Behold the power of glamour

Oh snap, we live in such an image-heavy world nowadays that the idea of glamour needed to be explored by this Polack. So I heard about Virginia Postrel's The Power of Glamour and figured it could help educate me. ... It did!

So much advertising, and so many images of glamour, bombard the average person daily that I feel I understand the components of glamour better from Postrel's book. A major takeaway is how mystery is a necessary part of glamour, and that it involves falsification, transfiguration and transcending the everyday.

Maybe this sounds a little pretentious, but I experience elements glamour in my everyday life. Of course, I am a down-to-earth Midwestern boy who lives in L.A. and used to live in NYC. But I realize that my wife brought a mountain of glamour to my life.

With our home, we have a mid-century modern aesthetic, and Dina is prone to stylish handbags, shoes and clothes. I am thoughtful with how I look, and I think we have some things about us that embrace glamour. I guess anybody can say that, actually. Some of the biggest corporations — Starbucks and Apple, come to mind — play with glamour, and those are a part of the masses' everyday life.

So I like a glamorous life, but am not that interested in scrolling through Instagram for modern-day glamour shots or going gaga over certain cars, clothes or images that display the elements of glamour.

Why do certain people embody glamour? Why do certain landscapes have a glamorous element? I might argue that we can be dulled to analyzing glamour because it has overtaken the Interwebs.

So one thing I truly respect The Power of Glamour (2013) is that it got me to take a step back, ponder and see where there is glamour and where there isn't. A lot of glamour creates the "if only" feeling. If only I had that... If only I were there...

As a man who's been around the block a bit, I get that a lot of glamour is a visual lie. Have you ever gotten something that you so desired, only to feel like it was not worth it?

In the era of the image, it is possible that glamour, in many ways, has replaced reality. In a way, glamour has become the norm. At least that's how I assess constant picture-perfect posts on Instagram and Facebook, and it's cute to see what the everyman envisions as his own glamour.

John F. Kennedy. Jackie O. Marilyn Monroe. Obama. We've had a long run of glamour in politics, and I find it funny that we rarely consider Melanie Trump or Ivanka Trump or even Trump's branding as potential reasons to explain his election.

Y'know, in New York City, Trump Tower is next door to Tiffany and is on a stretch that includes Gucci, Coach, Van Cleef & Arpels and other high-end shops. In a world in which image "trumps" substance, he must have looked glamorous to his voters.