Capitol Hill Fashion...

...or lack thereof.

Now, I've only taken the metro to and from work four times now, so I am not sure if the outfits I've seen since Monday are anomalies, normalities, or perhaps figments of my imagination.

I'd like to start by saying that I won't pretend to know anything about what goes on in Congressional offices or in the hallways of the Senate. I can't say that I am versed in politics or understand lobbyists. But thanks to Schoolhouse Rock, I do know how a bill becomes a law. But that's about the extent of my knowledge. Being a DC resident and announcing that I'm ignorant about politics in Washington, DC might sound ridiculous, but it really is more common than one might expect.

With that said, WHAT IS WITH THE BOWTIES?!??!! I'm sorry, but I don't think that men need to dress like Tucker Carlson to be taken seriously (not that good ol' Tucker should know what that feels like). Besides, the only people I've ever known to wear bowties and get away with it are two college professors of mine in Ann Arbor (you know the type). My history colloquium prof wore one, but he did not look good. He looked more like a 6-year-old waiting in line to take Christmas pictures at Sears than a historian trained at Harvard (something he pretty much reminded us of each week).

On my short walk to the metro on Monday morning, I saw three bowties. Three bowties in a four minute period. But the clincher for the day - and the thing that made me laugh out loud - was the man in the brown fedora and trench coat.

Maybe fedoras are considered cool on Capitol Hill and automatically make you a part of the in-crowd, I don't know (are there cliques on the Hill?). What I do know is that he looked like a reporter for the Daily Fourth Gradian.

As for the women, I'm sure that wearing suits every day gets monotonous. I am lucky enough that I don 't have to worry about that - I can even wear jeans on Friday! They answer by pairing colors that boggle the mind. Today I saw a pink bolero jacket with light blue trousers. Amazing. I wish there had been fringe, though.

Can't wait to see if they are allowed to "dress down" on Fridays!