Charm school for women?
The idea of I.V.P.’s curriculum is not, necessarily, to train women from developing countries in the mores of Western Europe but to expose students to the oddities and taboos of one another’s nations. In addition to learning how to clean marble, address a dowager duchess, and serve a luncheon, the students attend lectures devoted to the customs of twenty countries. In a ninety-minute class on Nigeria taught by a Cordon Bleu-trained Canadian chef turned etiquette coach, I learned that, at a formal dinner in Lagos, appropriate topics of conversation include Benin bronzes and the local film industry. The Biafran war, it was emphasized, is best avoided. In a class on Mexico, we were warned that marigolds, red roses, and silver all make for inappropriate gifts (marigolds are morbid; red roses are lusty; silver, mined locally in Mexico, would fail to impress). As Neri says, “It’s better to learn from us than from your mother-in-law.”
Lessons from the Last Swiss Finishing School
Sexist or this still appropriate?
