Robin Givhan | |
|---|---|
 Givhan speaks at the 2015National Book Festival | |
| Born | (1964-09-11)September 11, 1964 (age 61) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) University of Michigan (MA) |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Criticism |
Robin Givhan (born September 11, 1964) is an American fashion editor andPulitzer Prize winning writer.
Givhan was a fashion editor forThe Washington Post. She joined thePost in 1995, and left in 2010 to become the fashion critic and fashion correspondent forThe Daily Beast andNewsweek. She returned to thePost in 2014.[1]
Givhan won thePulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2006, the first time the award was given to a fashion writer. The Pulitzer Committee cited Givhan's "witty, closely observed essays that transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism."[2]
Givhan is a native ofDetroit, Michigan. She was thevaledictorian atRenaissance High School in 1982, graduated fromPrinceton University in 1986, and holds a master's degree in journalism from theUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
After working for theDetroit Free Press for about seven years, she held positions at theSan Francisco Chronicle andVogue magazine. Givhan appeared as a guest onThe Colbert Report in January 2006.
In 2009 she moved from New York City to Washington, D.C., where her fashionbeat was expanded to cover First LadyMichelle Obama.[3]
Givhan generated an uproar on July 20, 2007, when she penned aWashington Post opinion piece that drew attention to an outfit worn by presidential candidateHillary Clinton during her July 18 speech on the Senate floor. Givhan said Sen. Clinton's slightly V-shaped neckline was "unnerving" and "startling," especially for a woman "who has been so publicly ambivalent about style, image and the burdens of both." She added, "[I]t was more like catching a man with his fly unzipped. Just look away!"[4]
Givhan has made a reputation for being blunt. In an interview on writers who cover the fashion industry, Givhan toldCBS News, "There are a lot of people who sort of say that something is good or important or progressive or edgy when in fact, it's just crappy. And no one will just say it's crappy." She added, "I'll also say when I think something is absolutely magnificent."[5]
Commenting on a heavy, dark-green parka worn by Vice PresidentDick Cheney at a ceremony in 2005 commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Givhan wrote, "It's the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.... Here he was wearing something that visually didn't symbolize to me the level of solemnity and respect that I thought a service like this demanded... He was representing the American people. I don't want to be represented by someone in, you know, a parka who looks like he's at a Green Bay Packer game."[6]
She also slammed the attire worn by the wife and young children of Supreme Court nomineeJohn Roberts during his swearing in as Supreme Court Chief Justice, saying they resembled "a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of jelly bellies, three little Necco wafers."[7]
In August 2009, she criticized First LadyMichelle Obama for wearing shorts while on a family vacation. "Avoiding the appearance of queenly behavior is politically wise. But it does American culture no favors if a first lady tries so hard to be average that she winds up looking common," wrote Givhan on the subject of the first lady's attire.[8] Givhan continued her criticism in theWashington Post of January 3, 2010, complaining the First Lady lacked "focus" in her advocacy.[9]
In 2013, Robin Givhan was inducted into theUniversity of Michigan's Detroiter Hall of Fame. Givhan's book aboutThe Battle of Versailles Fashion Show, entitledThe Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History, was published byFlatiron Books in 2015.[10][11]
She has also contributed to a number of books, including captions for photographerLucian Perkins's bookRunway Madness and a commemorative book entitledMichelle: Her First Year as First Lady.[12]
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