Madam Speaker

Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi’s attire suggests that she understands that appearance matters in politics. While that might not be fair, that is part of the cost of participating. It’s right up there with eating pork chops on a stick, kissing babies and pretending to care about the Iowa butter cow.

Attire is not the sole province of women, but in comparison with men, it remains an area in which they have more choices, more flexibility and the heavier burden. The public has already settled on the defining characteristics of a powerful man. He wears a dark suit that is well tailored. He pairs it with a crisp white shirt.  If he wishes to underscore his authority, he wears French cuffs. He tries to look dignified and serious.

Pearls are a woman’s ultimate power accessory.  The South Sea strand of pearls are a woman’s unequivocal icon to conveying the message of dignity and power .    

Pelosi had to decide how a woman who will be second in line of succession to the presidency should look.  What she came up with is someone who wears a  softly tailored power suit. One that is accessorized with style rather than rote references to love of country. She looks dignified and serious. And in this case, she also happens to look quite good.

But what does a woman of great power look like? Does she choose her own version of camouflage and, as Hillary Rodham Clinton famously did during her first campaign for the Senate, wear a black pantsuit as a personal uniform? Does she wear stiffly tailored suits and a lapel festooned with patriotic brooches in the manner of former secretary of state Madeleine Albright? Or, like current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, does she mix professional reserve with a hint of confident sex appeal?  The Pearl is the accessory that universally connotes the dignity and respect that this new 21^st century woman wishes to project.

Prepare yourself for the age of Power Pearls.