Posted on 07/06/2009 4:37:18 PM PDT by lewisglad
J.Crew is using Sasha and Malia Obama to market some of its spring and summer styles, in a press release sent ...
... to reporters Monday afternoon titled "The Obama Girls Bring Some American Style to Moscow."
"Malia & Sasha wore J.Crew and crewcuts as they exited Air Fore One in Moscow — stylish in their trenches, they also accessorized with ballet flat shoes," the release says.
The notice includes two photographs of Sasha and Malia deplaning Air Force One with their parents and an image of the J.Crew logo.
It also offers details about the specific items each of the Obama daughters wore on the way to Moscow and after their arrival, including the prices and style numbers for each piece.
Malia, for instance, was sporting the Silk Taffeta Trench ($298) and black satin ballet flats with contrast trim ($98), the e-mail notes. Whereas Sasha, 8, was wearing the girls’ crushed twill trench ($169.99) and girls’ minna printed ballet flats in classic navy ($108).
In the past, first lady Michelle Obama has publicly credited J.Crew a number of times for designing her duds, including the yellow sweater-set and skirt she famously wore on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” during the campaign. And the company took credit for creating the coats and gloves the first daughters wore during the Inauguration.
The press release marks one of the few times the Obama girls, whose public appearances the president and first lady keep tightly controlled, have been highlighted in a marketing campaign to sell specific products or labels.
Earlier this year, the first lady smacked down the company that makes Beanie Babies for modeling two new dolls after her daughters: Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.
"We believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes," Michelle Obama's spokeswoman said in a statement at the time, and the company pulled them from the shelves.
The first lady's office did not immediately respond to an e-mail asking if Michelle Obama had approved the marketing materials. Heather Lynch McAuliffe, the vice president of J.Crew public relations, said the White House did not approve the release before she sent it.
The first family is traveling abroad this week, as President Barack Obama meets with leaders in Russia, at the G-8 Summit in Italy and then in Ghana.
Moscow is the first stop, and according to J.Crew, Sasha and Malia Obama dressed for the occasion as follows:
Malia’s J.Crew designs: • Silk Taffeta Trench (14968, $298, Buff) • Satin Ballet Flats With Contrast Trim (16028, $98, Black)
Sasha’s crewcuts designs: • Girls’ Crushed Twill Trench (13100, $169.99, Buff) • Girls’ Minna Printed Ballet Flats (16344, $108, Classic Navy)
** They also wore J.Crew and crewcuts flats when boarding the plane stateside — Malia wore our J.Crew Margorie Satin Ballet Flats (15933, $98) and Sasha wore our Girls’ Minna Crackle-Metallic Ballet Flats (16341, $108, Metallic Gold).
found an old j crew shirt... it’s in the “going to goodwill” pile now.
Crewcuts????
J. Crew? How......white!
Never owned or wore anything from J-crew and will not, ever.
McAuliffe-—that’s a familiar name....wonder if she’s related to what’s-his-name McAuliffe?
If I need a sarcasm tag for that I'm in the wrong forum.
Never liked J Crew much to begin with.
of course the media will totally ignore this....
J Crew is privately owned I believe. A contributor to Obama’s campaign perhaps?
Seriously, anyone know what the deal is with all this J Crew adoration the Obamas seem to have...? Are they ALL somehow not being marketed here...? Are the kids suddenly no longer “young, private citizens”?
Could this be any less ridiculous and obvious?
Used to love J Crew some years back. Not any more. Same with GAP (Old Navy) after they sold “Vote Twice” buttons before the election. No more $$$ from the kids and I.
...or more ridiculous for that matter!
I’m gonna go out on a limb and speculate than the first Family’s fashion budget since taking office has met or greatly exceeded Sarah Palin’s “scandalous” 150k worth of rental outfits.
By 2012, it may well exceed the net worth of the McCain’s 7 houses...
I'm sorry - but even if those closthes on the girls were given to me free - they would not see the light of day on my girls!!
They are genuinely ugly & make the Obama girls look like old ladies.
These are the President’s children. We have heard nothing but hands off the kids of politicians re: media, fine. Now we find out these two are part of a marketing campaign—sorry, whoever made this very bad decision just put these two young ladies out for public and press commentary. The President and Camel Toe are renting out their kids to the highest bidder. Another new low in American politics.
From wikipedia:
J.Crew Group Inc. (NYSE: JCG) is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in New York, New York. Founded in 1983 by Arthur Cinader with the launch of its mail order catalog, the company expanded into brick and mortar retailing in 1989 with its first store at the South Street Seaport in New York City. The company’s corporate headquarters is located at 770 Broadway at E. 9th street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. As of May 2008, the company operates 198 retail stores and 65 outlet stores in the United States.
The company’s website, which was launched in 1996, features online-only products, as well as catalog and retail items. The company operates two distribution centers in the Southern United States, in Lynchburg, Virginia and Asheville, North Carolina. The former doubles as its U.S. call center.[citation needed] Online shipping is also offered to Canada and Japan.
In 2009, the company experienced a surge in popularity because of First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, who wore outfits from the retailer in several high-profile appearances, including an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which she mentioned the retailer.
Key people: Millard Drexler, Tracy Gardner, Kevin P. Gross, Jim Scully and Carlos Loera, Jill Hennessey-Brown
Industry: Retail
Products: Apparel, Shoes
Revenue: $953 million
Employees: 6800
Heather Lynch , Philippe McAuliffe
New York Times, The (NY) - Sunday, June 5, 2005
Heather Haugh Lynch , the daughter of Patricia and Robert Lynch Jr. of New York, was married yesterday to Philippe McAuliffe , a son of Dr. Florence Maisonrouge McAuliffe of Princeton, N.J., and Dr. Vincent J. McAuliffe , also of New York. The Rev. Gerard McCrane, a Roman Catholic priest, performed the ceremony at the First Congregational Church in Manchester, Vt., with the Rev. Donald Morris, an Episcopal priest, taking part.
Mrs. McAuliffe , 29, works in New York as the director of public relations at J. Crew, the clothing retailer. She graduated from the University of Vermont. Her father is the president of American and Foreign Enterprises, an international trade consulting company in New York. Her mother is a fashion consultant for the Carlisle Collection division of the Connaught Group in New York.
Mr. McAuliffe , 30, is a vice president for investment banking, specializing in health care companies, at J.P. Morgan Chase in New York. He graduated from Princeton and received an M.B.A. from Columbia in May. His mother teaches biology and chemistry at Montgomery High School in Skillman, N.J. His father, a specialist in infectious diseases, is a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/fashion/weddings/05lync.html
I appreciate the info, but this matters to me how, exactly?
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