Who pays for first lady's fabulous fashions?
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama's fashionable clothing has become something of a given in her five-plus years as first lady. Yet her wardrobe still is the subject of endless public fascination and one long-simmering question: Who pays for those incredible outfits?
It's no small matter. Her high-low fashion choices mix everyday, off-the-rack fare with custom creations from top designers whose gowns can run into five figures.
In recent weeks, Mrs. Obama has turned heads with a forest-green Naeem Khan dress at the opening of a new costume gallery at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. She shimmered in a silver Marchesa gown at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. And her flowered shirtdress for a Mother's Day tea at the White House (recycled from an earlier event) hit the just right note for an audience of military moms.
It takes money to pull that off, month after month. Those three dresses by themselves could add up to more than $15,000 retail, not to mention accessories such as shoes and jewelry.
Is it the taxpayers who foot the bill? No. (Despite what critics say.)
Is it Mrs. Obama? Usually, but not always.
Does she pay full price? Not likely.
Does she ever borrow gowns from designers? No.
The financing of the first lady's wardrobe is something the Obama White House is loath to discuss. It's a subject that has bedeviled presidents and their wives for centuries. First ladies are expected to dress well, but the job doesn't come with a clothing allowance or a salary.
Mary Todd Lincoln racked up tens of thousands of dollars in clothing bills and considered selling manure from the White House grounds to pay them off, according to the National First Ladies' Library. Jacqueline Kennedy's father-in-law stepped in to finance her Oleg Cassini wardrobe to keep clothes from becoming a political liability for President John Kennedy. Nancy Reagan got grief for borrowing designer gowns and not always returning them or reporting them as gifts.
Laura Bush, in her memoir, said she was "amazed by the sheer number of designer clothes that I was expected to buy" as first lady.
How does Mrs. Obama, a fashion icon with far more expensive tastes than Mrs. Bush, swing it?
For starters, the Obamas reported adjusted income of $481,000 last year, and assets worth $1.8 million to $7 million.
And like most people, Mrs. Obama (mostly her personal aide, really) looks for discounts.
And, for really big events, the first lady has an option not available to every fashionista.
Here's how Joanna Rosholm, press secretary to the first lady, explains it:
"Mrs. Obama pays for her clothing. For official events of public or historic significance, such as a state visit, the first lady's clothes may be given as a gift by a designer and accepted on behalf of the U.S. government. They are then stored by the National Archives."
That saves Mrs. Obama considerable money, although the White House refused to say how often the first lady wears donated clothes and the National Archives declined to say how many such items it has in storage. The White House did say that the first lady doesn't borrow any clothing and, for the most part, buys her own clothes.
The clothing donated by designers includes Mrs. Obama's two inaugural gowns made by Jason Wu, a lesser-known designer before Mrs. Obama turned him into a star in the fashion firmament. Wu declined to discuss how he works with the first lady.
Mrs. Obama and Wu both were there when the first inaugural gown was presented to the Smithsonian in March 2010. The first lady said in her remarks: "The dress I donated today, made by Jason Wu, is a masterpiece." But the Smithsonian lists the gown as a "gift of Jason Wu in honor of first lady" Michelle Obama, making clear it came from him. The first lady's office had no comment on that.
Two other examples of gowns worn by the first lady that were donated by designers: the blue Carolina Herrera gown that Mrs. Obama wore to February 's state dinner for French President Francois Hollande and the gold beaded Naeem Khan gown that Mrs. Obama wore to the 2012 governors ball, now on display at the American Museum of Natural History. Herrera and Khan declined comment.
The first lady's office had no comment on whether the couture gowns worn by Mrs. Obama for her six other White House state dinners also were donated. Nor would it say how many gowns have been donated for the array of other big events for which the first lady is expected to appear in couture finery, such as the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremonies, governors' dinners and White House correspondents' dinners.
Wearing donated gowns represents a change in practice from the Bush administration.
Anita McBride, chief of staff to Laura Bush during her time as first lady, said Mrs. Bush paid for all her clothes, including her two inaugural gowns: a red crystal-embroidered gown by Texan Michael Faircloth and a silver and blue V-neck creation of Oscar de la Renta.
McBride credits the Obama White House with finding a cost-saving way to "keep Mrs. Obama in all those incredible clothes and to have the use of them not once but multiple times."
The costs of a custom couture gown can be phenomenal, particularly if it is highly embellished with something like beading.
New Yorker Sarah Phillips, who designed Hillary Rodham Clinton's 1993 inaugural gown, puts the full cost of that violet beaded lace sheath in the range of $50,000, with the Presidential Inaugural Committee paying $10,000 and Phillips and the workshop covering the bulk of the costs. Phillips isn't sure whether Clinton herself paid anything toward the dress, but the Smithsonian's website describes the gown as a "gift of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Presidential Inaugural Committee."
Lawyers who served in the Obama and Bush White Houses describe taking care in working with the first lady's office to ensure that arrangements with designers didn't run afoul of ethics rules designed to guard against conflicts of interest and questionable quid pro quos.
Beyond the unknowns about how often Mrs. Obama's clothes are donated, there are questions about how much she pays for those she purchases.
In a 2011 Washington Post story about Mrs. Obama's personal assistant, Meredith Koop, the first lady's office said Koop acted on Mrs. Obama's behalf "in arranging for purchases, including considering the best offered price and buying on discount if discounts are available."
That's still true today, the first lady's office says, without elaborating.
Several designers who have provided clothes for the first lady declined to discuss their arrangements. But given the prestige that comes with dressing Mrs. Obama, it's widely thought that designers are eager to cut the first lady a break. Former White House lawyers said any discounts provided to the first lady would have to be in line with what designers offer other top customers to avoid being considered gifts.
Paco Underhill, author of "What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping," said the markups on designer clothes are "astronomical" — and the discounts can be steep as well.
"Some of the routine discounts that people ask for are 40 percent off," he said. "Whether they get it is subject to somebody's discretion."
First ladies have tried all sorts of tactics to hold down their clothing costs, including keeping some dresses in rotation.
Mrs. Obama wore the same dress to this year's Mother's Day tea that she'd worn to lunch with Katy Perry in October 2012. She often switches around separates, belts and other accessories to give clothes in her wardrobe a fresh look.
Recycling carries its own risks.
Mrs. Bush, in her memoir, tells of arriving at a TV studio and noticing a picture on the wall that showed she'd worn the same suit to her last interview there.
"Quickly, I exchanged tops with my press secretary, so that it would seem as if I had more wardrobe variety," she recalled.
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Associated Press writers Brett Zongker in Washington and Beth Harpaz in New York and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
Serena williams crashes wedding
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Hit Friend’s Wedding in Prague
At least, that's how Kim Kardashian, 33, and Kanye West, 36, wrapped up their whirlwind post-nuptials week.
Exactly seven days following their extravagant ceremony at Forte di Belvedere in Italy (which included a giant wall of flowers, gushing speeches, and multiple costume changes), the newlyweds attended the wedding their close friend, Kanye's fashion stylist Renelou Padora, in Prague.
It seems that Mr. and Mrs. West are still feeling a bit bridal, seeing as they both opted to wear (almost) head-to-toe white for the happy occasion. That said, Kim's outfit — a minimalist pantsuit with a fitted top and stiletto pumps — was a definite departure from her ornate, lace-covered Givenchy gown from the previous weekend. She completed her look with a sleek low ponytail and a dramatic mahogany lip.
Justin Bieber Apologizes For Racist Joke, Using N Word: Read His Statement
Justin Bieber Apologizes For Racist Joke, Using N Word: Read His Statement
UPDATE: Justin Bieber issued a formal apology following the video's release. He tells Us Weekly: "As a kid
, I didn't understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt. I thought it was ok to repeat hurtful words and jokes, but didn't realize at the time that it wasn't funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance.
, I didn't understand the power of certain words and how they can hurt. I thought it was ok to repeat hurtful words and jokes, but didn't realize at the time that it wasn't funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance.
"Thanks to friends and family I learned from my mistakes and grew up and apologized for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public I need to apologize again to all those I have offended. I'm very sorry. I take my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable mistake.
"I was a kid then and I am a man now who knows my responsibility to the world and to not make that mistake again. Ignorance has no place in our society and I hope the sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say but telling the truth is always what's right. Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake and i'm grateful to those close to me who helped me learn those lessons as a young man. Once again....I'm sorry."
Original Story:
Uh oh! Justin Bieber is once again making headlines and this time he may have gone too far. The Sun has released an old video of the now 20-year-old was taken when the singer was 14, telling an offensive, racist joke on camera.
Steven Tyler Rocks Europe One Street Performance at a Time
The Aerosmith frontman, 66, is currently on his Let Rock Rule World Tour with his band in Europe, but when he's off the stage he's still jamming … in the streets.
The Demon of Screamin' showed off his drumming skills on Saturday when he sidled up to Helsinki street musician Fedor Grigorev's setup of more than a dozen wine bottles hanging on strings and showed off his drumming skills. Later, he posted a video of himself where he was smiling and "pounding the bottles."
This wasn't his only run-in with the local talent. A fan posted a video of the long-haired crooner clapping along to a Helsinki violinist's performance on a cobbled alley. At the end of the man's show, Tyler erupted with cheers and loads of applause.
Let's not forget that grooving with members of the community is something that the "Dream On" singer obviously enjoys. Who could forget when he joined a drum circle in Maui, Hawaii, last year and played the bongos in nothing but a Speedo?
After soaking up the culture in the streets, Tyler headed back to his hotel where he was back to his old rocker antics. He posted a bizarre video to his Facebook account of himself trying slip a note under Miley Cyrus's hotel room door. Cyrus was also playing a concert in Helsinki this weekend.
In the video, Tyler snuck up to her door with a note and used his best Elmer Fudd accent to say the Bangerz singer, 21, "was very, very sleepy." He then tried multiple times to push his message under the door, before giving up and putting it into the key card slot. Perhaps his comments about Cyrus's exhaustion, despite the fact that he is more than three times her age, was a way for him to prove that he still lives the rock 'n' roll life.
Needless to say, Tyler had a helluva time in Helsinki. Next stop, Stockholm.
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