July 20, 2017

"Callista Gingrich’s hair is a fabulous shout-out to a mythic Washington."

WaPo headline for a Robin Givhan essay.

Ms. Gingrich was appearing at her confirmation hearing — she's nominated for ambassador to the Vatican — and her hair was "a perfectly styled chin-length bob with a side swoosh... controlled and proper and smooth."

Yes, but what is "mythic Washington" that has anything to do with Callista's surrealistic hair?
[H]er hair is being discussed because it manages to be both utterly unique and a marker of the kind of place that Washington... once believed itself to be but certainly is no longer.... a mythic Washington: a place of order and comportment, stuffy but reliable, self-conscious, mannered, impervious. And most of all, studiously dignified.
Is it so stuffy and sober? It's got that insouciant, elongated, extra curve...
Who has done that before while saying take me seriously? If Callista Gingrich were a liberal, wouldn't Robin Givhan be enthusing about how modern and impudently playful it was?

Oh, but it's hard, it "does not move or swing a la Anna Wintour’s timeless golden bob."

It's a stiff hard prong, like a horn, for the lady who's going to represent us in the Vatican. If you wanted to say it poked at convention in a delightful new way, you could.

That side swoosh made me think of all the talk of the significance of upward curves in Seurat paintings like "Le Cirque" and "Le Chahut":

What does it mean, the upward curve? I remember reading (long ago) that Seurat thought it meant happiness and joy, but I can't confirm that. Rereading this post, I'm tempted — by the horned devil? — to make the Freudian leap and say it signifies the erect penis. And that's not inconsistent with happiness and joy. And perhaps that's why it's disconcerting — to Givhan and others — that it's so stiff and hard.

36 comments:

Scott said...

I clicked through to see all the photos.

That hairstyle is kinky. Like, dominatrix-in-high-heel-boots kind of kinky.

Laslo Spatula said...

Makes me think of this.

I am Laslo.

Ann Althouse said...

A comment at WaPo: "Jezzuz Chryst, ... that gal is white-white. I'll bet she never sees the sun.
... has got to be a Republican Stepford wifey material. God help us."

Responding to that, there's also: ""Stepford" is the word that came to my mind when I looked at the photos accompanying the article. There is something vaguely not human about Ms. Gingrich, especially in the eyes."

MayBee said...

I wonder how many people writing about "Stepford wife" know the book/movie it references. It seems old enough that perhaps it is just a term people use now.

rhhardin said...

Historical Callista was doomed to never have anybody believe her hair.

Wince said...

Next up for discussion, her "situation" down there?

rhhardin said...

It looks more like a hint of onion ring to me.

Fernandinande said...

"Le Chahut" looks like something from a cut-rate kids' picture book.

Callista wedding dresses for fat women. I wondered where that weird name came from.

rhhardin said...

Waiter, there's a hair in my soup.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Not a new hair style for her. So?

Geeez - do leftists ever just STFU? Leftists are the actual racists.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

This morning I saw a headline from WaPo something like "The fierce challenges Calisita Gingrich would face as ambassador to Vatican"

A few years ago, I'd click in that thinking it would be satire article about the "problems" a Vatican ambassador would face. But now I think it's probably just another WaPo article exercising another Two Minutes of Hate routine.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Leftists claiming non-leftists are not really human.

How Nazi.

Michael K said...

OMG!

She's white ! You'd think she was at Dunkirk or something.

Do they ever get over Trump?

dustbunny said...

I agree with the author,her hair is disconcerting but disconcerting in the way Trump's hair is. It looks cartoonish.

I was going call him "the Donald" and realized no one uses that anymore. Is that because it seems playful and affectionate? Did a memo go out to not use that term?

Callista or Callisto was a Greek nymph.

Breezy said...

Nike Swoosh

Jeff Gee said...

You know that thread the other day touching on how difficult it is to write about music? Hair is really tough, too.

dustbunny said...

I always thought it had to do with Ivana's imprecise English. It was used constantly and seemed like a joke Trump enjoyed. I think many fans called him that because it was weird and fun.

I like Laslo's reference to Italian Futurism! Lots of symbolism there.

William said...

I don't think affluent Republican women are the only people in America exploited by their plastic surgeons and hairdressers. Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi are extremely coifed and coiled but seem to attract little criticism......Also Chris Christie is not the only obese politician in America.

traditionalguy said...

She has guts. She married Gingrich and survived. And you see that in her hair done in a Honey Badger style statement that no one can make her join the modernist surrender to unisex.

mezzrow said...

*It's a stiff hard prong, like a horn, for the lady who's going to represent us in the Vatican.*
*Rereading this post, I'm tempted — by the horned devil? — to make the Freudian leap and say it signifies the erect penis.*

Or instead, because Callista Gingrich plays the French Horn? You can look it up, she does.

Horn metaphors get labored when held against the lux of the veritas. Nice effort, professor.

Christopher said...

Well there is nothing insouciant about this hairstyle; maybe you have to see it in person. But yes, it is of a particular type, upper echelon here in DC, real or wannabe.

The female as well as male versions of this are just one step away from being in one of those blister packs for like small electronics.

Not a huge fan of Givhan but overall I think she was grading on a curve.

Bill said...

Though your observation about Seurat is certainly on point, I see a more Kandinskyan exuberance to Callista's trademark swoosh.

Sebastian said...

"If Callista Gingrich were a liberal, wouldn't Robin Givhan be enthusing about how modern and impudently playful it was?" Umm, yeah. Which is why even a mild pseudo-fisk may be beside the point. Progs will say anything to deride and vilify conservative women, however inconsistent, however irrelevant, however sexist it may be. Fashion and hair commentary are entirely situational, like prog ethics and linguistics. Sure, it is still useful to measure the depth of the bullshitters' bullshit (and I do appreciate AA keeping tabs), but only on the assumption that it is all utter bullshit, from beginning to end, arbitrary in the precise means of vilification, grimly predictable otherwise.

David said...

synecdoche?.

"Synecdoche definition, a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, ..."

A word with a definition that defines nothing

nbks said...

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but the open skirts in that painting look totally like vaginas.

Earnest Prole said...

The platinum-blue bob was an attempt by a thirty-year-old woman to look like a sixty-year-old woman. It worked so well that she kept it all these years.

Kate said...

They tried hard to find something worse to write about her. If hair is all they got...

If I had that 'do and was on my way to work at the Vatican I would shop for some very interesting veils. A covered white bob can mess with people's minds.

Earnest Prole said...

If we're going to make the Freudian leap, can't we instead say her bob horn signifies a bull-tongue clit? It would seem more appropriate for a woman who, at age twenty-six, commenced a six-year affair with a twice-married man twice her age who also happened to be the House Minority Whip and soon-to-be Speaker of the House.

Sprezzatura said...

Althouse should update her picture on this blog.

Sure her's is a bit past the chin. But, it's still a doable do.

Meade just needs to complete the single stage Tour de Hair Spray Store. He should buy two cans/bottles, one may not be hard/stiff enough.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

There is something vaguely not human about Ms. Gingrich, especially in the eyes."

Like this? Mars Attacks

Callista reminds me of this

Titus said...

She's hideous and a perfect republicunt. Wasn't she having an affair with Newt while he was impeaching Clinton or was that another one?

Newt is really fat.

I bet she shaves herpussy or dyes it the same color as her head on her hair....she is definitely a major freak.

JohnAnnArbor said...

The horn can symbolize godhood, as well.

OK, that's from a long time ago. But so is the devil.

Rusty said...

This must be really important to other women.

MacMacConnell said...

Meanwhile, Hillary will never be POTUS, Moochelle still looks like a wookie and Wintour is still a dog with nice hair.

Michael K said...

"This must be really important to other women."

A lot of wealthy women keep gays around as pets. There used to be a guy in Hollywood who published a "worst Dressed" list. He was a fashion type or hair stylist or something. "Mr something." My mother-in-law knew him.

Bill said...

@ Michael K I think you're referring to Mr Blackwell.