Dress Code?

OK…I can no longer refrain from mentioning the emperor’s state of dress.  Go ahead, call me rude…snarky or catty, or a gossip.  Usually not adjectives that most people would apply to me.

There is a paradox which has haunted me for months.

Who are some of the most independent, and intelligent women in the  world?     Right–the female news media reporters!   Strong, opinionated, educated, well-informed, knowledgeable –these are women who know what is going on in the world and can be counted on to make sure the rest of us know it to.   They are reporters, and to get where they are in their careers one can bet they know their way around the trenches, barroom brawls, and general mayhem.

So…why do the women on CNN* (blonde women, to be specific) all have the same hairdo?  A side flip,  bottom edges that curve inward to form a frame for their faces.  Let’s call it the Picture Frame Do.    To further deepen the paradox, the camera frequently zooms out to catch views of pretty legs crossed primly,   in very high heels–even though they are sitting there for hours on end.

Not only that, why are the women all wearing red?   Or was that just a holiday thing?  And cleavage…really?…which seems superfluous  when reporting on death and destruction somewhere.

They all look to me like they are having a fancy cocktail party after work, and won’t have time to change.

The dark haired anchors seem to have more lee-way in their hair-dos, except that long, dark hair is IN.  Pony tails are out…unless the anchors are standing in the rain in the midst of a riot situation, things blowing up and emergency vehicle lights flashing.   Hurricane winds apparently make hair control exempt for women standing out in them.

To be fair, the foreign correspondents and reporters all have an air about them as having just come in from a battlefield, flack-jackets testifying to their authenticity.  Those that report on Congress  and Washington are dressed for no-nonsense, although they do have a hint of battle-scenes about them.

To belabor the paradoxical issue here, it can be said that these women who report the news are tough-cookies.  They are not party-girl fashionistas, and although they are attractive and well-dressed, there is a surreal effect having them report the news while wearing party clothes and stiletto heels.

Oh, I know it is petty and trivial to worry about what women wear and how they have their hair done.   I have great respect for the women who work in the media, and although they need to look presentable and professional it is a stretch of the imagination to believe that they get together once a week and decide what color to wear, how blonde they should be, and choose a common hair style that becomes almost like a uniform.

Not to ignore the male news anchors…but they have it easier.  They just have to pick out a suit to wear, from among fifty shades of grey, and study their tie collection.   Hmmm… red stripes, polka dots, solid red? Blue?  Serious tie?  Frivolous tie?  Right…there is the choice of shirts to make, color…even style: dress shirt? polo shirt? flannel? Western?

At least the men don’t have to suffer in high heels…

• Not to pick on CNN, it’s just that it is the channel I watch the most.   Local news station anchors have started wearing the Picture Frame Do…but I haven’t done any systematic research into the matter.