In a piece at the Washington Post, Robin Givhan challenges several widely held beliefs about first lady Michelle Obama that have stood the test of time: 1. Michelle Obama is the most fashion-friendly first lady. Obama has been a pronounced and polished advocate for American style, seamlessly moving from custom-made evening gowns to mass-market fare. She has…

Award-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan, at New York magazine, endorses former model agency owner Bethann Hardison’s recent letter that calls for an end to racism on the runway. Diplomacy has shifted to confrontation. Bethann Hardison, the former model agency owner who has been a leading advocate for greater diversity on the fashion runway, has gone…

As international Fashion Week concluded in Paris, critics were outraged that Vogue and some designers featured underage and gravely thin models, despite a recent pledge against just that. In May, 19 editors of Vogue agreed to promote healthy body images by not employing models younger than 16 or obviously suffering from eating disorders. But this…

“The First Ladies,” a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, offers a more intimate look at the women who have inhabited the White House, Robin Givhan writes at the Daily Beast. Michelle Obama’s white inaugural gown holds center court, she writes. A new exhibition drawing from the First Ladies Collection at the National Museum of…

Steve Jobs, the late Apple CEO, was wholly committed to his uniform of faded, relaxed-fit jeans and black mock turtleneck, writes Robin Givhan at the Daily Beast. She highlights how he proved, through his attire and company, that simplicity is powerful. Women have long struggled with a confusing abundance of fashion choices, but mostly they’ve…

In the Daily Beast, Robin Givhan discusses how fashion has evolved with the civil right movement.  The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, which will be formally dedicated Aug. 28 — on the 48th anniversary of the civil-rights leader’s “I Have a Dream” speech — opens to the public this week. Of all the…

Robin Givhan, correspondent for the Daily Beast, writes a moving portrait of Amy Winehouse and the fashion industry. There was always something disconcerting about the fashion industry’s fascination with singer Amy Winehouse. The troubled, drug-addicted singer, who was found dead in her London apartment over the weekend, had a soulful voice and distinctive style that…

The velvet opera coat was stretched out on a bed of archival paper and tucked into a person-size box that resembled a humble coffin. A clutch of Smithsonian curators and restoration experts gently lifted it — like scholarly pallbearers with white gloved hands and keen eyes for precision — onto an examination table for loving…

There are few things as short-lived as the career of a fashion model. These exquisite creatures are elevated to fashion fame before they are old enough to vote and declared obsolete by the time they can take their first legal drink of alcohol. For models of color, their time in the spotlight—when their name is…