Not that it is proven true, but a caller to Hannity once told of Mrs Obama visiting a small boutique in Atlanta and purchasing several thousand dollars worth of clothes during the campaign. She paid by check, according to the caller, which promptly bounced. The boutique tried to quietly get the campaign to make good on the purchases and privately spoke to the police about it, who contacted the Secret Service. Finally, after months of no response, the clothes were returned to the store, wadded up in a garbage bag. The caller went on to say that the loss sent the boutique into closing. As I said, I don’t know that it was true, but that’s the story the caller related.
Well, they claim to have brought about the new Camelot. Kennedys never paid for anything. I’ve heard many a story about their visits to Colorado to ski where they failed to pay for things they consumed and/or trashed.
Behind the First Lady, a Shadow Stylist
Ikram Goldman
http://i36.tinypic.com/k4glk6.jpg
Despite the close study that people have made of Mrs. Obama’s style, it is not known that her wardrobe is being managed largely by a boutique owner in Chicago. * Ikram Goldman, whose store is called Ikram, has played an unprecedented role since the election, serving as gatekeeper between the fashion industry and the first lady.
Nonetheless, designers’ bills for Mrs. Obama’s clothes have been handled by Ms. Goldman, who, according to the designers Isabel Toledo and Mr. Wu, also first broached the subject of donating their garments to the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Wu, who made the ivory chiffon inaugural gown, was not paid for that dress, he said, but he made it with the understanding that it would be donated if Mrs. Obama should end up wearing his design.
Ultimately four designers, including Narciso Rodriguez, had clothes chosen for different events. Each brand is also sold at Ikram, on North Rush Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. Although * Maria Pinto, a Chicago-based designer with a long association with Mrs. Obama and her own boutique, made clothes for the inaugural, none were picked. Ms. Pinto declined to comment. Several designers from New York were asked by Ms. Goldman to submit sketches for review by Mrs. Obama.
Oscar de la Renta sent 12 sketches, but “never heard another word” from Ms. Goldman or Mrs. Obama’s office, he said. A spokeswoman for Carolina Herrera said sketches were sent. While nothing was ordered by Mrs. Obama, a gown was made for Desirée Rogers, the new White House social secretary, and purchased through Ikram.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/fashion/12IKRAM.html?_r=1&ref=fashion
“It is strange to think that the wife of the leader of the free world would choose clothes from only one store, when there is a wealth of clothes out there from other designers, including me,” Arnold Scaasi said.
Mr. Scaasi, who has dressed first ladies since Mamie Eisenhower, though is perhaps best known for the blue velvet and silk inaugural gown of Barbara Bush, said he could not recall a time when designers did not have direct access to the White House. He was critical of Mr. Wu’s design for Mrs. Obama, because of its loose fit. “I don’t think the inaugural gown was flattering in any way,” he said. “She could have looked much better.”
Mrs. Obama’s predecessors typically went directly to Seventh Avenue for their clothes, bypassing stores, editors, stylists and others who might have an agenda of their own.
Ms. Goldman, who is 41 and who gave birth in December to twins, is considered a retail dynamo. It’s not uncommon for her to ask designers to make special pieces for customers, and many designers appreciate her taste, which combines vintage with more novel fashion. Her store, in both its Asiatic trappings and selection of high-end European, Japanese and American labels, is a good example of the curatorial shopping experience that fashion-conscious women like when hunting down $2,000 handbags and $6,000 crystal-studded coats. According to campaign-finance records, she and her husband, Josh Goldman, a lawyer, gave at least $6,900 to the Obama campaign.
Mrs. Obama is not a Hollywood star. Here, there is a risk: Can the first lady of the United States wear borrowed things, like the $17,313 pair of Loree Rodkin diamond earrings she wore to the “We Are One” concert, on Jan. 18, without appearing to endorse them and thus increase their value? The White House would not respond. It is unknown if those items were later sold.
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Maria Pinto, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey favorited fashion designer, is bankrupt
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Ikram Goldman, Michelle Obama’s Informal Stylist, To Open Bigger Store?
ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/ikram-goldman-michelle-ob_n_581781.html
Big BUMP for post #18.
