The writer Sinclair Lewis famously observed, “Travel is so broadening,” but I’ll bet he never imagined it could teach you to walk with a book on your head. On November 27 and again on December 29, the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach will reprise its successful “Charm Camp,” a one-day immersion program for teenage guests of the female persuasion modeled on finishing schools of days gone by, but smartly updated for the 21st century. Held for the first time this past June, it also attracted local girls willing to part with $175 (or rather, have their folks do so) for the chance to polish their act, Ritz-Carlton style. I, who a few years ago penned the story for Niñas Mal, a Sony Pictures hit set in a Mexican charm school, couldn’t resist the opportunity to see the real deal in action and got myself invited too.
Now before you start picturing a six-foot-two dude stomping down the grand staircase at the Ritz-Carlton with a book on his head, I can assure you I was not there to improve my stride. I may have been thinking “research for possible sequel,” but all rational thought was pushed out of my head as the girls started streaming in and the first thing I saw was… flip-flops. Holy St. Crispin, protector of shoemakers! Remember the Great Bare Toe Scandal of 2005, when the Northwestern University girls’ lacrosse team showed up for a photo-op at the White House wearing glorified beach thongs? Well, all the hoopla was for naught: Young girls were still showing up for classy events flaunting their pedicures. Emily Post would plotz.
Social Etiquette in the Age of Texting
After a couple of elegant finger sandwiches (more on that later) restored my composure, I quickly rationalized that these young ladies were, for the most part, guests at a beachfront resort, and it was 10 o’clock in the morning. They were not going to show up in stilettos. Very soon, their attentiveness, eagerness to improve, and genuine smiles started to win me over as the perfectly poised Michelle Payer, R-C’s South Florida PR honcha (herself a charm school graduate, and creator of both the country’s first hunka-hunka Tanning Butler and Charm Camp programs) and Jenni Steinmark, the South Beach property’s equally poised PR manager, led the girls through a fun but thorough program. First up: a cooking class with RC chefs (homemade hummus, anyone?), followed by proper social etiquette in the age of texting (as in, don’t – in front of friends, anyway); age-appropriate make-up tips with the in-house spa stylists; a sizzling dance lesson with the Miami Heat Dancers (more cheerleading than waltz, but hey, it’s 2010); and, of course, the art of walking with books on their heads (a good attempt by most, but I’m glad I wasn’t that poor battered book!).
The one topic notably absent from the curriculum: proper footgear for social occasions. Maybe that can be, um, shoehorned into the next Charm Camp sessions.
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