The hat was a "magnificent halo of pure white light perched atop first lady Melania Trump’s perfectly groomed head."
Nothing else mattered. There was nothing else.So, I'm seeing 3 things the hat does: 1. Showing off (yay, me, trumpets!!!), 2. Creating a religious aura (looks like a halo, like a lady in church), and 3. Keeping everyone away (force field!).
That hat, broad-brimmed with a high, blocked crown, announced the first lady’s presence as boldly and theatrically as a brigade of trumpeters. It was the bright white hat of a gladiator worn on an overcast day, a kind of glamorous public shield when sunglasses would not do at all. That hat was a force field that kept folks, the wrong folks, from getting too close.
It was a diva crown. A grand gesture of independence. A church hat. The Lord is my shepherd. Deliver us from evil. Amen.
As to #3, the first thing I think of is the kissing. I saw Macron and Trump kissing. This was the greeting ceremony. Was none of that cheek kissing to be aimed at Melania?
But Givhan emphasizes independence from Trump: "A grand gesture of independence." And she combines #2 and #3 by continuing: "A church hat. The Lord is my shepherd. Deliver us from evil. Amen."
Remember, according to Givhan, the hat says everything: "Nothing else mattered. There was nothing else."
Silent, stoic, statuesque Melania cries out to the Lord. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death — the White House, with my satanic president-husband — I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
ADDED: Of course, hats were huge in Trump's campaign. No one ever made as much headway through a hat as Trump. And when Hillary wore a hat, Rihanna wore a picture of it — Hillary + hat — on a T-shirt. And Hillary very famously wore a hat — a big blue hat (presaging a blue dress?) — at the first Bill Clinton inauguration.
ALSO: Is that first line quoted in the post title an intentional reference to Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"?
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,But Melania could not have felt at ease on the grass at that tree-planting ceremony (where Brigitte Macron grasped Trump's shovel shaft). She along with Madame Macron was wearing stilettos. In order not to sink completely into the sod and get stuck, they were both tasked to walk and stand entirely on their toes.
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
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58 comments:
Hats are mood rings.
Sometimes a hat is just a hat.
Sometimes, it keeps "folks" away.
“A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.”
-P.J. O’Rourke, Modern Manners
@Matthew
According to Freud:
"To the less comprehensible male sex-symbols belong certain reptiles and fish, notably the famous symbol of the snake. Why hats and cloaks should have been turned to the same use is certainly difficult to discover, but their symbolic meaning leaves no room for doubt. And finally the question may be raised whether possibly the substitution of some other member as a representation for the male organ may not be regarded as symbolic. I believe that one is forced to this conclusion by the context and by the female counterparts....
"I should now like to give a summary, from the point of view of the symbols rather than of the thing represented, of the field out of which the sex symbols are for the most part taken, and then to make a few remarks about the symbols which have points in common that are not understood. An obscure symbol of this type is the hat, perhaps headdress on the whole, and is usually employed as a male representation, though at times as a female. In the same way the cloak represents a man, perhaps not always the genital aspect. You are at liberty to ask, why? The cravat, which is suspended and is not worn by women, is an unmistakable male symbol. White laundry, all linen, in fact, is female. Dresses, uniforms are, as we have already seen, substitutes for nakedness, for body-formation; the shoe or slipper is a female genital. Tables and wood have already been mentioned as puzzling but undoubtedly female symbols. Ladders, ascents, steps in relation to their mounting, are certainly symbols of sexual intercourse. On closer consideration we see that they have the rhythm of walking as a common characteristic; perhaps, too, the heightening of excitement and the shortening of the breath, the higher one mounts."
Look at her grab that shaft!
J. Farmer quoted: "“A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.”
Said a man who has never been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.
Hats are covering over a lady acknowleging her owner. Hair does the same when coiffed in a style.(And then, there is wild Ann Margaret Hair, where the color is the thing).
Does anyone remember the Revolutionar War look that Kelly Ann Conway wore to the inauguration.That one still beats Melania's Cat in the Hat look.
I walk about three miles, most mornings, in the Florida sun. A baseball cap does not cut it with my Northern European style complexion. So I wear a hat that feels like an affectation when I look in the mirror, but in this climate, what is really an affectation is to NOT wear a hat.
If you look around while walking, the only people wearing hats are people who work out in the sun all day, you know, Mexicans. They wear different kinds of hats, but no sombreros, just sayin’ The other people who wear hats are Florida Crackers, but they mostly live in what passes for countryside, here. So I am thinking that the whole “Lets all of us white people not wear hats” thing, even given the blazing sun, is a way to separate themselves from the common run of men who work outside. Either that, or it’s simple low IQ.
What I am saying is that Melania's, " My hat is bigger than your hat" look was to impress everyone that her Donald was a bigger master than boy toy Emmanuel could ever become.
Not wearing shorts in this climate when dressed casually is also a bit of an affectation, and yes, I know about golf pants.
Freud gives a whole new understanding to cloak and dagher.
A pussy hat would have been a statement.
There's another possibility for the hat, even simpler to understand: the forecast for showers in the DC area.
I liked the white hat and dress. White is good. White hats are the good guys.
The real two reasons for a hat:
1. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
Religious, if you so believe.
2. Weather.
If you need to keep the sun out of your eyes or keep you warm, you can wear a baseball cap or a $1000 designer. The choice of headwear may speak of other things, just as wearing a hat for reasons other than 1 or 2 above.
Without the useless over-analysis, I thought the hat looked great.
It's good to see Brigitte Macron grabbing the shaft of an age-appropriate man.
That Freud passage reminds me of the ink blots joke where the punchline is that the patient says to the shrink, “You’re the one with all of the dirty pictures!”
I thought that I would never see
a blog as lovely as a tree.
@Tim in Vermont. Being a pale face, along with being a hat aficionado, I have purchased many hats. My favorite is the Hiker's Hat made by Tilley. Guaranteed for life.
And ... available through the Althouse portal!
Apparently, Melania being miserable is a thing on the left. I was having a couple of beers with some friends the other day, and out of nowhere they started discussing how Melania had been photographed laughing with Obama at Barbara Bush's funeral and you never saw pictures of her laughing with Trump and how horrible her life must be. I refrained from telling them that they sounded like mean girl high school freshmen and pointing out that perhaps pictures of her laughing with Trump simply weren't broadcast or printed in the media they consume.
"She along with Madame Macron was wearing stilettos."
Nothing else mattered.
"Church hat" reminds me of The Wire, when they tried to take out Omar but killed his grandma's Sunday morning crown instead. Grandma, who thought Omar worked at the cafeteria out at the airport and wasn't to know he made his living otherwise.
Probably not what Melania had in mind though. Unless she was hoping for something like the Sunday morning truce when the neighborhood ladies go to church to pray.
"Said a man who has never been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma."
Melania... Melanoma...
Never noticed that before.
By the way, don't name the baby Melanoma.
...small hands, heh.
Melania's job is looking good and dignified. She does it very well. It is a pleasant contrast to Michelle Obama's Sapphire routine. Melania had nothing to worry about with Madame Macron - she only goes for much younger men.
As to whiteness and hats required as sunshields, in the days of aristocracy the elite women showed off porceline white skin as a sign they did not work outside the Mansion House like the agricultural peasantry did.
After the Industrial Revolution, the USA started the Beach girl tan as the new rich elite women's sign that they did not work inside buildings like a factory slaves did.
There is only one rule for hats, and that is don't ever wear your hat on backwards, unless you're about to put your welding helmet on.
The blazer and skirt looked great on Mrs. Trump, but with that hat she also needed a large white horse and a silver mounted saddle.
An obscure symbol of this type is the hat, perhaps headdress on the whole...
Someone should explain to Freud that jokes based on homophones only really work when spoken: once written the difference in spelling ruins the effect.
There's a whole Language of Hats for ladies in the British royal family. The Queen always wears one so that people in the back of the crowd can pick her out.
Anyway, my theory about why Melania wore a hat is she knew she would rock it (she did) and would therefore upstage any other women at the event.
Melania... Melanoma...
Ivana... Ivanka...
I've been buying hats. On the recommendation of my dermatologist. Thinning hair, basal cell. Hats have a function.
AllenS: There is only one rule for hats, and that is don't ever wear your hat on backwards, unless you're about to put your welding helmet on.
Or your catcher's mask.
May be she was channeling Christy Brinkley in Uptown girl?
Being a pale face, along with being a hat aficionado, I have purchased many hats.
The trick is figuring out whether you like hats, or you are suffering from histrionic personality disorder. I gave my favorite hat to a hitchhiker I had to drop off in a downpour.
One of my favorite movie lines was about a get up Tom Hanks was wearing, with a bold choice for a hat, in one of my favorite movies, Joe vs the Volcano. The line was “Are you wearing that outfit, or is that outfit wearing you?”
The two things that are the most fun for white people to do with black people, in my limited experience, are to watch a movie, or go to church.
BTW, the hat I wear is almost identical to that hiker’s hat. I wear the standard baseball cap for shorter forays into the blazing heat.
Trump got a winner with Melania. He hates losers. Third time's the charm! I am sure he has a great story about that Stormy Daniels thing, but I don't want to hear it. It happened a long time ago.
WaPo lets you reflect on its Trump derangement from the first page to the last. It's funny, because they used to worship POTUS when he was BHO. And Michelle? Kill me now! There'll never be another FLOTUS as totes glam as Michelle. I guess they are respecters of persons. It is a bad look in a newspaper. Write that one up, Givhan!
I wear a hat to keep the sun from fading my ascot.
I hadn't seen a photo of the hat until I looked at the link here. From the write-up I was expecting something truly outre'. Now that I see it, my reaction is that, compared to what I see on the heads of black ladies bound for church on any given DC Sunday, Melania's chapeau is positively demure.
The WaPoo comments are amusing. They really hate him.
The photo of Henry and Nancy was interesting. They are still together.
I love hats.
I also see the evidence every day of my fair skin trying to tan for a couple of decades.
It's not pretty.
Ann Althouse said: "Melania... Melanoma...
Never noticed that before.
By the way, don't name the baby Melanoma."
Or, even worse, Melanomarosa.
My impression is what a lot of makeup she's wearing, not the hat.
SeanF, yes, I agree. I don't play baseball anymore (in fact, a long time ago), but still weld.
Maybe Mrs. Trump wore a hat because she likes hats.
I know that I do, and wear them often.
As I like to say at the end of my TechLeader.Tv show, " Tonite my wife and i are going to a restaurant where only women are allowed to wear hats."
Melania looked fabulous in the hat, no reason needed. And, I saw a photo of the two couples, shot from behind the Macrons. The men were in mid-kiss. Melania seemed to be in mid-pucker, eyes half closed. So it seems the ladies did get their ceremonial kiss too.
Mr. O'Rourke can kiss my ass; my hat keeps the sun out of my eyes, and the rain off my glasses. And there's nothing stupid about either of those.
So what does our resident fashion cop say? If you rock shorts you may as well cap it off with a hat? Or not?
She actually both gave and received the required air kisses, hat on. So much for that theory.
An affectation?? Nope. My hat keeps the sun out of my eyes and rain off of my glasses. I've been wearing hats everyday for about 47 years
Every time I see the name "Robin Givhan", it makes me think about Howard Stern's sidekick attempting to add a pretentious affect to her surname by adding a breathy "Ha" sound to it.
Sadly, Givhan does not possess Ms. Givens' good humor and generosity of spirit. She never fails to disappoint.
Melania.....Melanoma?
Wow, Annie, you are the original mean girl.
You should be ashamed. But no.
Melania.....Melanoma?
Wow, Annie, you are the original mean girl.
You should be ashamed. But no.
Melania.....Melanoma?
Wow, Annie, you are the original mean girl.
You should be ashamed. But no.
Melania.....Melanoma?
Wow, Annie, you are the original mean girl.
You should be ashamed. But no.
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