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Żona idealna


In Poland, the network television show "The Good Wife" is translated as "Żona idealna." So we've been contemplating just what it means to be an "ideal wife." It's not clear that I am there, but it is interesting to think about how Polish women manage their lives, families, homes, children, and professions. Are they striving to be "ideal wives," or just "good wives"? Do they see the difference?

In the old days I used to joke that before going to Russia I always had to go out and buy a new wardrobe. Russian women are careful with their clothes, and were even during the Soviet era, and as an American I always feel a little underdressed, a bit sloppy and shabby, not quite ready for the spotlight that seems to shine when women walk down the street in Moscow or St. Petersburg. In the States I am sometimes amused to think of the age of a pair of shoes, a dress, or a coat. In Russia I want to look fresh and new, like the women around me, and that 25-year-old winter coat loses some of its charm. 

Poland is even worse. Or better. In the capital of Warsaw, the women have great boots, great coats, shockingly sheer nylons over even more shockingly short skirts... Their makeup is perfect, their skin is gorgeous, and despite the fact that I can't figure out why some of them have chosen the hair colors they do (black? really? on a Pole?), their haircuts and colors are certainly fresher than mine.



Which is why this advertisement near my house, and its graffiti, drew my attention. "You don't have to be ideal." Since I have a now 14-year-old daughter living with me here in Poland, I am suddenly hyper-sensitive to women's magazines, fashion, and hair and skin products. Inglot, a natural cosmetics company, has a storefront on Nowy Świat, and my daughter's friend is so aware that she asked for black Inglot nail polish for her birthday (and in turn gave my daughter something from Sephora).

Ever since the University International Visitors office gave me a brochure on Poland as a spa country (facials, mud treatments, the waters, the works), I've been trying to understand the role of beauty in Poland. How much are women trying to be people, and how much do they believe that femininity and external beauty will take them where they need to go?


The future: what does it hold for Polish women? Iwicka 4 is just around the corner from us, so I suppose I could go find out.

On the other hand, on the corner of Iwicka and Chelmska, our street, a new fancy bakery has just opened up. Perhaps baked goods are really where it's at.

If I do discover anything more than yummy pastries and cakes, I'll be sure to write about it.

P.S. Photo credits to said daughter. Thanks for helping!
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