The Scarf of the Style, She Covers Much

Manolo says,one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has asked the Manolo what he thinks of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Syria, specifically her now notorious head scarf.

All the Manolo can say is, when in the Rome, one must do as the Romanians do and wear the scarf.

Indeed, it is the rule of the Manolo that when one is the visitor one should try to show sensitivity to the customs and beliefs of the hosts, especially when the personal cost is so very low.

All the Speaker Nancy did was put on the scarf. It is not as if she was showing her cultural sensitivity to Islam by helping to stone the adultress, or giving the fifty lashes of vigor to the woman driver.

It was just the scarf, the same sort of head covering worn by the Laura Bush when she visited the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, or by the Condi Rice when she visited the mosque in Tajikistan.

The Manolo has long thought that the Nancy Pelosi is one of the better dressed persons in Washington. She has the confident and the colorful personal style and dresses in the high quality, good-looking clothing that is appropriate to her position and age. In short she knows how to dress.

And, for the proof, if you look at the scarf on her head, you will notice that it is of the the very-French Hermes, the very best sort of scarf to wear if you are hobnobbing with the tyrants, as it is one of the luxury brands they will certainly recognize, and perhaps desire.

The only thing the Manolo would recommend for the future is that the Speaker Nancy should tie the scarf behind the head, instead of under the chin, and push it back slightly from the forehead so that she does not look so much like the tiny little Sicilian peasant woman out for the afternoon of grape-stomping.

The “Yes” vs. the “No” of the scarf tying.

Of the course, the real question is always, what does the important woman wear when meeting the murderous potentate?

Madeleine Albright, who tried to dress with some flair, wore the royal blue suit with the gold chain belt and the flag pin accessories when she took the famous photo with the Kim Jong-Il. You know the picture, the one in which she and Kim look as if they are attending Hell’s version of the “Enchantment Under the Sea” high school dance. (Perhaps if we go back in time and get them to kiss, we can get the hot new pick-up truck to take to the lake.)

But this points up the problem for the powerful political woman, no matter what she wears, or how good she looks, she will still undoubtedly be criticized for the company she keeps.

The Manolo is, as we all know, he who “loves the shoes.” But there is always more to be plumbed in the depths of the Manolo. Of his depths is this interview with the distinguished Prof. Dr. Boethius P. von Korncrake, The Consolation of the Shoes.