Manifesto

In this time of political campaigns and manifestos we can easily become accustomed to hyperbole and absurd exaggerations, not least with regard to any female candidate who might be running for office. So what might we suppose to be the context and meaning of the following? “Daring is an art. … For women who invent their lives at every moment. Audacious, down to their contradictions and excesses.”  I can think of one candidate, anyway, to whom such terminology might appropriately be ascribed. “For women who say YES to style, beauty and mystery, to the vertiginous heights of excess and passion.” I am not quite sure about the “style” and “beauty” bit – but “mystery” certainly applies to missing e-mails and hidden servers; and the stratospheric level to which a “foundation” might rise could well cause vertigo. Well, it turns out that all this relates to: “A bouquet of jasmine punctuated by green notes and a bold trail combining wood, vanilla and tonka beans …. the signature of this new declaration of femininity”,  the description (in an in-flight duty-free catalog) of an Yves Saint Laurent “Manifesto”. The “Clin-tonka” beans say it all, especially at $78 for 50 ml.