"Robin Givhan Revives Rumors of an Ambassador Anna Wintour."

"If you thought rumors of Anna Wintour's ambassadorial ambitions had been laid to rest, think again. Robin Givhan would like to take a closer look, and if Givhan is taking a closer look, then there must be something at which to take a closer look."

1. You remember Wintour, the Vogue editor who did a glamorous party for Obama where it wasn't just fashion insiders, who get what she's supposed to be, and there was that video, turning the do into a competition where one common person would be permitted to mix with the Wintour-getting folk, and she was all "It'll be a fahntahzztic evahnahng, ahnnd you cahhhnn join us."

2. Why haven't we seen Wintour at the Democratic Convention? They've been parading one woman after another across their stage. Obviously, though she's about keeping up with fashion trends, she's thoroughly out of touch with the American political style — they way you have to talk to the people. But the Obama campaign is trying to pick the right people for their message, and they learned their lesson after they wheeled out Wintour last spring and let her unleash her mannerisms and affectations for the camera. (It's the other party that's supposed to be the rich, so you sure don't want someone who talks and tics like a stereotype of a rich dame.)

3. But Robin Givhan, the Daily Beast fashion-and-politics writer, is pumping the rumor that Wintour is after an ambassadorship. Robin Givhan, who's never hidden her fond love for the Obamas. (Just a couple days ago, she celebrated Michelle's perfect-for-politics fashion.) Why, then, would Givhan spread the rumour about Wintour? That doesn't help Obama. We should not be looking at that right now!

4. My guess is: Givhan is toning it down, and Wintour has the ambassadorship in the bag. The terribly expensive bag.

"Some of the stuff in [Sarah Jessica Parker's] house was shabby chic, and let’s just say, Anna [Wintour] wanted less shabby, and more chic."

This is completely mundane to me. Of course, a house that a real family lives in is different from the norm for a glamorous lunch party. Whether Anna Wintour or some less divine stylist is doing the redoing, it must be redone.

But it became hilarious when Rush Limbaugh — who had never even heard the term "shabby chic" — tried to get his mind around it.

Have you ever heard of the term "shabby chic"?  That is how the New York Post describes Sarah Jessica Parker's house. The decor is shabby chic.  I've never heard it, either.  I don't know what it is.  But they had... It's in the Post. Apparently, people were over there Windexing doorknobs.  This place is made out to be an absolute pigsty that Anna Wintour had to go into and clean. No, I'm telling you that's how it's written.  There are people cleaning the doorknobs, washing the windows, taking a piano upstairs, moving furniture out, moving furniture in. 

Etc. etc. After the break, he's got a definition of the term — it's from Wikipedia, though he doesn't say so — and he's quoting and riffing:

"Shabby chic is a form of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen" because they look old and worn out, with "signs of wear and tear." Or if they're new items, they're made to look that way. Flaking paint, dents, little chunks taken out of the wood table in the kitchen. I have pictures of some of this stuff.  It looks like you'd run into it in one of Hatfield or McCoy's cabins.  At least to me. "At the same time, a soft, opulent, yet cottage-style decor, often with a feminine feel is emphasized to differentiate it from genuine period decor."

Anyway, Anna Wintour didn't like it. She got it out of there.  It's not even her house.  It's Sarah Jessica Parker's place.  Anna Wintour shows up, and she probably said, "I'm not going in there.  I am not setting foot in this place! I'm not having my picture taken in a place like this."  So the story goes on. She moved the piano upstairs. They were spray painting stuff, washing doorknobs inside and out.  They're making the place sound like a pigsty. 

Limbaugh obviously wants it to be that Parker is a big old slob, but "shabby chic" is a decorating term that has nothing to do with things being filthy or even messy. And "one of Hatfield or McCoy's cabins"... that's a way to say "hillbillies" without saying "hillbillies." Limbaugh wants to say: this is the case of the biggest fashionista in the room calling another fashionista a hillbilly. The material is not there, because "shabby chic" is a technical decorating term. (My Google image search tells me it's very heavy on the color white.) But Limbaugh nevertheless follows his original impulse, that Wintour and her people insulted Parker by calling her home "shabby."

IN THE COMMENTS: I say: "Note to commenters: References to Parker's resemblance to a horse have been done, done, and overdone. Come up with something new." And Crack Emcee says: "Glad to oblige," and — quoting me "The material is not there, because 'shabby chic' is a technical decorating term. (My Google image search tells me it's very heavy on the color white.)" — says "Oh, that shit is HEAVY alright." Indeed!

ADDED: An antidote to the heavy at Crack's link. By the way, we're repainting our house, and we're repainting black and white. What we need to survive... together alive...

"It'll be a fahntahzztic evahnahng, ahnnd you cahhhnn join us."

I know this is a few days old, but I've been laughing at it for a few days, and I'm convinced now that it is ageless, so embed I must:



I could swear that at 0:22, she says "We're saving the 2 best teats in the house for you," but Meade won't agree.

I'm just trying to imagine the life a person would have to live to develop these mannerisms and affectations. Perhaps Anna Wintour came upon this personal style through hard work and wonderful creativity, but it's just so freaky! Why did the Obama campaign folk imagine this wasn't horribly, embarrassingly out of touch with Americans? That's the question.

By the way, is Wintour American? Because if she is, what the hell is that accent? Some kind of Jackie-Kennedy-gone-mad inflection? Okay, she was born in England. So I can't fathom depth of the phoniness. It's a mystery. And I think she is an American citizen now, so it's not that ridiculous for the campaign to want to use her as a lure for donors. But... someone in that campaign should have realized how mockable this would be and said no.

Now, I'm seeing that Media Matters is boldly coming to the rescue by accusing "Right-Wing Media" of "Unleash[ing]" a "Sexist" attack.

Here's a feminist clue from me to Media Matters: If you think it's "sexist" to make fun of how a particular woman looks and talks, but you don't have an equivalent principle with respect to making fun of how a particular man looks and talks, then you are being sexist. No special protection for the ladies — especially when they step into the political arena.