BEHIND THE BUSHES
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PATHOLOGICAL DRESS
SAM SMITH - Like serial killers, pathological politicians often reveal their true weaknesses in how they display their power. George Bush, for example, has spent his whole life pretending he was something he wasn't: a tough, brave Texas cowboy. An amazing proportion of his public time is spent in projecting this false image - in part to fool us, but also in part to fool himself.
A weak, silly little man, almost pathetic at times, he risks the lives of millions as he struts around the world playing something he will never be - an impressive leader - using childish words and gestures to accomplish in symbols what he is so incapable of producing in reality.
At a time when the whole world knows what America won't admit - that it has become a sordid parody of what it prescribes elsewhere - Bush tells nation after nation how they should behave even as that land over which he properly holds some influence collapses and decays.
And how do the assigned protectors of reality — the press — react?
Mainly by propping up the semiotic fraud by treating it as real and covering domestic and foreign policy as thought they were just some more movies. As if we do not really need peace or a good economy but only the drama surrounding our failure to achieve them.
Consider this small example: Condoleezza Rice arriving in Germany and greeting the troops in a fascistic black outfit with tall dark boots of which Hitler and Mussolini were so fond. The Washington Post's fashion fetishist, Robin Givhan - who writes like Paula Abdul dresses - took on the challenge of explaining what this was meant to mean to the world:
||| Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix." . . .Givhan is not alone in being attractive to such a style. Some years ago Ruth La Ferla wrote in the NY Times:
Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.
Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused enough for whatever task is at hand. |||| [full text shown below]
||| The brute aesthetic of fascism - a blend of classical style and modern functionalism advanced by 20th-century totalitarian regimes - is widespread these days, having muscled its way from the worlds of architecture and fashion photography onto movie screens and runways . . . A smack at convention, fashion's flirtation with fascism has, to be sure, been stripped of its darker political content. Still, the ponderous style identified with tyranny retains an allure.
"Fascism - I hate to say it, but it's sexy," said Ned Cramer, a senior editor at Architecture magazine. The style generally is attractive, he said . . . The aggressive style of totalitarianism retains a power to seduce because it "comes from a lineage of darkness," said Yeohlee Teng, a New York fashion designer . . . Brutal granite and travertine structures, the dictator's pet mode of propaganda, "are all about power," Ms. Teng said, "and power is the greatest turn-on."
Givhan's view also probably well reflects whoever provided Rice with the outfit, but for those want fewer bombs rather than taller boots, the ensemble merely offers another unintentional insight into the true character of the Bush regime.
washingtonpost.com
Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 25, 2005; Page C01
Seretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."
As Rice walked out to greet the troops, the coat blew open in a rather swashbuckling way to reveal the top of a pair of knee-high boots. The boots had a high, slender heel that is not particularly practical. But it is a popular silhouette because it tends to elongate and flatter the leg. In short, the boots are sexy.
Rice boldly eschewed the typical fare chosen by powerful American women on the world stage. She was not wearing a bland suit with a loose-fitting skirt and short boxy jacket with a pair of sensible pumps. She did not cloak her power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non-threatening aesthetic. Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame "Matrix" jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?
Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.
Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused enough for whatever task is at hand.
Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss.
But the sexual frisson in Rice's look also comes from the tension of a woman dressed in vaguely masculine attire -- that is, the long, military-inspired jacket. When the designer Yves Saint Laurent first encouraged women to wear trousers more than 30 years ago, his reasons were not simply because pants are comfortable or practical. He knew that the sight of a woman draped in the accouterments of a man is sexually provocative. A woman was embracing something forbidden.
Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.
© 2005 The Washington Post .
