"In an upstairs room in Capitol Hill, a dozen people settled into a circle of folding chairs — sketch pads in one hand, cocktails in the other..."

"... and watched a model in cheetah print lingerie and bunny-eared kink mask spread across a stretch of red satin. Then they got to work. They came to practice life drawing, but this wasn’t a traditional class held at an arts center or university. This was Kink N' Draw, held, for this session, at a bar called As You Are. The event is part of a proliferating practice around D.C. where people can shell out a few bucks to draw live, naked models at a bar.... 'This is a space for creativity, self-expression and appreciation of the human form in a way that is respectful, open and completely judgment-free,' announced 27-year-old showrunner and Kink N’ Draw founder Dominique Landinez...."

From "Sorry, pub trivia. Nude drawing might be the hippest new event at D.C. bars/The scantily clad events popping up across the city’s nightlife scene are more wholesome than you think" (WaPo).

1. I've spent hundreds of hours in life-drawing classes, so this seems quite normal to me, "but this wasn’t a traditional class." Oh, it sounds traditional enough. So you've got a few props — lingerie, masks. 

2. There are lots of photos at the link, but absolutely no nudity on view, not even in a drawing. We don't get to see any of the drawings. Perhaps that's because the drawings are bad — and not in a kooky amusing way. But I think it's because WaPo is protecting us readers from nudity... even as it sniffs at "a traditional class" and titillates us with the mere idea of "kink" — manifested in the form of a bunny. 

3. Titillation from a bunny? That's a throwback to Hugh Hefner. But okay, that's your "hippest new event." 

4. There in the headline are those 2 words that never appear unless together: "scantily clad." Corny... and suggestive of non-nudity. 

5. I like this quote from one of the models: "I’m not a nudist because I don’t have any aspirations to hang out with other naked people. And I don’t apply a spirituality to it, like ‘People should be naked, we’re born that way,’ because I love wearing cute outfits. It’s just another cute outfit to me now." 

6. "Another cute outfit to me now" — the idea that the absence of clothes is a form of clothing is an old one I believe. I'm thinking of the phrase "birthday suit." And my previous post begins with a quote suggesting that no pants is a style of pants. And then there the famous Marilyn Monroe quote: "What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course." And Oscar de la Renta: "I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked." Even more mystifyingly, Coco Chanel said: “A woman is closest to being naked when she is well-dressed."