• Here’s another coffee table book to add to your Holiday wishlist. Former Essence magazine Editor-in-Chief, Mikki Taylor, recently released Commander in Chic: Every Woman’s Guide to Managing Her Style Like a First Lady, a book chronicling the iconic style of First Lady Michelle Obama. Included are style tips on how to dress like Mrs. O, as well as a list of Michelle’s fashion must-haves. I’m pretty sure belts, cardigans, and kitten heels are prominently featured. (WWD)
• For those of you fancy people who winter in warm climates, Opening Ceremony‘s very first resort collection is available for purchase online. Oh, and take me with you. (Racked)
• WWD reports that Dior is close to making a deal with Jil Sander creative director Raf Simons as John Galliano‘s replacement at the famed house. This saga has been dragging out for months, first with recently halted negotiations with Marc Jacobs, and names like Riccardo Tisci and Alexander Wang being added to the rumored list of possible successors. Many kinks need to be worked out, however, the main one being Simons’ extended contract with Jil Sander, which seems to have an ambiguous expiration date. While I think Simons is a good choice, I still liked Franca Sozzani‘s idea of reinstating Galliano after his stint in rehab. What do you think? (WWD)
Sasha and Malia's hair is layed like...
• Amy Odell over at The Cut feels the attention Sasha and Malia Obama are getting for their sartorial choices is out of line. “We should let them be kids,” says she, but then continues on to justify the coverage of Elle Fanning, 13, and Chloe Moretz, 14, saying “[T]hese young women are building careers around their fashion-forward image, probably angling for a spot in the same sphere of influence as someone like two-time Vogue cover girl and Chanel face Blake Lively. Unlike these young actresses (and their mother Michelle, even), Sasha and Malia are not posing for fashion magazines or endorsing certain labels.” I think the bigger question here is, why are we as grown women looking at little girls who can’t even buy cigarettes as fashion icons? You can’t have it both ways! (The Cut)
• Hello Kitty covers December’s ELLE Taiwan 20th anniversary issue. Is this terrifying to anyone else? (Sassi Sam)
• While you thought Edward Enninful hates leggings because they are trashy, it’s really because they make America fat– or so suggest the folks over at NPR. They estimate that about 80% of clothing purchased last year has contained spandex. Some are blaming the stretchy fabric for encouraging America’s growing waistlines. They say, “many wonder whether spandex is encouraging people to be bigger.” Spandex is easy to fit into, as it stretches and molds to the body. Since so many trendy clothes are made with the fabric, larger people are able to wear pieces they otherwise (and sometimes still) wouldn’t quite fit: “‘Is that the sign of decline of Western civilization? Perhaps,’ says Ed Gribbin, president of Alvanon, a clothing size and fit consulting firm in Manhattan. ‘Some of us cringe when we see the things that we see. Some people will be poured into a garment and think they look fabulous, and someone else might look at that person and think that’s not very attractive.’” Fat people in spandex: clearly the first of the Seven Horsemen. Let us watch and pray. (NPR)
• Brr! It’s getting cold for realsies this time! Stock up on some jeans at the James Jeans Holiday Sample Sale starting today at 9AM to 7:30PM! Head on over to 500 Greenwich Street #202 for denim from $20-$80. Yes! That cheap! If you can’t make it today, stop by Wednesday, Dec 14th between 10AM and 5:30PM or Thursday, December 15th from 9AM-7:30PM
~Jihan
December 13, 2011 9:57 am
Hello Kitty on the cover is just weird.
December 13, 2011 10:12 am
OMG..Tired of the attack on leggings!! They are bad ass..And yes there are some indiviuals who have no business wearing them as pants, but there are some who look awesome in them.
And that Hello Kitty..don’t kno how I feel about that.
December 13, 2011 10:21 am
Amy Odell needs to go find something to do, I personally find the “not old enough to buy cigarettes” comment a little unnecessary. .. And that hello kitty doll… Idk… Just weird.
December 13, 2011 10:43 am
I LIVE for Hello Kitty!!! GO KITTY GO, congrats on your cover <3 lol
December 13, 2011 12:15 pm
Sasha & Malia look just fine. I personally don’t know any black families where the children are not dressed to the nines when attending functions (church or otherwise). I’m not talking designer apparel but nice dresses, shoes, hair done. I grew up like that and it was the same with my daughter and my nieces. I’m not sure what the author was getting at but the response of some of her readers had me shaking my head.
It’s not the leggings promoting obesity, get rid of the damn fast food joints all over the place. I mean really, blaming the clothing…get a grip.
December 13, 2011 12:39 pm
Now this book about the first lady is one that I can actually get behind; the others that I’ve looked through treat the FLOTUS almost as a national geographic exhibit trying to figure her out. She’s a fabulous black woman who wears whatever she wants and has a penchant for fashion. I’m sure all of us can list generations of black women in our lives that make dressing sharp an everyday thing.
The same goes for Sasha and Malia; I agree with Nickieluv. Put it this way, Michelle Obama and her daughters are in a position where society can’t ignore them as black women, so they’ve become a commodity that people try to profit off of. Little do people know, they’re normal. Ask any other black family (I can only speak for myself); looking good is par the course… Society needs to get a grip lol
ETA: I’ve been traumatized by the legging disasters I’ve seen; we should not be able to see your bedazzled draws while walking behind you -_-
December 13, 2011 12:49 pm
amy odell can stay mad…
December 13, 2011 1:02 pm
I agree that spandex is making us fat. I’ve been wearing leggings and jeggings so long that I can no longer fit some of my regular jeans. I’ve already vowed not to buy another pair of jeggings. I just cannot! I love Hello Kitty, but the cover is a little weird.
December 13, 2011 2:24 pm
Whats up with Mikki Taylor???? She’s been wearing that same tired a** ponytail since I was 12 and she needs some eyebrows ASAP!!!
December 13, 2011 4:02 pm
The Kitty is freaking me out…..
December 13, 2011 7:12 pm
Spandex nor the fast food places are making people fat. It people that are making themselves fat. No one put a gun to these people’s heads and told them to purchase fast food. No one told people to go to their local store and purchase M&M’s. And no one told you to drink sugar laden sodas. It’s the people. Take responsibility.