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The recent spate of press coverage and blog twitters about Sarah Palin's 704 series Kazuo Kawasaki designed titanium frames brings to mind an old saying, "The clothes make the man." So, does it also follow that that "The eyewear makes the woman?" Or we could expand our theory somewhat and ask if "The eyewear makes the woman qualified?"
As Palin and her supports labor to shore up the vice-presidential candidate's credentials for the job against what some say is significant evidence to the contrary, it is curious that so much attention is given to her choice of eyewear. It is hardly surprising for the press to analyze the sartorial selections of female politicians--we are just now recovering from the intense scrutiny of Hillary Clinton's pantsuits, and who could forget Condaleezza's "boot-gate"?--yet glasses, a small though arguably functional accessory, seem insignificant by comparison. However, their relative contribution to a larger "ensemble" belies the unique and transformative power of glasses on women. They have a semiotic charge that can simultaneously de-sex (remember Dorothy Parker's famous couplet, "Men don't make passes/at girls who wear glasses") and empower. If you buy into the vernacular of popular culture, then you will easily recognize that dowdy, intelligent woman wearing glasses in the classic Hollywood film, who will (before the credits roll) let her hair down, take off her glasses and transform into a sexy vixen who finds satisfaction and fulfillment in love (read: sex). If we follow that line of logic backwards, we can return the starlet to her un-sexy, intellectually respectable identity, by sweeping her hair back up and putting on the glasses.
So perhaps the 704 series Kawasaki frames are Palin's way of dethroning her old beauty queen persona and of adding a layer of studious authority to all those close-ups. Or maybe she just doesn't like contacts. Either way, like Clinton's pantsuits they are signifiers and not qualifiers, and we would much rather know about Palin's plans for bringing health care to the uninsured than how many pairs of glasses she owns.
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Comments
I don't believe anyone ever claimed that Governor Palin was qualified on account of the fact she wears designer glasses. Your assumptions and insinuations are totally unfounded and absurd. Please stick to writing about design . . . and don't try to hide behind articles like this to promote your political agenda.
tsk tsk. This is a design site, not political. There are more Conservative designers than you could possibly imagine, though they are basically "in the closet" because of so many folks like yourself who assume everyone thinks the way you do and go to such great lengths to insult those who don't.
Why not focus on Design, the reason Core77 exists, and leave the amateurish dilletante political tripe for the View or Us Weekly?
Besides...hold Obama's resume up to hers. He's less experienced than she, and he's running for the top job. At least she's not that arrogant and will learn a lot before having a chance to ruin our country.
Once again, a political post with not much to say about design. You guys were kind enough to remove the political posting by toolgirl a few weeks back, but could you send out a memo to all your new bloggers that this is a design website? Not a place for speculating on the charade that is modern politics. I don't like Sarah Palin either, but I don't come here to see more biased political journalism.
oh gawd, we're a little sensitive today. Methinks, thou doth protest too much...
I thought the take was quite impartial. Perhaps a little lacking in design content. But it is an interesting dichotomy that so much can be made of the female attire and so little to her views and qualifications. This is an aesthetic consideration that is highly relevant to design thinking.
Geez, it's not like Margaret brought up the fact that Palin thinks humans co-existed with dinosaurs or that she believes that G.d is speaking directly too her and appointing her to protect the country from the evil devils infiltrating our schools or even that Palin wants to look through those stylish Kawasaki's as she focuses the sights of our nuclear armaments on Iran and Russia. Now those kinds of comments would just be plain fighting words worthy of your indignant comment (all true but still...)
Use of the term "arrogant" when describing Obama is racist code, as you and everyone else well knows. You might as well call him "uppity" and chastise him for having the nerve to rise above his place. And we all know the GOP line that Palin is not arrogant, and is a down-to-earth hockey mom. A Jesus-freak, gun-nut hockey mom, but a regular person none the less.
While this post may or may not belong at Core77, you can't debate the design of glasses without getting caught up in the impact they have on your perception of the person wearing the frames. Given that she is a woman, and the public and press are much more sensitive to the appearances of women vs. men, could you imagine the skewering she'd get if she were sporting some old, out-of-fashion frames?
At least she's been wearing these particular frames for a while, as far as I can tell, and they are not a recent addition in an attempt to present her as scholarly or professional. Although I would not be surprised if they were non-prescription lenses, worn merely as a prop to distance her from her beauty queen days!
The above comments make me very glad. I was about to make the same comment, sure no one else had, but very glad to see I was wrong.
This opinionated post is good, but should be on a different blog. Alternatively, if core77 really wants to get political, perhaps have a section dedicated to design in politics and move this post to that area. There are more and more design issues that participate and evolve the political sphere, and it would be refreshing to hear some real discourse on the matter, from all angles. Pushing politics on the front page, however, seems ill-suited for an authoritative design site.
Yes, you caught me, I'm obviously racist because I treat Obama like a man, and dare to criticize his flaws. Last time I checked, white, black,yellow,brown,red people can all be arrogant. And inexperienced.
It's quite racist in my opinion, to do anything but treat him as simply a man. By doing otherwise, you make Obama the single greatest success of Affirmative Action. Which is indeed veiled racism in that a minority would need our (white fat bald rich men's) help to get anywhere.
Simply treat him as Palin's equal, in which case you cannot deny his vast shortcomings of experience and extremely questionable judgement.
Seems to me that this quote seems quite overtly sexist, even by the women in my office:
"Although I would not be surprised if they were non-prescription lenses, worn merely as a prop to distance her from her beauty queen days! "
Good post. Lets get real, politics is everywhere these days and colors all aspects of our life. I think all of the candidates consider every part of their persona and design definitely plays into it from the color of backgrounds during television appearances to of course the clothes and accessories they wear.
Please cite specific examples where Obama exemplifies an air of arrogance.
If anything Palin is the most arrogant of the four, whose unfettered hubris underlines a complete absence of rationalism and logic. If you want proof of that, please watch her interview with Charles Gibson on her lackluster knowledge of the Bush Doctrine, or the Couric interview where she fails to give specific examples of her so-called "foreign policy experience."
from myron:
"Simply treat him as Palin's equal, in which case you cannot deny his vast shortcomings of experience and extremely questionable judgement."
Ignoring the point about a white man calling a black man arrogant, and the historical baggage associated with that choice of words, the statement above is absolutely astounding. If you didn't get a chance to see her interview with the hard-edged Katie Couric, here's one short outtake where Palin demonstrates her command over US foreign policy, that sums up her experience and judgement nicely.
Now, she's not running against Obama directly, so we really shouldn't be comparing the two anyway.