Ah, but wait. It's more nuanced:
To be clear, there is still plenty to be written about the first lady and her wardrobe choices....Givhan has much more to say about the deep meaning of the way Michelle Obama looks. But the peons simply must hush up.
Mrs. Obama’s lean and sculpted arms were admired, not simply from an aesthetic perspective but because they acknowledged that she was from a generation of post-Title IX women who....
For a lot of women in their 30s and beyond, who often felt estranged from the fashion industry, Mrs. Obama provided encouragement and reassurance....
But somewhere along the way, the attention lavished on the first lady’s wardrobe became indiscriminate....
[T]he flood of Joan Rivers-style verbiage about her day-to-day wardrobe has overwhelmed those nuanced conversations. Fashion is fun. But the nonstop attention to Mrs. Obama’s wardrobe isn’t fun; it’s exhausting. It’s too much. And it’s pointless....
Posts
39 comments:
Michelle Obama is the most beautiful, glamourous woman who has ever trod the Earth, and we are blessed to have her and her husband ruling over us.
The Redskins lost yesterday, which means doom for the incumbent 95% of the time.
[input placeholder=" Mike Tyson joke"/]
Perhaps my memory is rusty, but hasn't Robin Givhan been one of the most prolific writers on the subject of Michelle Obama's looks and wardrobe? Hasn't she been part of the Greek chorus regularly telling us how elegant and fashionable the First Lady is? And hasn't it always sounded a bit like the speech given for the kid with the participation medal?
Michelle Obama is a nice looking lady, albeit one whose natural expression tends to the dour. However, her fashion choices have been pretty much universally dreadful-especially early on, especially when they tried to model her wardrobe on the petite Jackie Kennedy.
I hope that if/when Romney is elected, Ann Romney will continue to buy her dresses off the rack. The fashion industry has apparently shunned her up to this point. It will be satisfying to see Ann return the favor and reject offers to provide her with dresses on loan, as they have done for Michelle Obama and previous FLOTUSi.
Scott- Or it would be a great chance for some up and coming designers to make a name for themselves.
FLOTUSi.
I think the plural would be FLOTAE.
Alumnus -> Alumna -> Alumnae.
The media was so hoping this was that great return to Camelot they've been hoping for.
The Mozarks, of course, were hailed the same way, but it was obvious they were a return to Dogpatch, if not Tobacco Road.
Barry was JFK, FDR, and Abe rolled into one, so Moochelle had to be Jackie, no matter how badly it fit. Unfortunately, Bobby lived in Kenya, there was no assemblage of gaunt, angular sisters, Willie eventually had to stand in for Teddy, Mom and Dad were a couple of plain, old Commies, and Valerie Jarrett had to replace the legions of hangers-on, so it all came to naught.
I hate people who use the word "verbiage".
Givhans wants to be able to shape Michelle's image for the people.
MadisonMan said...
FLOTUSi.
I think the plural would be FLOTAE.
Alumnus -> Alumna -> Alumnae.
Good thinking, but it assumes it's the feminine variation, which I don't think is true.
Ordinarily, it would be FLOTI (1st declension, IIRC), but, since US is an acronym, it would have to be FLOTUSeseseses.
YMMV
After all, who are WE to have opinions; us, the Lesser Unwashed?
@MadisonMan:
FLOTUS is an acronym, so I think if you're going to create a bogus plural, you have to preserve those six letters. It could be FLOTUSae or FLOTUSi. Since I didn't take Latin or Greek in college, I don't have any idea which formation is more proper.
Michelle's a semi good looker. But, like eveything else with the Obama's, the MSM's attempts to glorify them quickly reached the heights of absurdity. Barack's not athletic or masculine and Michelle's not beautiful or profoundly fashionable.
Echoing campy & sam this sin-full, gin-full, rum-soaked Philistine doesn't dare to opine on any aspect about the accouterments worn by our social, moral and intellectual bettors..
@DaDvocate/
A "semi good-looker?"
SURELY you jest..
I hate people who use the word "verbiage".
Except that when it comes to all the words written about Michelle's arms, the word is accurate. Too many words.
Just to show that I am an equal opportunity fashion critic.....the red dress that Ann Romney is wearing in Scott's link is just AWFUL.
It looks like she has been pumped up with a bicycle pump. The dress seems to be full of air, stiff like cardboard and does NOT fit her at all. It reminds me of those horrible crinolines we had to wear back in the 50's and early 60's, that made your skirt stand out and scratched like a son of bitch.
;-D
Lampshade is another term that comes to mind.
You know what I'm waiting to see? Moochelle's "fashion choice" for a going away dress when she leaves the White House. That's something I can hardly wait for. It would definitely "FLOT" my boat.
I'm more sick of hearing about Michelle's fabulously toned arms as I was about hearing about Kurt Warner being a bag boy 10 years ago. If Obama gets re-elected I'm going to be more sick of hearing about Michelle's fabulously toned arms by the end of his second term than I was of hearing about Brett Fucking Favre's non-retirement announcements.
DBQ, I remember those crinoline petticoats too! Damn, but they SCRATCHED.
No, that red dress doesn't do anything for Ann, but she looks a lot better in the other pictures - especially those jacket-and-skirt suits. She even pulled off the black-biker thing pretty well :-)
You know who's really going to miss Michelle? The UK Daily Mail. For four years they've been having fun, writing deadpan articles about what a style icon she is, and then illustrating them with photos of Michelle at her most tasteless, badly fitted, and bizarre.
But let's talk about something important. The Tampa Bay Bucs have brought back the old Raider offense: Smash the ball up the middle and then throw deep. I love the deep passing threat. I want to see more of that and less of those freakin' check downs and hot reads. More Sid Gillman, please, and less Bill Walsh.
LOL, seeing people here talk about how "sick" they are of articles about Michelle reminds me of a comment my Mother made about Jackie "O" when JFK was President: "If I see another magazine cover with Jackie wearing that silly damn pink pill-box hat I'm going to throw up!" LOLOL!!
then illustrating them with photos of Michelle at her most tasteless, badly fitted, and bizarre.
Have you ever seen hillbuzz's Who wore it better, Michelle or this couch??
Virgil, and if it wasn't Jackie, it was Liz and Dick.
Good times...not...
..on the petite Jackie Kennedy.
At 5'7" she was slender rather than petite.
Barack's not athletic or masculine...
Tsk tsk tsk...... why do you say that?
If they don't talk about the clothes, what are they going to talk about?
Well after they lose Michelle can go back to wearing her natural Klingon attire.
lemondog said...
"..on the petite Jackie Kennedy.
At 5'7" she was slender rather than petite."
My wife is 6'3". 5'7" seems frickin' tiny. But I take your point. Regardless, the Jackie Kennedy style does not translate up particularly well.
She really looks great in a short skirt with the gold sash. It really shows off her arms. Just sayn'
Time for another Givhan/Althouse diavlog? Say, post-Inaugural so the First Lady's duds can be assessed.
Bout time.
And as mentioned Robin has no one to blame but herself.
I am a more classic in gown taste when it comes to the FLOTUS look. I can think of maybe two gowns (and no day to day clothes) which were memorable. And one of those (blue one, I thinlk) there was something truly weird about how it fit around and under one arm -- in the pictures I saw it was really a lousy fit. (My mom was a professional dressmaker, so things like that bug me.)
Other than that ... meh. Really, who cares what she wears to her daughters' soccer games? (I found the belted thing repetitive and annoying.)
So there, Robin.
James Taranto woudl classify this as "bottom story of the day."
I wonder if more than four of his readers even know who Robin Givhan is. I sure didn't until today. Then again, the only fashion writer I read is Manolo Shoe Blogger.
"What! More words? (Pause) The revolt in the desert played a ..."
Sorry, different movie.
Isn't this the same woman who tried to distinguish between Ann Romney's clothes budget and that of the FLOTUS? Ah yes, nuanced as always. Nuanced must be a French word meaning its clever and insightful only when I say it.
for me, waiting for michelle's next god-awful baglady look was the only enjoyable part of the obama administration. either that woman has a hell of a sense of humor or she is just completely fashion-illiterate.
I read it.
I laughed.
Then I threw up a little.
Robin Givhan writing "the nonstop attention to Mrs. Obama’s wardrobe isn’t fun; it’s exhausting. It’s too much. And it’s pointless" is just a ripoff of Bruce Heffernan's classic complaint.
Post a Comment