Is Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat Museum Worthy? [Hats Off]

  • Thread starter Thread starter KiRby
  • Start date Start date
K

KiRby

Guest
bilde.jpg
When President Obama was sworn in, Aretha Franklin's hat appeared to sing My Country Tis of Thee. Ms. Franklin, not a small woman, disappeared under its heft.
  • Now there is chatter that the oversized gray bowtie hat get a place at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. I'm skeptical.
    • It's not that I don't love a good hat or a good museum exhibition. But what exactly makes this hat worthy of exhibition? I admit, it is slightly Koonsian in its oversized exuberance and slightly Hirstian with the many crystals embedded in the bow. But it certainly doesn't qualify as a work of milliner mastery.

      • The other option—certainly a valid one—is that the hat belongs atop of museum mannequin for it witnessed the first African American president being sworn in atop the head of the Queen of Soul. I only partly buy that. Include Aretha's hat and what makes you think that the Smithsonian archives won't be filled with, say, Sen. Joe Lieberman's shmoe-y baseball cap, Sen. Barbara Mikulski's red felt beret or Justice Samuel Alito's silly black ear warmers? Certainly they too can place a similar claim of putting their hands on the arc of history. For that matter, perhaps the Smithsonian would be interested in the Barnes & Noble mug out of which I drank lukewarm coffee whilst watching the inauguration. There's even some historic coffee dried to the inside (I didn't do the dishes in the name of history.)
        • The point is, or rather the question is, what does one get out of seeing Aretha's hat on display? Does it bring us closer to something or is it simply a fetishization of a historical moment, an enshrouding in felt-and-crystal of a cold fleeting morning?
[IMG]http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/3TxfZga8H85MozlAHweeGYhG9uM/i[/IMG]
[IMG]http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/gawker/full?d=41[/IMG] [IMG]http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/gawker/full?d=120[/IMG] [IMG]http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/gawker/full?i=GbNmPJ3R[/IMG] [IMG]http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/gawker/full?i=jYFD6IF6[/IMG]
0EDzOVYJyDs
 
Back
Top