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Maria Pinto Closes Chicago Boutique. What's Michelle Obama to Wear? (M's designer goes bankrupt)
The StyleList ^
| February 15, 2010
| Lesley Kennedy
Posted on 02/15/2010 2:00:37 PM PST by Stoat
Maria Pinto Closes Chicago Boutique. What's Michelle Obama to Wear?
by Lesley Kennedy Posted Feb 15th 2010 at 4:26PM
(Image not included due to Free Republic rules pertaining to Getty Images)
Even designing dresses that turned
Michelle Obama into a fashion trendsetter couldn't keep
Maria Pinto in business.
The designer has
closed the doors to her Chicago boutique, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, and she is expected to seek bankruptcy protection this week.
Pinto tells the Sun-Times "economic challenges and soft buying trends at the top end of the apparel market" contributed to her business woes.
''I am confident that the 'Maria Pinto' name will not go away, but will merely take a break, before emerging in a new form," she tells the newspaper.
"I plan on using the next several months to explore different avenues and opportunities for business, as economic conditions improve."
In addition to dressing
Obama (see the purple sleeveless sheath dress she wore for the final primaries?), Pinto's customers also included
Oprah Winfrey and several Chicago socialites and civic leaders.
Pinto studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and New York's
Parsons School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology, and worked for
Geoffrey Beene in her first fashion job. In 1991, she launched her own line, which was carried in stores including
Bergdorf Goodman, then she opened her Chicago boutique in 2008, according to the paper.
And, if there's any debate on
Michelle Obama's style power, here's a look at
her first 100 days of fashion.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boobbelt; closes; fashion; fashionpolice; flotusmichelle; hideousfashions; mariapinto; michelleobama; nobama; obama; pinto; sasquatch; store; wookie
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To: Jeff Chandler
She’s no Monty Capuletti.
21
posted on
02/15/2010 2:09:36 PM PST
by
massgopguy
(I owe everything to George Bailey)
To: evets
Tell me that is a photo shop please.
To: Vasilli22
Was he the kitchen-curtain-and-living-room-drapes designer? If so, good riddance.
23
posted on
02/15/2010 2:09:42 PM PST
by
hsalaw
To: Constitution Day; Slings and Arrows; martin_fierro; Tax-chick
Perhaps she can go into business selling a Michelle Obama brand of Boob Belts. Michelle has thrown her under the bust.
She's another victim of the Obamoconomy.
24
posted on
02/15/2010 2:09:57 PM PST
by
Ezekiel
(The Obama-nation began with the Inauguration of Desolation.)
To: hsalaw
Oops. “She”, not “he.” I thought it said “Mario” rather than “Maria.”
25
posted on
02/15/2010 2:10:38 PM PST
by
hsalaw
To: Stoat
soft buying trends at the top end of the apparel market" contributed to her business woes.In other words, nobody in her right mind wants to mimic the sasquatch.
To: Disambiguator
That print should be called St. Valentines Day Massacre. Indeed...or "How to show absolutely no class whatsoever at a solemn ceremony of profound significance"
27
posted on
02/15/2010 2:11:14 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Sarah Palin 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Stoat
Then again...
Ya think this'll bug bam?
To: Stoat
OK, that just looks like someone lost their lunch all over her.
29
posted on
02/15/2010 2:11:39 PM PST
by
Newtoidaho
(Liberals are nothing more than drooling buffoons. Spread the word.)
To: Stoat
Even designing dresses that turned Michelle Obama into a fashion trendsetter couldn't keep Maria Pinto in business.While I applaud the effort to keep more blind people gainfully employed, I think that there are simply jobs that they are not, and cannot be, qualified for.
Fashion writer is one.
30
posted on
02/15/2010 2:12:14 PM PST
by
exDemMom
(Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
To: Stoat
Michelle Obama wearing Maria Pinto dresses.
31
posted on
02/15/2010 2:13:34 PM PST
by
kcvl
To: RanGreHad
“Does it occur to anyone in the fashion industry that having an ugly woman with a fat a wearing ones clothes was not a selling point?”
Reminds me of Jenny Craig using poor nutty Kirstie Alley as a spokesperson for a while.
Kirstie remained a blimp.
They switched to Valerie Bertinelli who does not age and looks incredible. Val has not aged at all and looks great in a bikini. She looks like she is in her late twenties to thirty something.
32
posted on
02/15/2010 2:13:59 PM PST
by
Frantzie
(TV - sending Americans towards Islamic serfdom - Cancel TV service NOW)
To: Stoat
33
posted on
02/15/2010 2:14:29 PM PST
by
kcvl
To: Stoat
34
posted on
02/15/2010 2:15:03 PM PST
by
kcvl
To: Newtoidaho
OK, that just looks like someone lost their lunch all over her. Agreed....and not exactly a great way to show solemn respect at a posthumous Medal of Honor ceremony, is it?
She has absolutely no class and is a further embarrassment to our Nation and to all who have fought and died on our Nation's behalf.
35
posted on
02/15/2010 2:15:19 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Sarah Palin 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
$900 for the purple Maria Pinto dress that Michelle Obama wore
36
posted on
02/15/2010 2:16:12 PM PST
by
kcvl
To: Stoat
37
posted on
02/15/2010 2:16:35 PM PST
by
ETL
(ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
To: Stoat
38
posted on
02/15/2010 2:17:16 PM PST
by
ETL
(ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
To: ETL
39
posted on
02/15/2010 2:17:49 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Sarah Palin 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Stoat
40
posted on
02/15/2010 2:18:48 PM PST
by
ETL
(ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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