be anything but a juvenile distraction.

But if things aren't always too serious, well, they're too serious now. And that means that, sadly for Parker, the skills she brings to the table are just not suited for the moment we're living in. It's unfortunate for her, and again, I do feel for her a little bit. But history is not going to bend to accommodate her on this.

They Would Say It About Jews; They'd Say It About Others Too

An apparel company is on attack for selling a t-shirt with a rainbow Nazi swastika and the caption "peace". It says its goal is to reclaim the symbol as a positive one -- but that's rather belied by the shirts it's selling with captions like "Hitler did nothing wrong ever" and "We're all Hitler now." [UPDATE: Apparently the rainbow swastika shirts are made by a different designer than the "We're all Hitler now" shirts. Only the former says their project is to "reclaim" the image. To which I still say "bullshit", but, you know, context is context].

Why do I bother sharing this? Sometimes, people say that things like this would never happen to the Jews. In contrast to other groups, everyone knows the Nazis are terrible and the Holocaust was awful and Hitler is evil.

That's not true. As we see, these things most certainly do happen. Those things we think nobody would ever say when it comes to the Jews, are in fact said.

Others, perhaps reading this story, have the opposite reaction -- people would never do this about other minorities. In contrast to other groups, its acceptable to say this about the Jews -- to throw Nazism in our face, to insist that we're overreacting, to tell us we should just get over a genocide that was, what, a half-century ago by now?

And that's not true either. Things akin to this most certainly do happen to other minorities (as anyone paying attention to continued Confederate glorification can attest to). Those things we think nobody would ever say when it comes to people of color, are in fact said.

Last year, I commented on the odd mirror-image that's developed whereby (some) Jews contrast the supposedly tepid response certain institutional actors take towards alleged antisemitism to the supposedly swift condemnation that occurs in cases of racism; and (some) people of color contrast the supposedly tepid response certain institutional actors take towards alleged racism to the supposedly swift condemnation that occurs in cases of antisemitism. My observation was that both sides were right and wrong -- we see the obstacles in our own path, and are less attuned to the travails of others, and wrongfully conclude that they have it easy while we have it hard.

So my goal is simply to reiterate my call for humility and empathy. Those who are confident that Jews are uniquely protected from the slings and arrows of racist bigotry are wrong; those who are confident that Jews are uniquely vulnerable to such viciousness compared to other minority groups are also wrong. The truth is, they would say it about Jews. They'd also say it about all the others too.

Project Runway Season 10: Designer Notes

We're back with a new season of Project Runway! Can any of this season's designers compete with the awesomeness that was Anya? Nope -- let's get that out of the way right now. But still, it looks like they'll have their own charms, and with one episode down I already feel comfortable giving my assessment of all 16 to the world.

Beatrice: She's already gone, so we'll make this quick. Did I think her clothes were worse than Lantie's? No. But when you're in the bottom two in the first challenge and basically admitted you're a one-trick pony, you can't expect the judges to keep you around. She did have a dazzling smile though.

Alicia: The dreads meant that Jill and I immediately starting calling her "New McKell" (what, you don't remember the first designer eliminated from PR two seasons ago? What kind of fan are you?). So far, though, she's pretty awesome: I loved her hoodie garb (it was like Little Red Riding Hood meets Assassin's Creed), and the companion piece was pretty sweet too -- wearable, yet just off-kilter enough to feel unique. I really think she deserved Top 3, to be honest. I don't know if there are many lesbian designers (the glut of gay male designers made me think yes, but upon further reflection I have no idea), but she's pretty rockin'.

Andrea: I kind of wish she was judged this week so she and Patricia Field could have a throaty New York-accented conversation. Unfortunately, if she had been up there it would have been in the bottom three. The first dress was nice enough, if a little house-maidy, but the second one made her model look like a pregnant cupcake. I feel like I've seen that exact cut before, which makes me wonder if that style is a deliberate choice -- like we're in some bizarro fashion world where the goal is to make your model look shorter and fatter. I hope it's a fluke -- I like the saucy old folk, and she's a professor so, you know, solidarity.

Buffi: "Tacky." "The good kind of tacky?" "No, just the regular kind." Actually, both of these outfits seemed to lie just on the right side of too much. I could deal with less shiny scrunchy black on the first, and the top of the second looks like it emerged from the bottom of my dresser drawer after having been balled up for three months, but it really wasn't that bad. I'm not optimistic though.

Christopher: That gown was legitimately gorgeous. Seriously, it was probably the single best piece of the entire show. I'm a little put off by the placement of the leg slit, but that hardly mars a beautiful effort. I was so impressed by the gown, in fact, that I'm totally cool with Christopher winning even in spite of his Vegas-hooker-cocktail-waitress second look.

Dmitry: Dmitry is the one who was a ballet dancer in Belarus, but who claimed that didn't influence his style anymore, right? Because that glittery first dress looks exactly how I'd expect an eastern European ballet dancer to design a gown. The second look is okay, though the skin-baring panel in the middle reads less "ooh, sexy flash of skin" and more "someone slashed off the bottom of my top."

Elena: Both of her outfits looked like Stasi uniforms, circa 2056. Which I would have thought I'd have liked more, to be perfectly honest. I'm taking a wait and see attitude -- militaristic chic can be pretty awesome, but right now it's a bit too heavy on the Frau Farbissina side of things.

Fabio: Ombre! Pretty frickin' awesome! Becky said the line, but I'm pretty sure Victor used that exact color scheme. But I liked Victor's looks, and these were both pretty solid. Wyatt Cenac wants his beard back, though.

Gunnar: Gunnar Deathrage! Coolest name ever! I remembered him from last season, simply because the name was so sweet. So I'm thrilled he's back -- except that he appears to be this season's reincarnation of Joshua. Boo. He also is physically indistinguishable from Christopher, which will get tiresome quite quickly. Clothes-wise, both pieces were pretty good, except that the yellow base/black stripe theme makes both girls (but especially the first) look like they're going to a Halloween party as a slutty taxi cab.

Kooan: So I'm conflicted about him being in the bottom three this time around. His clothes are genuinely weird, but that's what he's going for. He is going for "Hello Kitty running from Godzilla," right? The judges seem to have preemptively decided that he's repetitive and one-note, and while technically I agree with Heidi that they can't say that off of literally one challenge, secretly (well, secret's out I guess) I think they're almost certainly right. But maybe he'll surprise us when he's tasked with making something elegant. Maybe.

Lantie: The actual worst of the worst last night. The first dress looked like a repurposed wedding gown -- which was an interesting PR challenge, but not anything that should be done voluntarily. The second piece had that fugly front panel that looked like it was glued on. And I'm not convinced she has any stylistic vision. I'm dubious she's got much longevity on this show.

Melissa: There might be a cast member named Buffi, but she's the one who looks like Sarah Michelle Geller. It's difficult to go too far wrong with an all-black palette (and I enjoyed watching her race to the only part of Mood which looks like a Brooks Brothers annex), but neither of her two looks blew me away or anything. I don't even think either were super-wearable. In any event, if she doesn't show some color, stat, she'll pretty quickly wear out her welcome.

Nathan: Nathan's story about reconnecting with his dad over Project Runway was super cute. His dresses were perfectly pretty, though a little simple -- and the knot on the green one was a little too crotch-centric for my tastes. Middle of the pack right now.

Raul: Raul's first look is pretty awesome if I can look past construction issues and the fact that there is literally no context it can be worn other than "I've just been laid off from my law firm so seducing my boss is now-or-never." The second one is a stiff, feathery mess. He also seemed to struggle badly with his time, which is always a bad sign.

Sonja: Sonja currently stands out for that ghastly shade of lipstick she had on. Her first look was very strong except for the way it opened in the middle (she might have had a skin-colored shirt under there -- I couldn't tell -- but either way it looked ridiculous). The second look was super-chic and elegant. Definite potential.

Ven: I can totally see and appreciate the superb technical skill that went into this. That being said, I have no idea where anyone could wear that flower-outfit. The second piece, on the other hand, was perfectly made and chic and wearable -- that's the one that popped for me to be honest. He's got an eye and he knows how to make clothes, and that's a powerful combination.

Project Runway Random Recap

We were down to the final six designers last night on Project Runway: All-Stars, and for some reason I want to share my thoughts. Don't know why -- it's not like this episode was particularly wild or outrageous or something (that prize goes to Rami being sent home while Austin slid through with a look that would have been dated in 1967). But whatever -- it's my blog, I do what I want.

The theme of this challenge was that designers had to be inspired by the culture and colors of a foreign country: Chile (Kenley), India (Jerrell), Seychelles (Austin), Papua New Guinea (Mila), Greece (Michael), and Jamaica (Mondo). I really liked the concept in theory, but boy oh boy was it not the designer's best work.

Mondo: Mondo sent out a long but very tight black dress. From a judging perspective, it presented an interesting conundrum: 95% of the dress was great, but didn't read "Jamaica" at all. The 5% that did (green and gold chevrons down the otherwise open back) had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and was hideous to boot. Mondo also came in for criticism for his styling and accessorizing, which I agree with -- I can see how the headband was meant to say "island" but to me it said "ninja". All these problems would have more serious had the competition been less dreadful, but that was not the situation.

Kenley: Kenley put out a short polka-dotted (surprise!) party dress with an asymmetrical flamingo trim. The good news is that I definitely saw "Chile" in it. The bad news is that I specifically saw "Chilean hooker" in it. For whatever reason, it just read skanky to me -- which is odd, because Kenley's problem is normally that her dresses seem too babyish to me, not too slutty. Still, it had some interesting elements and fit her country without being literal, which was much appreciated.

Austin: Eh. It was fine. It wasn't stellar. Austin made the mistake of picking the Seychelles because he knew nothing about it (always a bad call), and the Seychelles in particular has a flag that looks like a rainbow vomiting. That's tough to design around, and Austin really just played it safe -- a simple gown which only featured a few colors, which didn't offend the eye or anything, but hardly wowed.

Michael: "Greece frightening". "Ms. Greece 2012". This number had problems front to back (literally). The concept was decent enough if a bit obvious: a draped white gown with blue embellishments over the shoulder. The problem was that the blue embellishments look for all the world like a sash, which, coupled with the gown cut, really made it look like pageant entry. Meanwhile, the model turns to reveal a plunging back line -- so plunging, it reaches all the way down to her ass. Oops.

Jerrell: As you may be able to tell, I was hardly enamored with most of the offerings last night. But only one, er, "design" feels like it should have set off a civil rights march, and that's Jerell's. It was worse than a costume -- it was a stereotyped costume. It was a green fabric bunch over a highly embellished gold bustier dress, with a ton of accessorizing to complete that ever-stylish "Hindu barbie" look. Jerrell's problem is always editing, and this was not edited at all. Moreover, the shades of green and gold he used clashed horribly with each other, providing another layer of distraction to an already-overcomplicated look. And he kept talking about how "ethnic" India is. As opposed to? Ugh.

Mila: I actually really liked this dress. It was an asymmetrical black and red dress with gold trim (following Papua New Guinea's flag). The geometry was really cool, and the silhouette was interesting and unique. Isaac said the colors reminded him of communism. I say this is why I hate Isaac -- yes, red, black, and gold have a Communist vibe, but that's not all they say. If anything, the dress looks like a sexy play on communism (a Soviet analogue to the recent "sexy Haradi" photo-shoot in Israel). But the point is that Isaac is always completely absorbed in his own little world, and as a judge seems utterly unable to step outside of his personal aesthetic preferences. This show's enjoyability is directly proportional to the amount of time Joanna Coles spends talking and Isaac Mizrahi spends shutting up. Mila was sent home, and honestly, I would have had her win -- hers was the most unique, the most interesting profile, and did the best job of being fashionable while still representing her country.

My top: Mila (winner), Mondo, Austin.

My bottom: Michael, Kenley, Jerrell (goes home).

Star of David Keffiyeh

The NYR Lede Blog reports on an Jewish music agency's creation of a "Star of David" Keffiyeh (traditional Arab head scarf), which is raising hackles in some circles as a potential appropriation of Arab culture. However, the creator of the product retorts that the garment is as much a part of his tradition as anyone else:

My family originates from Yemen, where my ancestors had lived for close to 2,000 years. Nearly 100 years ago, my grandmother’s side of the family decided to move to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then to Israel, in 1933 (Southern Syria/Mandate Palestine at the time). On my grandfather’s side, our family emigrated to Israel in 1924. Jews indigenous to the Middle East, such as my family is, have worn some variation of the kefyah (cap/kippah) and keffiyeh (head/neck scarves) for thousands of years.

Chalk another one up for remembering the Sephardic/Mizrachi community (but what will Malkin say?)!

Via.

An Inventory

People get known for the randomest things. At the law school, I've developed a little bit of a reputation for wearing college t-shirts -- both the frequency of wearing them and the variety of schools represented (particularly given that I have little to no linkage to many of them). So I thought to myself: what exactly is my inventory of various higher-education shirts? Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to check, so this is by memory:

Carleton College (2x)
University of Virginia (2x)
University of Chicago (2x)
UC-Berkeley
UC-Santa Barbara
Columbia
Yale
Arizona State (MIA)
University of Miami (MIA)

It doesn't look like that much, but when you think about it, that's enough to get me through two school weeks wearing nothing but various university shirts. Impressive, I think.

Incidentally, I'm wearing UVA today, and wore UC-Berkeley yesterday.