Remember my post about blue-collar, post-election inspiration? Now the post-inauguration blue saga continues. Pale blue, to be precise, or is it dusty blue? Definitely a very trendy color, as I wore it intensively the whole of last year. Remember those posts, including my legendary blue lace skirt? So, here are more variations, using a new color, First Lady blue.
I don’t like to turn political in my fashion posts, yet the new FLOTUS is drawing my attention. It is Melania, and her nationality. She is Slovenian, like I am. Amazing, right? And here is my analytical approach to the complicated, ironic situation. A Slovenian woman as first lady of America?!?! Only in our dreams. Our greatest writer, Ivan Cankar, would not believe it at all; the greatest writer in the Slovene language has sometimes been compared to Kafka and Joyce.
It is the characteristics of the Slovenian nation that strike me the most. Let’s have a short course on Slovenian history first, or summarize Cankar’s most important works: the satire Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorijanski (Scandal in St. Florian Valley) and the novel Na klancu (On the Hill).
Hlapci (Serfs) was a violent parody of the liberal nationalist elite in the Slovene Lands. Na klancu (On the Hill) describes the misery of the small rural proletariat and the poor material and spiritual conditions of the common people. In the play Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorjanski (Scandal in St. Florian Valley), Cankar made fun of the moral rigidness and culturally backward mentality of the small Slovenian semi-urban society. He turned to spiritualism and idealism, maintaining as a central theme the oppressed people and their yearning for a better life.
Cankar strongly defended the national and linguistic individuality of Slovenes within a South Slavic political framework with the order to create a common Yugoslavian cultural nation. He began traveling throughout the Slovene Lands, delivering lectures and conferences, and was sentenced to one week in prison for defamation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Ironically, the Womens' March held all over America is similar to Cankar’s activism of freedom of Slovenians.
About the Jackie Kennedy style and cut of Melania’s dress… it was most expected. Nevertheless, she can pull off many styles. The outfit was classy and paid respect to the White House and America. The pale, light blue color in a way reminded us of a peaceful dream, nice, soft… in contrast to the typical, aggressive red ties Trump is usually wearing. Let’s hope for a new “blue“ era of America and Slovenia.
