The Fabulous Life of....

In the city of Washington, one thing that never fails to amaze me is the ability of countless local social rags to make life in the Capital City seem fabulously stylish. From Washingtonian to DC Style, writers and editors really scrape the sides of the bowl to put the city's best face forward. I've watched as the Washington Post style section's cover stories featured the likes of Abu Graib dominatrix Lyndi England and the Food section profiled Washington's winning sandwich chains with increasing skepticism.

Standing in line at Whole Foods on Saturday, I turned my head to catch the latest attempt at the Fabulizing of DC. The cover jump out so ferociously that I let an audible gasp escape my mouth and jumped backwards. It seems that the editors of this magazine called, appropriately, Washington Life have collected the buzz on "This Season's Balls and Galas." Epitomizing the lack of style that Paris on the Potomac is famous for is the cover photo of 5 women of various ages standing in sitting in a room that could only be described as Embassy Chic. It was as if a debutante ball had thrown up on the cover.

I stared for several minutes at the picture and shook my head. Is this really the best that the city can muster? Five homely women in extremely bad dresses? As I pondered the question, I realized that at the very least, this magazine had captured what I have thought for a long time. This wasn't about style, it wasn't being fabulous, it wasn't even about living in the 703 and pretending you fit into the category of Washingtonian. This was about life. And when it came to summing up life in the Capital, Washington life had hit the nail on the head.