Pretty soon, dear wOws, we won’t have Sarah Palin to kick around any longer and then – what will we do? Well, maybe we will have the governor who will then be the veep. In that case I don’t want to miss a few fond words about this phenomenon who has so enlivened, enraged and enchanted the 2008 election, either before she goes home to Alaska or moves into the White House.

And now not my words, but the words of a fashion arbiter who has become a celebrity himself. I do mean Simon Doonan, the fashion maven of Barney’s on Madison Avenue in New York City. 

Recently our Etceterist told us all about how a well-known Washington socialite has been advising Sarah Palin on how to dress. Well, that was fascinating but now comes the man who helped make Barney’s famous – Simon, and following is a bit of what he wrote in last week’s New York Observer:

“Sarah Palin and I are opposites. We have nothing in common. Simply put: I believe in the power of style; she is a veritable anti-fashion crusader.

“While La Palin herself is a snappy, pulled-together kind of a chick – expertly applied maquillage, sculpted tight black silk shantung suit – her utterances vehemently discourage and disallow any stylish expression among the rest of us. It’s that typical beauty queen mentality: I’m the glam ruler and y’all are my earnest-but-dowdy serfs. According to the Republican candidate, we, her subjects, are a homogenous nation of ‘hockey moms and Joe Six-Packs.’  This relentlessly panache-free vision of the United States is gruesomely uninspiring, to say the least.

“In Sarah Palin’s America, there are no Diana Vreelands, hip-hop queens, Janis Joplins, Zelda Fitzgeralds, Gwen Stefanis, Edie Sedgwicks, Annie Oakleys or Babe Paleys. There is a chilling absence of stylish daring. In its place are hockey moms, masses and masses of hockey moms — all attired, one imagines, in those denim dresses, worn over turtlenecks, Uggs in winter, Crocs in summer. Holiday-themed sweaters
…

“My America, I am happy to report, is bursting with swaggering boulevardiers and fashion-lovin’ divas. My ‘Main Street’ is filled with showoffs who live to gird up their loins with a stylish garter or two.

“ … So, gosh darn it, style mavens of America, show Sarah Palin what you’re made of! Go shop! Go feed the economy! Go gussy up! And, for God’s sake, take a hockey mom with you.”