The Snob Talks Cleaning Out Your Closet on Tell Me More

Image via California ClosetsOn NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin Wednesday, we were talking about closets! Namely how much clothes in them we actually wear. (Not a lot.) Why we purchase so many clothes. Why living in a town with an extended social season will result in you owning an inordinate amount of dresses thanks to all the fashion snobs. And why that is so annoying. Featured Beauty Shop segment chatters were yours truly (coming in from NYC this time), Pulitzer-winning fashion writer Robin Givhan and a woman who really enjoys the smell of throwing out useless things in the morning, author and life coach Gail Blanke. 

Check it out.

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Michelle Obama Covers Vogue Again, Looks Great

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First Lady Michelle Obama made the cover of Vogue Magazine for a second time, as well as for the second term of her husband's presidency. In the article "Leading By Example," Jonathan Van Meter chronicles the First Family and how they're influencing America.

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Clutch Magazine: Vivienne Westwood Thinks Michelle Obama Needs the Fashion Police

In a weekend post for Clutch, I'm all over designer Vivienne Westwood's disdain for how Michelle Obama dresses (say what) and conclude this is more about WHO the First Lady wears than WHAT.

Here's a snippet:

My theory is always the designers who “hate”  Mrs. O’s fashion are the one’s Mrs.O doesn’t wear. Oscar de La Renta famously threw a fit after being the go-to guy for several First Lady’s and Mrs. O had the gall to wear European designers when she visited Europe. But Mrs. Obama has mostly preferred ready-to-wear by lines such as White House Black Market, J. Crew and many designers of color, like Thankoon, Jason Wu and Tracey Reese.

Read the full post at Clutch Magazine Online.

Fmr. Essence Editor Constance C.R. White Says She Clashed With Time Inc. Over Black Women

Danielle Belton and Constance C.R. White at an Essence event in Washington, D.C. in 2011.In an amazing piece by my friend Richard Prince, Constance C.R. White opens up about her recent firing from Essence Magazine, claiming she was forced out due to multiple clashes with management over the portrayal of black women in Essence. Apparently Time Inc. wanted it one way and Constance was repping for the readers.

White told Prince: "How is it that from 2000, when Susan [L. Taylor, longtime editor] left — she was pushed out — we have had about five editors, including two acting editors, yet Essence continues to decline? So where's the problem? And the editors are the black women. 'They are disposable. Let's keep changing them.'"

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Clutch Magazine: "Too Fat For Fun" and Michelle Rodriguez' Ancestors Light-Skin Obession

Fashion blogger Gabi Fresh donned a bikini and encouraged other women to ignore the naysayers and embrace themselves. Even in a "fatkini."The Snob has not one, but TWO stories up this Monday at Clutch Magazine. First up is how negative body images often keep women from both getting in shape AND enjoying their lives. Using fashion blogger Gabi Gregg's "fatkini" tale, I touch on how often so many of us forgo doing the things we love because we don't think we look "good" enough to enjoy them.

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Clutch Magazine: They Don't Hate You Because You're "Beautiful"

In the lastest post by The Snob penned for Clutch Magazine Online I tackle the issue of people who think other people hate them because they're just so darn attractive. Really, girl? Really? Here's a taste: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the beholder has grown up watching the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show that’s not really a fashion show and digesting Sport Illustrated swimsuit covers. We, as a people, have a general idea of what’s attractive, even if what’s “attractive” is often the result of a trainer, hair extensions, good camera lighting, self-tanner, a great diet, lots of exercise, Photoshop and good ol’ genetics. But aside from the world of the “Professional Pretty” class of folks who get paid for giving good face (actors, models, entertainers, singers, etc.), there are the many, many more of us in the much more difficult to categorize land of “regulars,” where all beauty is relative."

Read the full post at Clutch Magazine.

Ultimate Cosby Sweater Features Bill Cosby On It Wearing Cosby Sweater

"It's based on a real Cosby sweater and it has Bill Cosby wearing a sweater with Bill Cosby wearing a sweater on it." It's the "Inception" of Cosby sweaters. (H/T Gawker)

Essence Magazine's "An Evening of Excellence" Honors the Joyners, Surgeon General (Slideshow)

(Left to Right) Fitness expert Donna Richardson Joyner, "Fly Jock" Tom Joyner, Southern Company Board Director Juanita Baranco and Essence Magazine Editor-In-Chief Constance C.R. White

Last Friday Essence Magazine honored fitness expert and motivational speaker Donna Richardson Joyner; her husband, syndicated radio "Fly Jock" Tom Joyner and the U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin at their "An Evening of Excellence" event during the Congressional Black Caucus' Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The Snob was there to document the proceedings and chat up Essence's new editor-in-chief.

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Michelle Obama Returns On the Cover of Essence This October

Click to enlarge.Essence Magazine has named First Lady Michelle Obama the most influential lady person for their October "Power" issue and you know what that means! More pretty pictures of the First Lady!

Oh yeah, sure. Essence is totally promising an awesome interview with her and a whole 2011 "Power" list of 28 also great women, including Shonda Rhimes and Oprah. And new Essence Editor-in-Chief Constance C.R. White calls the First Lady-In-Excellence "the quintessential ESSENCE woman; impressively defining herself on her own terms." But I just want to see the photo spread that I know must, must, MUST be accompanying the story. (Must!) That'll be my B-day present from Essence (since I'm an October baby). So I'll be checking my mailbox for my copy. (Essence)