Robin Givhan

Say it ain't so: Robin Givhan has been let go from her position as the special correspondent for style and culture at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She'll leave the company at the end of the year.

Daily Intel reports that Givhan is among the employees of The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company laid off on the second day of its ongoing staff reductions. The layoffs come after Newsweek announced that it would stop printing and merge with the Beast's online platform.

"I plan to work on my book about the 1973 Versailles fashion show and look for a new job," Givhan said.

She joined Newsweek at the end of 2010 and had previously been the fashion editor of The Washington Post. In 2006, Givhan became the first and only fashion journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize "for her witty, closely observed essays that transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism."

Photo via Givhan's Facebook page.

>> Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robin Givhan has landed a book deal to write about the supermodel-studded Grand Divertissement à Versailles fashion show, which in 1973 pitted five American designers (Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Halston, Anne Klein, and Bill Blass) against five French designers (Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior by Marc Bohan, Hubert de Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, and Pierre Cardin) at the Palace of Versailles. Put together by Eleanor Lambert, the publicist who invented the Best Dressed List, the show used exclusively black models like Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, and Billie Blair and was attended by 800 guests, including Princess Grace of Monaco. Givhan’s book will be “an in-depth look at how the Grand Divertissement a Versailles set a diverse group of American designers against the lions of French fashion in a seismic cultural event and turning point in the history of American fashion.” Givhan is also the author of Michelle: Her First Year as First Lady. [DFR]

>> 'Tis the season for fashion critics to sharpen their pencils — and, so it seems, do the same with their words. Both Cathy Horyn and Robin Givhan have some choice thoughts on Nicolas Ghesquiere and Zac Posen, respectively.

Horyn writes in the New York Times: "The fact is, some forms just become worn out ... though he is not a showman, there is a growing impatience with Nicolas Ghesquiere. His experimental treatment of materials at Balenciaga has been exciting to behold, and necessary, but more and more the effect is like jumping on a spring-shot mattress. What happened to the cool street chic of Mr. Ghesquiere of a decade ago, when you actually saw women wearing his clothes? People who followed his career from the start probably appreciate his technical leaps and are willing to indulge him for the sake of creative freedom and the sheer hope of being knocked off their chairs ... But I suspect that our extremely materialistic culture, with the grab-and-go mentality fostered by the Web, just makes new fans itch for something to wear."

And Robin Givhan tells Page Six Magazine of Zac Posen: “Zac reminds me of another era in fashion. He’s a maestro. It reminds me of a time when there was an embrace of fashion as this fun, entertaining industry. He’s got a lot more competition now. [Early on in his career] he was one of only a few young guns. But people like Jason Wu have cut into a lot of the razzle-dazzle that he once owned. When you burn that white hot, eventually you burn out. That overwhelming hotness has cooled off.”

>> Karl Lagerfeld, often a quick detractor, seems to approve of Sarah Burton's wedding dress for Kate Middleton, and The New York Times's Eric Wilson agrees: "It was an enormous success for the bride, and a triumph for Ms. [Sarah] Burton. The gown was a triumph not merely because it was pretty — or flawless, actually, a dress that is destined to create a global demand for long lace sleeves." Robin Givhan also echoes the sentiment: "The bride’s gown was a true stunner. It was not a designer’s indulgence. It did not play to our culture’s need for grotesque ostentation. It did not overwhelm the woman — the princess — herself. And with that Herculean act of restraint, Sarah Burton, exceeded all expectations."

Though Middleton's gown is being widely praised, some are questioning whether her sister and maid of honor Pippa Middleton, who also wore a white McQueen dress by Sarah Burton, overshadowed Kate at the wedding. The Sun, for instance, declared: "Gorgeous Pippa is a style hit." But unlike the US, where bridesmaids and wedding guests are told not to wear white out of respect for the bride, it is said to be a superstitious tradition in the UK for bridesmaids to dress similarly to the bride to ward off evil spirits. In fact, all of Princess Diana's bridesmaids wore white dresses similar to her wedding gown.

Wilson notes: "It was a controversial, though savvy, decision for her sister and maid of honor, Pippa Middleton, to wear white, also by McQueen. When Pippa picked up the bride’s train, their matching dresses made the sisters appeared almost as one entity, distinct from the royals but still part of the family."

>> Since The Row was founded in 2006, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have raised the label's overall prices by as much as 25 percent (partially due to the introduction of more fur and cashmere pieces), and although it's The Row's policy not to disclose specific figures, sales are now estimated to be between $10 million and $12 million annually. But the collection is still produced primarily in New York factories — and in Los Angeles, to a lesser degree (The Row's handbags and a few knits manufactured in Italy.). “I really believe in our being able to create here and utilize the skills that people have here,” says Ashley. “The skill set is here. Our main issue is that some of the machinery is gone, so some knitwear is produced in Italy. But whether it’s clothing or cars, I believe in manufacturing as close to home as possible. We really want The Row to be an American luxury brand. We believe in not just American by representation but American by make.” Which is why the Olsens are presumedly OK with their clothes being "crowded onto an exceedingly unglamorous factory floor in New York’s garment center," as Robin Givhan describes. "The L-shaped workspace, brightly lit with fluorescent lights, smells vaguely of steam irons and fried rice." [Newsweek]

>> Victoria Beckham, who just announced that she's having her first girl in July, has had an uphill climb to prove herself as a fashion designer. Although it seemed lately that she'd made it over the hump, during her Fall 2011 presentation last month — which Beckham narrated to an intimate crowd of top editors — Robin Givhan reports: "There were muffled giggles, knowing glances, and plenty of eye-rolling over the non-stop narration . . . It called to mind the manner in which Tom Ford presented his women’s collection for spring. His rolling monologue drew gushing praise from the industry. Of course, Ford’s presentation dripped in irony. And Ford is the reigning prince of charm. Beckham’s great crime, it seems, was her earnestness. She was not being ironic. She was not being self-consciously hip. And the cool girls turned on her. It wasn’t pretty."

Then, yesterday, an article in the Times UK came out, with fashion insider and heiress Daphne Guinness quoted calling Beckham "an ugly pig ... downbeat miserable and awful. Of course she's going to make money — she's backed by Simon Fuller. I don't have anyone! She annoys the sh*t out of me."

But Guinness now denies that she made such remarks. "I would never make a comment like that about my worst enemy, let alone someone I like," she told Vogue UK. "I think Victoria is brave and fantastic for building up her business like she has. I did not make those comments. They were b*tchy and horrible and just not me."

Guinness says the subject of Beckham arose from a discussion with the Times about financial backing: "I like to make my own things — they're probably not of any commercial worth and it's not always easy to get funding for them. I used Victoria as a reference as someone that had managed to do that. I do things a little differently. I remortgage my house and do it that way [Guinness reportedly paid $15 million in 2008 for her New York apartment]. I really admire the way she has achieved what she has. She makes beautiful clothes — they're really very beautiful."

Guinness also took to Twitter to dispel the firestorm, explaining that she did the interview as a favor: "I am so sad stitched up by the sunday times. I thought [the writer] c. long was a friend. I would never call anyone an ugly cow, not my words . . . the journalist I knew from Issie [Blow], so i thought she would understand things, we had been friends, she has put words in my mouth." She added as further explanation: "And for the record I not only admire Victoria Beckham but know her and like her. My point was that I do most things alone without a backer."

>> Robin Givhan, a 15-year Washington Post veteran and fashion editor who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2006, is leaving the paper to join Tina Brown's Newsweek and The Daily Beast as a special correspondent for style and culture. She will continue to be based in DC and begins her new position on Jan. 10.

"I obviously didn't make the decision to leave quickly or without a lot of soul-searching," Givhan told WWD. "I've been a sniffling, blubbering wreck for the last few days. The Post has been an unbelievable place to work. But I think it was time for me to have a new adventure, and Tina's vision of what Newsweek can be is incredibly enticing and, I think, spot-on."

>> Francisco Costa, Maria Cornejo, and Yoehlee Teng touched on everything from model casting to celebrity dressing to eco fashion last Thursday night at the Cooper-Hewitt museum in New York as part of the “Voices in American Fashion” panel, moderated by The Washington Post's Robin Givhan.

Costa, who is known for his unique show casting, voiced one vision for a Calvin Klein show that he hasn't yet fulfilled — street casting. "I wish to be able to just go into the streets and just start going. As a concept, I would love to do that someday."

Cornejo rebutted: "I have to say, the first show I did in New York, I did have all real people, only one model, and it bombed. The editors do not want to see the clothes on real women. It's more exciting for them [to see the clothes on models]. They want to be able to say: 'Oh, I shot her last week.'"

Both designers agree, however, when it comes to using young models »

>> Last night at the 92nd Street Y in New York, Ashley Olsen, the Washington Post's Robin Givhan, and Isaac Mizrahi gathered to chat with Glamour's Cindi Leive about the "Future of Fashion."  Ashley, dressed in a long dress — a production sample from The Row — told Glamour backstage: "I'm actually not very comfortable with public speaking, and that was something I told myself I'd work on — getting out more and doing some public speaking."

Her "number one teammate," sister Mary-Kate, and boyfriend Justin Bartha were in the audience to cheer her on as she doled out tidbits like The Row's clients are an average age of 50, she thinks girls with small budgets who want to be fashionable should shop vintage, and she loves her Toms shoes: "So comfortable." Isaac Mizrahi helped keep the tone light — at one point, he took of his shoes to show off his toes, painted a "day-glo pumpkin" color, but the panel did delve into some heavy topics.

The highlights »

>> INSIDER WIRE —For those still with jobs, there's a lot of shuffling taking place.  Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant have just been named international editors at Russian Vogue and Vogue Deutsch; Robin Givhan of The Washington Post is relocating to DC from New York to cover Michelle Obama — she'll continue a fashion-focused weekly column; and Teen Vogue senior fashion editor Aya Kanai is moving to LA. [Hint, WWD, Papermag, Aya T. Kanai Twitter]