Robin Givhan, Civics, Ethics
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/12201
Fall Fashion Edition
Is the fashion editor for The Washington Post. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the first such time for a fashion writer. The Pulitzer Committee explained its rationale by noting Givhan's "witty, closely observed essays that transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism."
The native of Detroit, Michigan was valedictorian at Renaissance High School in 1982, graduated from Princeton University in 1986, and holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Givhan generated an uproar on July 20, 2007, when she penned a Washington Post opinion piece that drew attention to an outfit worn by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her July 18 speech on the Senate floor. Givhan said Sen. Clinton's slightly V-shaped neckline was "unnerving" and "startling," especially for a woman "who has been so publicly ambivalent about style, image and the burdens of both." She added, "[I]t was more like catching a man with his fly unzipped. Just look away!"
In an interview on writers who cover the fashion industry, Givhan told CBS News, "There are a lot of people who sort of say that something is good or important or progressive or edgy when in fact, it's just crappy. And no one will just say it's crappy," Givhan states bluntly." She added, "I'll also say when I think something is absolutely magnificent."
In August 2009, she criticized First Lady Michelle Obama for wearing shorts while on a family vacation. "Avoiding the appearance of queenly behavior is politically wise. But it does American culture no favors if a first lady tries so hard to be average that she winds up looking common," wrote Givhan on the subject of the first lady's attire. A Judgment Call That Comes Up a Bit Short Givhan continued her criticism in the January 3, 2010 Washington Post, complaining the First Lady lacked "focus" in her advocacy.[1]
“Sex and the City”: just porn for women?
Why Fashion Keeps Tripping Over Race By Robin Givhan "They were cheering the black women, but not because they had performed dramatic runway pyrotechnics. They were cheering the women for the great accomplishment of simply being black, which, one might argue, in an industry that remains stubbornly homogeneous in many respects, is a feat worth getting excited about"
“As soon as you put five girls together as a group—African-American or Asian—it does make a statement: a political statement,” says André Leon Talley, contributing editor at Vogueand a judge on America’s Next Top Model. “We’re supposed to be living in a postracial, nonracial world. We’re just not there.”
Fashion And Race: A Shopaholic Mom Abandons Her Favorite Designer
NY Fashion Week 2011 caught my attention. Pulitzer Prize winning fashion writer Robin Givhan, one of a small group of black fashion editors, was interviewed about the continuing lack of black models in top designer fashion shows. This unfortunate trend also carries over to lucrative cosmetic contracts and other fashion advertising. It’s not hard to see that while some progress has been made, the industry is still primarily interested in white models. In a piece for New York Magazine called, “Why Fashion Keeps Tripping Over Race,” (February 16, 2011), Givhan astutely writes that when it comes to race, “the fashion community tends to play dumb or be disingenuous.”Essence Magazine reports that in March 2010, Jezebel.com released it’s annual tally of models of color walking runways and found that about 16% of the nearly 4,000 models hired at New York Fashion Week were women of color. Of that figure, only 8% were Black.
I marveled in my blog: “Black girl walking!” It was the first time in more than a decade that I recalled seeing a black model in one of Miuccia Prada’s shows.”
For me, as an African American Prada customer, this is too much to handle. I just bought my last Prada dress in December. Farewell, my beautiful Prada. It’s a good thing the Prada pieces I own will last a long, long time!
"We're turning once again to the diva of all things fashionable and stylish in this town - for that matter, around the country - Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Robin Givhan. In just a few days, she'll be joining Newsweek and The Daily Beast as a style and culture correspondent." MICHEL MARTIN
“We are thrilled that Robin Givhan is bringing her stylish pen, reportorial rigueur and keen cultural insight to Newsweek and The Daily Beast,” she said.
“We are thrilled that Robin Givhan is bringing her stylish pen, reportorial rigueur and keen cultural insight to Newsweek and The Daily Beast,” she said.
