Free Republic

Complete title: Well what else would one wear on a $4m break? From $2,000 dress to $1,000 skirt, Michelle Obama's lavish Hawaii wardrobe revealed Michelle Obama successfully managed to rile U.S. taxpayers with her lavish $4m family jaunt to Hawaii this Christmas. But it seems her expensive taste has not stopped there, as her vacation wardrobe has proved to be equally lavish. Though the First Lady has only been spotted on a couple of occasions since arriving in Kailua, Oahu, some sartorial analysis of her fashion choices has revealed that her outfits have been consistently high-end. A classic example, as...

While greeting a Latino audience to support her husband’s speech about opportunities for Hispanics, Michelle Obama decided an exotic gown was in order. As President Barack Obama spoke at the black-tie event, the First Lady looked stunning in the strapless raw-silk dress by U.S. designer Chris Benz. She appeared to be inspired by an Amazonian peacock as she sashayed into the Washington Convention Center with matching emerald hued earrings and classic black heels. And Mrs Obama seemed delighted with the President’s pledge to put more money in the pockets of Latino workers by the look of her ear-to-ear grin on...

An immigration officer returned home to find gipsies had moved in, ransacked the place and dressed in her clothes. Julia High was even offered a glass of her own wine by the Romanian squatters. They claimed they had rented the property from her ‘son’ because she had died, and produced a set of fake documents. Miss High, 55, has no son.

Police cars have been set on fire during a demonstration outside a police station in north London, according to witnesses. Tottenham resident, Maria Robinson, says the disturbance is linked to the fatal shooting of a man during a Scotland Yard operation on Thursday. Dozens of protesters have been gathering on the High Road in Tottenham.

Petrol bombs were thrown, shops looted and eight officers injured during violent riots in Tottenham following a protest over the fatal shooting of a man by police. A crowd of around 300 set fire to buildings, bins and vehicles, while missiles and petrol bombs were thrown in Tottenham High Road on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Eight police officers were taken to hospital and at least one suffered head injuries. By the early hours of Sunday, many protesters had moved to nearby Tottenham Hale retail park, where some were spotted looting PC World and JJB Sports. Sky's Simon Newton,...

Women of a liberated generation wrestle with their eager-to-grow-up daughters—and their own pasts ...In a few years, their attention will turn to the annual ritual of shopping for a prom dress, and by then their fashion tastes will have advanced still more. Having done this now for two years with my own daughter, I continue to be amazed by the plunging necklines, built-in push-up bras, spangles, feathers, slits and peek-a-boos. And try finding a pair of sufficiently "prommish" shoes designed with less than a 2-inch heel... A woman I know, with two mature daughters, said, "If I could do it...

Baby Boomers are having a hard time. Not just with the economy, or the health issues that crop up in your 50s and 60s, or even getting caught between taking care of our aging parents and unemployed kids. No, I’m talking about the fact that many Boomers, of which I am one, do not want to grow up. Those of us born in the Baby Boomer period, between 1946 and 1964, range in age from 47 to 65. We are either on the young side of old, or we’re just a hop, skip and hopefully not a fall into 70....

Jeff Larson, a Minnesota Republican operative, is expected to become the new RNC Chief of Staff. But as Yahoo!’s Holly Bailey reported, back in the fall of 2008, Larson gained another sort of notoriety: He provided his credit card for Sarah Palin’s infamous $150,000 clothing makeover. As you may recall, this became a pretty big — if superficial — scandal back in 2008.As Newsweek reported, The disclosure that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and accessories for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family set off recriminations among GOP officials—and, more important, party donors. It...

A new University of Florida study following the evolution of lice shows modern humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago, a technology which enabled them to successfully migrate out of Africa. Principal investigator David Reed, associate curator of mammals at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, studies lice in modern humans to better understand human evolution and migration patterns. His latest five-year study used DNA sequencing to calculate when clothing lice first began to diverge genetically from human head lice. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study is available online and appears in this...

Kohls sells clothing to fit an 18" doll, along with a matching outfit for the girl to wear. Nightgowns seem to be the most popular of these. Only, it seems someone forgot to set the dye! Perspiration from little hands causes the dye to bleed, where it then stains everything those little hands touch. (I work for a doll company, and we've been getting a lot of calls from people whose brand-new dolls are now ruined. Not to mention their sofa, carpet, wallpaper, etc, etc) Further details as they become available.

LOS ANGELES -- Travel experts say the more thorough security pat-downs at airports underscore the need for better fashion choices that can help people breeze through screenings with their dignity intact. --snip-- Experts suggest avoiding clothes loaded with metal studs and bras with underwires. Slacks instead of skirts are preferred. Any baggy clothing can require extra scrutiny.

"He's been asking me for weeks to get him a Nintendo DSi for Christmas," Alicia explained. Her son, Alex, is only nine. Christmas is well over a month away but he's been relentlessly pressing for the "must-have" electronic toy that his classmates already own. Money is tight for Alicia's family these days, and the handheld device starts at 149.99. Games are extra, at $35 a pop. Alicia doesn't indulge in expensive clothes, trendy bags, or "must have" purchases-at least for herself. But when it comes to her son, mom-guilt too easily clouds her perspective. And retailers and advertising gurus wouldn't...

You must first decide for whom you are dressing. If it is for other women, I have few rules to offer and no advice to give. I will not pretend to understand the infinite gradations of behavior and microscopically subtle signaling women use to communicate with each other. I’ll give one example of such signaling. A female asked me to read over an email that she was going to send to another female. The subject was of political importance. I began to read the email aloud. “Sally…,” I said, for this was the opening, but I was stopped immediately by...

MARK SERRANO says he spends 98 percent of his money on sneakers and the rest on food. He looks it. Thin as a skeleton, he sports spotless black Nikes — one of more than 200 pairs he owns. But collecting every new shoe he likes can pose a problem: how to make the rest of his outfit live up to his footwear, especially given new sneaker styles with hard-to-match metallic finishes in offbeat colors like cranberry and copper. Problem solved. For a growing number of sneaker fanatics, Da Bakery, a Bronx store specializing in graffiti-inspired clothing, cranks out custom-designed T-shirts,...

Fashion and politics are seasonal and unpredictable, yet the two came together quite well here for the hometown designer Maria Pinto and Michelle Obama, whose first memorable bursts onto the national scene were often in Pinto creations. ......................................................... So when Ms. Pinto abruptly put up a “closeout sale” sign in the window of her West Loop boutique and announced that she was folding her fashion business, Chicago — and Pinto devotees all over — reacted with disbelief: What in sartorial heaven happened? “I pushed as far as I could,” Ms. Pinto, 53, said in her first lengthy interview since the...

CHICAGO: US first lady Michelle Obama's favourite city-based designer Maria Pinto is going out of business as sales have waned in a bad economy. Pinto, whose clientele also includes talk show host Oprah Winfrey, is closing her store Lola Black LLC. In a five-day sale starting here next week, her collection of daywear, eveningwear and accessories would be liquidated at 50-70 per cent off. Her designs were carried by major stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys and Takashimaya in New York, as well as high-end boutiques across the country, reported Chicago Tribune. But the designer hit a rough...

First Lady Michelle Obama came to Washington a year ago with an agenda: settle her family into a new life in the White House, focus attention on the challenges of the work- and family-life balance and reach out to military families. Mission accomplished. But it's her wardrobe choices that seem at times to draw the most attention and media coverage. From belted cardigans to sleeveless sheath dresses and bold-statement jewelry, Obama's style has been celebrated for its innovation and reflecting her age, 46, and her role as a working mother; functional yet fashionable, classic yet affordable. The first lady's style...

A fun trip to watch fireworks ended with violence for several spectators, and police said the teen who assaulted at least four people are still at large. Akron police said the victims believe they were punched, kicked and stomped by a gang for no reason. Marty Marshall and his family had just left Firestone Park after watching fireworks on June 27 and they went to a friend's house on Girard Street. That's when, according to Marshall, 30 to 50 kids between the ages of 9 and 18 turned violent out of the blue. Marshall tried to help a friend who...

The current issue of Men's Health has a one-page article about 0bama's clothes. I may be wrong but I never recalled Men's Health having an article on Bush's fashion (which is essentilly no different - in fact, I believe the ties in the jumbos are the same). I promissed myself I wasn't going to buy the magazine anymore, but when you spend a lot of time in Airports, and they are somewhat interesting. It's not like I can bring a Playboy on board and read the articles. Rummy and Cheney had great fashion sense. Rummy was always dressed to the...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 12, 2008 – A need for a pair of shoes provided the catalyst for a donation that benefited an entire Afghan village. Air Force Lt. Col. (Dr.) Thomas Knolmayer helps an Afghan girl try on donated shoes at a humanitarian assistance visit to the Afghan Department of Refugees and Repatriation village. The doctor spearheaded efforts to bring clothes, shoes, coats and blankets to the refugee camp. U.S. Air Force photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Earlier this month, a handful of volunteers and the Kapisa and Parwan Provincial Reconstruction Team delivered hundreds of pairs...

The Republican National Committee will report Thursday that it spent about another $30,000 on clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin during her vice presidential bid, a GOP source tells Politico. Palin took a major public relations hit when Politico revealed that the RNC in September shelled out $150,000 for clothes and accessories from high-end retailers for the Alaska governor, who built her political persona around a folksy, regular-gal demeanor. The additional spending will be detailed on the committee's post-general election report, which is due to be filed with the Federal Election Commission before midnight.

Video here. Classic line when she refers to the flag pin, an "accessory" Obama dislikes. Anyone who has pictures of Sarah Palin, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Laura Ingraham, and other both principled and attractive conservative women, please post them all here. Who can post the most? Let the contest begin.

Here is video of Gov. Sarah Palin in Florida yesterday, where she pushed back against the media's attacks against her and the clothes the RNC provided for her during the campaign. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Video here. Who agrees that she looks very very good in it? Perhaps they should call it a smoking jacket, because she looks smoking hot in it!

....it seems the folksy politico isn't a Neiman's shopper -- she regularly peruses the racks at designer resale store Out of the Closet in Anchorage (ironic, considering her stance on gay marriage). ......Retailer Christos Garkinos recently hosted the owners of the Alaskan store at Decadestwo, the designer resale store he co-owns with Cameron Silver in Los Angeles. "I was saying that Alaska's been in the news a lot, and they said that Palin shops at their store all the time," he said. The Out of the Closet owners ended up "buying a ton of stuff," but the L.A. retailer --...

Yigal Azrouel, Balmain, Collette Dinnigan Fall/Winter ‘09When we saw the leather pants and leggings at the Givenchy, Balmain, and Alexander McQueen shows, it became clear that Eighties Goth is back.

Plunging necklines blamed for plunging sales by female M&S shareholders Last updated at 19:42pm on 09.07.08  Plunging necklines have been blamed for plunging sales as Marks & Spencer chiefs today came under fire from lady shareholders.Executives faced complaints from some that its fashions are too young, offering too much cleavage for its loyal older customers.Investors have been getting worried because the value of M&S shares has slumped in recent days after the iconic high street chain revealed a fall in sales.And today at the company's AGM at London's Royal Festival Hall, shareholders lined up to offer a diagnosis of...

For those who want to add some romance to their summer wardrobe, there is an amazing draping trend. Lots of delicate chiffon and silk layers subtly cling from evening gowns to cocktail dresses and drive you to a flirty mood.

Believe it or not, but these Key Closet jeans cost $10,000. Are they made out of gold, you ask. Yes, partly. The buttons on the back pockets are made of white gold. Tiffany-set Swarovski crystals for the thighs and one-carat diamonds on each back pocket, for a total of two carats for the derrière. The graphics are accented with foil and hand spray paint.

Humanity isn’t aware of a better chic basic than a white shirt. It is difficult to find a woman who doesn’t have one in her wardrobe. A crisp cotton white blouse is a must have item for all seasons, but there are a lot of style options available, like silky shirts, demi-sheared, with bows or ruffles, sleeveless, or pleated.

Free People Dropwaist Trench Coat ($108.00) A cult item of every women’s wardrobe is the Burberry trench coat. For more than 50 years, the double-breasted beige-colored coat with the leather buckle closure on the belt and cuffs, has been considered a womenswear classic. To read more...

IF you thought the soft-porn image of Disney teen queen Miley Cyrus - wearing nothing but ruby-stained lips and a bedsheet - in Vanity Fair magazine was disturbing, you ain't seen nothing yet. Pop diva Beyonce Knowles, 27, and her fashion-designer mother have launched a girls' clothing line that makes Miley's bare-backed glam session look like a Shirley Temple photo shoot. The Knowles' family business, "House of Dereon," recently published ads for its "Dereon Girls Collection" with young models who look no older than my second-grade daughter. They are seductively posed and tarted up, JonBenet Ramsey-style, with lipstick, blush and...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry. The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays -- known as Terahertz or T-rays -- that they emit. The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away and is effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and...

DALLAS (AP) - The founder of a prestigious institute on media and politics added his voice Saturday to the chorus of complaint over perceived press bias in favor of Democrat Barack Obama...

FIREBASE NAWA, Afghanistan, Jan. 24, 2008 – As seasons change in Afghanistan and the snow starts falling, assistance missions shift from development efforts to missions that focus on providing protection from winter’s harsh conditions. Army Pvt. Shawn M. Testa, combat medic, 3rd Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, inspects an Afghan boy complaining of ear pain Jan. 12, 2008, at a clinic in the Nawa district of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Photo by Spc. Nathan W. Hutchison, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Recently, the Afghan National Police and...

First Farmers Wanted Clothes, Not Food Anna Sellah, ABC Science Online Oct. 15, 2007 — People turned to farming to grow fiber for clothing, and not to provide food, says one researcher who challenges conventional ideas about the origins of agriculture.The Original Crop Ian Gilligan, a postgraduate researcher from the Australian National University, says his theory also explains why Aboriginal Australians were not generally farmers. Gilligan says they did not need fiber for clothing, so had no reason to grow crops like cotton. He argues his case in the current issue of the Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. "Conventional...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand‘s government is investigating clothing imports from China after some were found to contain dangerously high levels of the chemical formaldehyde, officials said Monday. Formaldehyde — a preservative that is used to give a permanent press effect to clothes and also as an embalming fluid — can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer. "Target" producer Simon Roy said scientists from government agency AgriQuality had tested a variety of new children‘s and adult‘s clothes. Ministry of Consumer Affairs general manager Liz MacPherson said it had launched an investigation into the nature and size of...

People can get attention either from their accomplishments or from their deliberate attempts to get attention. Today, almost everywhere you look, people seem to be putting their efforts into getting attention. Wild hairdos, huge tattoos, pierced body parts, outlandish clothing, weird statements -- all these have become substitutes for achievements. Some parents give their children off-the-wall names, as if that is the way to give them some kind of individuality. On the contrary, it means joining a stampede toward showiness.

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2007 – Sew Much Comfort’s adaptive clothing has always helped injured servicemembers, but now, with the help of the NBA, the troops can proudly display support for their favorite National Basketball Asociation teams. Sew Much Comfort is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program, which connects citizens and corporations with members of the military and their families at home and abroad. “Through (a) working relationship with America Supports You, we were made aware of the terrific things that Sew Much Comfort was doing for our troops as well as the needs they have,”...

NEW YORK — "The emperor has no clothes," House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi once famously said about President Bush. Well, actually he has some fairly decent ones, but it's been Pelosi's clothes _ stylish, well-chosen and nicely cut, of the Armani variety _ that have garnered attention since she became the most powerful woman in American politics earlier this month.

Project Runway has a two part conclusion for this season starting tonight. I've been wanting Laura to win since the beginning. However, I'm watching the reruns of the show where the designers have to choose a dog and design an outfit for the dog and the model. Gasp! Laura isn't a dog person and thats a point against her in my book. I can't believe it but Jeffrey (who I think is a complete a$$hole) has scored a point with me cause he choose the Corgi dog to design for and my beloved Scruffy is a Corgi mix. I'm extremely...

NEW YORK -- The sight of all those size-0 models on the Fashion Week runways this week recalls an oft-quoted line from the film "The Devil Wears Prada." Happy to be a size 6, the impressionable young fashion assistant Andy Sachs is soon brought down to size: Six, her mentor declares, "is the new 14."

Europe's largest mail-order company is reportedly threatening to ban British sportswear firm Lonsdale because of the brand's popularity with neo-Nazis. Germany's Quelle told a UK newspaper it wished to distance itself from "all tendencies associated with extremism". In the UK, Lonsdale is known for its boxing links. But on the continent, its clothes are worn by the extreme-right. No-one from Lonsdale owner SWI Group was available for comment on Wednesday. Similar initials Quelle's managing director Michel Badke said the company wanted "to counter any suggestion we are supporting right-wing extremists through the sale of these goods", London's Independent newspaper has...

Clothes also make the woman trying to look smart amid disaster Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist New Orleans cultural ambassador, Irvin Mayfield, plays a tribute to first responders as Mayor Ray Nagin, left, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, second from left, Lt. Gov Mitch Landrieu, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, center, listen during an Interfaith Celebration in front of the Superdome in New Orleans, La., Sunday Jan. 1, 2006. The event was sponsored by Louisiana Rebirth celebrating the strength of those dedicated to the rebirth of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Apparently, Brownie wasn't the only one. You remember the grief that...

Teen Mother Accused of Killing Baby in Clothes Dryer Dec 6, 2005, 05:37 PM CST It's a Louisiana crime so cruel that it's making newscasts and newspapers around the world. It's the mother in Bogalusa, Louisiana who put her three-month-old baby in a clothes dryer and started the machine, tumbling and burning the baby boy until he was dead. The young mother is now being charged with first degree murder. Lakeisha Adams is 18-years-old, and until Monday, she was the mother of two young children. But police say at some point that day, she killed her 3-month-old baby boy by...

I need help to find out if there is a way of testing toys/clothes/ect. for hazardous residue,chemicals,meth,how do i know if its safe to buy or sell used items?Or how do you clean?Then are they safe?who knows where it came from?Goodwill,sale,or,a tweaker,garbage,store?how do i know its safe? help me?Im in recovery,Life getting better I hope!

Symbols matter. That's ABC for most black Americans when it comes to, say, Confederate flags, and for some black Americans even when it comes to the mere utterance of a word like "niggardly." But last month, star black basketball players were suddenly blind to the nature of symbolism when the National Basketball Association's Commissioner David Stern initiated a dress code for players when they make public appearances. From now on, basketball players representing their employers will wear sport jackets--and save the sunglasses, headphones, baggy sweatpants, massive jewelry, sideways baseball caps and do-rags for clubbing later that night.

WASHINGTON - A young deer romped through two upscale shops in the city's Georgetown neighborhood Wednesday before animal control officers tranquilized it. The animal, described by one shop owner as a buck with small antlers, ran into the Diesel clothing store at about 5 p.m., store employees said. "It ran straight to the back of the store and it saw itself in the mirror, so it started ramming itself," store manager Kira Sternberg said. One of the employees turned off the lights, and the deer left, then ran into the Ralph Lauren store next door, where it went to a...

Four Central Florida middle school students were arrested Monday for allegedly ripping off the clothes off classmates and then snapping photos with their cell phones, according to a Local 6 News report. Investigators said the boys, ages 12, 13 and 14 years old, attacked the girls Friday at Tavares Middle School in Lake County, Fla., in the back of a school bus. The boys then allegedly groped the girls and took pictures of them. Cell phone video allegedly showed one of the girls screaming for help while the boys touch her breasts, according to the report. Police said the attack...

WASHINGTON -- They escaped Hurricane Katrina with nothing more than the clothes on their back. And now, they'll be wearing clothing with labels like Tommy Hilfiger and Yves St. Laurent. They might not even mind that the labels are phony. Hurricane survivors in the Houston Astrodome will be able to choose from counterfeit and abandoned clothing, as well as toys, dog food, and sheets and blankets. They're among the items seized by federal customs officials. And now, they're being pulled from the warehouses and made available to hurricane survivors. The agency has about a million items in storage. Customs officials...