What is glamour? You’d think Glamour Girl would know. But fact is, until this book came along, she never really thought to define it. It was always that Justice Potter Stewart “I know it when I see it” kind of thing. But what is glamour, actually?
Is it beauty? Is it style? Is it charisma? Not really. We already have those words for those things. Glamour is something different.
Author and philosopher-of-the-people Virginia Postrel has written a book called The Power of Glamour. And what a fascinating exploration it is. Be alerted—neither the book nor the concept is what you might think. This isn’t a grab-bag of swoon-worthy images of movie stars and fashion models (though there are some of those). There are motorcycles, airport lounges, military recruitment posters, maps, marble busts, and bathroom fixtures, along with the more expected photographs of Audrey Hepburn and Jean Harlow, all accompanied by writing that is lucid, breezy, intellectual, and seductive. (Aha! GG has just succumbed to one of the elements of glamour that Postrel posits—persuasion.)
Postrel will be speaking at MICA on Monday, January 27th, in the Graduate Studio Center, 131 W. North Avenue, from 3:30 to 5. It’s sure to be a . . . er . . . glamorous event.
Oh, and you can always catch Postrel’s musings at her blog, Deep Glamour.
Hope to see you there!