party lines

Robin Givhan Feels ‘Disgruntled’ by Fall’s Eighties Comeback

Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan is trying to sell her Upper West Side one-bedroom prewar co-op. She’s moving to Washington, D.C. — hopefully by May — to be closer to the glamorous First Family and incorporate them into her beat for the “Style” section. “I could not figure out how to cover the White House from New York,” she told us last night at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Étoile Awards. She explained she’ll still write the fashion column but will also cover Michelle Obama and the First Family. “I would say that [Michelle Obama] is extraordinary, but not exceptional,” Givhan said. “There’s still this perception that somehow she’s alone. That she doesn’t have a group of ten girlfriends who are just like her. I’d like to explore a lot of that and just put her into a broader context and try to get at some of the issues about race and class that she brings up.” Givhan said she’ll miss New York, but noted that D.C. isn’t so bad these days. “Everyone has assured me that I’ll be able to get a dinner reservation at 9:30 or later and they may actually deliver food to my home,” she said.

On to fashion. Givhan feels “disgruntled” by the eighties tour de force on the fall 2009 runways. “I think that it’s just a lack of imagination whenever so many people latch on to something like that,” she said. “And I think I would feel differently if I thought it was sort of lovingly being done well and with a certain panache. But I don’t think the world needs MC Hammer pants ever, ever again. Michael Jackson is back and he wants his clothes.” Her own eighties wardrobe still scares her. “I mean, acid-wash jeans, hello? Hasn’t everyone had some horrible run in with acid-wash jeans?” Commenters?

Robin Givhan Feels ‘Disgruntled’ by Fall’s Eighties Comeback