Dare to Wear a Poncho

This week's Carnivale of the Couture question is,

What is your fashion confession, either a long ago faux pas, or today's guilty pleasure?

Oh, that's easy. I love ponchos. I own three of them...for now. By the end of 2006, I will probably own four. Oh, I know, there are the Ponchos of Shame.

There are the Ponchos that Make the Powerful Look Ridiculous.

But there are beautiful ponchos, I swear. Not the kind we wore in the third grade, made from Fentex wool in garish colours and patterns and with the stringy things hanging off them. I have a plain, black, wool poncho, and a raspberry pink, raw silk poncho from Diane Kroe, a Toronto designer, for which I get countless compliments. All of you poncho haters out there are probably having seizures, so I'll stop, but you get the picture. I know that some of you despise ponchos to the point that you have taken a solemn anti-poncho pledge, and that the Manolo himself has said,

It is the steadfast belief of the Manolo that there are no good ponchos.

I certainly hope the Manolo and the Fausta and others will still consider me their internet friend, after reading this confession. For, to paraphrase the great hymn, I will dare to wear a poncho, I will dare to stand alone. I will dare to have a purpose firm, and dare to make it known.