While we have often prodded Robin Givhan, the fashion editor at the Washington Post, we may be forced to admit that the lady has chops. We joke that there is no such thing as fashion when it comes to D.C., but when Givhan comes to the Big Apple, she's not afraid to take a bite out of the scene.
And now that she has her blog at WaPo, there is even more opportunity to spread the dish. Like when she (as did many NYC fashion bloggers) revealed Anna Wintour's seeming crush on tennis pro Roger Federer. Givhan described Wintour at the Marc Jacobs show, writing "She seemed to be rather in awe of him. Did we see her flick her hair with a girlish toss?" That's a risk that most New Yorkers, at least those who want to continue being allowed into the inner circle parties, may not take.
Perhaps she got away with certain opinions — such as "Carmen Electra has been all over the shows, and we still are at a loss to figure exactly why she's so famous that she requires three security guards to escort her out of the building. Anyone? Anyone?" — because WP's online editors read her postings, not her regular section editors, before they appeared online.
Sure, her online editors are probably a bit less stuffy than the paper's staffers. However, keep in mind, she is quite removed from the wrath of Ms. Wintour and Carmen Electra's people. Not to mention there is no way in hell Anna Wintour reads the Washington Post blog, even if it is about fashion.
Blog It Out [Stephanie D. Smith, WWD]
Editorial Director
Very interesting and beautiful site. It is a lot of ful information. Thanks.
She's hardly taking risks. She's known Wintour for a long time. She writes for Vogue from time to time (had an article on how she dresses for different cities very recently). She was an associate editor at Vogue for 6 months in 2000 once (which is short, but she left on good terms, and as I said, she still writes from her from time to time). I think you're taking playful ribbing and elevating it to mocking Wintour (as you put it, enough to risk being banned from some inner circle), and that's not the case here.
Here's something I found online about her time at Vogue:
Robin: I was in a unique position. I had written stories that had an impact. I knew Anna (Wintour) from doing stories with her, My surprise was that it was going over the firewall from newspapers to magazines. I was Associate Editor for six months. It became clear to me that at newspapers you have the autonomy to write a story as you see it. That's not the case at a fashion magazine. Anna is the voice of Vogue. she looks at every word there. ALL copy has to be "A-W-Aked" (approved with Anna Wintour's initials).
Yeah, she has balls, but Wintour knows that and continues to work with her. For good reason.