Posted on 05/01/2010 2:02:39 PM PDT by oblomov
CHICAGO — 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.
Remember the purple sheath Mrs. Obama wore the night of the fist bump heard round the world? The teal number at the Democratic National Convention? Or the red dress she wore to meet the Bushes on their way out of the White House? Maria Pinto all, designed right here where both women were born and raised and, over the course of one remarkable election, became stars.
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 demise of her store and wholesale operations in mid-February.
Just back from a month’s break in Barcelona, she pointed to the strain that a sour economy had placed on her business just as it was expanding and gaining major traction beyond a loyal Chicago following.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Another article says they were long time friends...Chicago...Ordinary stuff in my eyes...
I guess Wookie chic is passe.
LOLOL!!!
Apparently, the boob belt didn’t catch the fashion world by storm.
But, but, but.. how could this be?
She was IN tight with the Obamas. Mrs. Obama is the most ravishingly beautiful first lady ever. She is far prettier and more stylish and hip-cool than any first lady who has ever graced a state dinner. And thinner, too. Such a tiny waist, with delicate movie star features, and with dreamy ballerina poise, floating across the Rose Garden like an angelic flower.
How could this be?
All the fashion magazines and pundits swooned over Michelle. Most beautiful girl in the world. Best dressed woman in the universe.
But I always thought she was a pretty ugly looking critter. For one thing, she almost always looks angry, her expressions are ugly, she she wears some truly horrible looking clothes, usually unfit for the occasion.
For instance, at that recent civil rights funeral, there she was sitting in a church pew in a short dress, with her bare legs and knobby-looking knees sticking out. At a funeral?
Evidently the ladies who buy this kind of very expensive clothes thought the same thing. I don’t think it ever really took off—just in the imaginations of all those insane style magazine writers.
I don't think the bug-eyed look has ever really caught on, here or anywhere else.
Gee, imagine taking a trip to Spain after you go broke?
LOL
Is the media in shock that the unwashed masses aren’t copying Michelle’s hideous clothing choices? If we think SHE dresses like crap, why would anyone want to buy outfits from the one who put the crap together?
I, too, am reacting with disbelief that Ms. Pinto was unable to convince other women to wear her fashions. /s
The most unforgivable outfit Michelle ever wore was the dress she wore to the Medal of Honor ceremony. She looked like she was ready to go nightclubbing. The dress was very short and when she sat down I’m sure it came up to her thighs. She was sitting in the front row too. Terribly disrespectful.
"Barack never breaks a sweat? Are you kidding?
Wait'll you see him in that Sedona sweat lodge."
It’s the belt!! For goodness sake! Ditch the belt!
That is a nice dress. And the designer of the article, her stuff isn’t bad.
But Michelle does NOT have good taste. She wears way too many unflattering and ugly things. The Narciso black widow dress she wore election night will go down in history as the ugliest thing ever worn by a first lady, ever.
Even libs hated it.
REALLY ugly was her ballgown thst looked like a chenille bedspread.
The problem really isn't with the designers, it's in Michelle's personal taste. I agree, NOT good. She tends to choose things which are not flattering and then throw things together in a way that makes her look as if she dressed in the dark out of someone's Goodwill donation box.
While I can't say that I've ever watched her, she also doesn't come across as at all ladylike or graceful, either.
Believe it or not, though, there is a website dedicated to what she wears! Lots of fawning over how perfect she is. One poor soul dared comment a bit negatively over that odd-looking sweater she wore (over a dress it didn't really match) on a trip to Britain and boy did the people on the site get snarky!
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