Apparently Overplucking is a Thing. (Funny how this happens after the Times declared eyebrowlessness a trend.) Anyway: There are kits and specialists and pencils and transplants.

This news comes after the American Apparel eyebrow memo and the ceremonial bleaching of the brows on America's Next Top Model. Not to mention the fact that we know who does Michelle Obama's brows.

Breasts are an old standby. We've already focused on the butt (thanks, J. Lo), the abs (Britney, circa "Slave 4 U") and in early 2009, we spent an inordinate amount of time on the arms. Maybe it's eyebrows' turn. At least, unlike some other body parts which get fetishized, they're on your face: People can look you in the eye as they judge you.

After Overplucking, It's Time To Call The Professionals [NY Times]

[Stafford, Virginia; December 16. Image via AP]

First lady Michelle Obama talks Toys For Tots Stafford County Distribution Center in Stafford, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009, as she delivered Christmas toys from White House staff. At left is volunteer Wilma Vaughn. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

• Remember Caroline Cartwright, she of the loud-sex lawsuit fame? She's back in the news for breaking her "anti-social behavior order" by having really, really loud sex with her husband (again). Breaking the Asbo could carry a sentence of vie years imprisonment, but it is unlikely that Cartwright will face jail time. • Six of the books shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction feature female characters and center their struggle to escape their pasts, according to Reuters. The award comes with a $50,000 prize and often leads to publishing deals in other languages. • A Texas couple are facing charges after police found the remains of an aborted 7-month-old fetus in a box under their Christmas tree. They apparently first tried flushing the fetus, which was aborted at home using pills, down the toilet. They have been charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. •  California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sarah Palin: "You have to ask: what was she trying to accomplish? Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the [Republican] nomination [for president]? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt." Or, perhaps, an entire tub of Morton. • Am amusing Marist poll confirms what we suspected: Michelle is the more popular Obama. 68% of Americans have a favorable view of the first lady, with only 20% claiming an unfavorable view. 57% think that she is doing well in her position, and 41% believe that she has changed fashion for the better. • 

Now, I know a mini-cottage industry has sprung up for the sole purpose of analyzing the Obama's marriage. And Kate Harding touched on much of it when she analyzed the NY Times Magazine cover story about the First Marriage and the dynamics of power inherent in a relationship when one person is the President. She noted:

Despite my focus on the First Lady's sacrifices and the inequality of the marriage here (I am a humorless feminist, after all), Kantor's portrait of the Obama's marriage is really quite sweet, warts and all. They joke. They flirt. They go on dates and ignore the conservatives who flip out about our tax dollars going toward dinner and a show. That's just not the whole picture, and Michelle herself believes revealing the warts has a higher purpose.

Yet, for some reason, I couldn't shake the thought of two pieces on The Root about what reasonable expectations are for a mate. Jenée Desmond-Harris, in a piece called "What Single Women Can Learn from Michelle,"advised women to learn toembrace your goofy, badly -dressed, non dancing nerd and David Swerdlick, writing a response called "What Single Women Can't Learn From Michelle," asked all the single ladies to stop looking for the next President, stop gold-digging, realize hidden potential, and, uh, date outside the race.

I had issues with these types of articles before, but it wasn't until watching Barack Obama give Michelle the eye, laugh and joke, and actually listen to her speak instead of cutting her off like so many other powerful male public figures that I realized what people who say they want a Barack Obama actually want.

They want a partner that treats them with love, honors them by respecting their opinions, and listens like a friend.

Somehow, I don't think that's too much for any of us to ask for.

What Single Women Can Learn From Michelle [The Root]
What Single Women Can't Learn From Michelle [The Root]

Earlier: NYT Magazine: How Can A Marriage Be Equal When One Of You Is President?

• The Dr. Biden love continues in this interview, where we learn how she influences her husband (Scotch-taping articles and opinions to the bathroom mirror) and her reasons for working ("I think it's very important for a woman to have her own money and be independent"). • A recent study shows that those who witness bullying may experience just as many problems afterward as the victims themselves. A survey of 2,002 students from the UK found that those who reported seeing bullying were more likely to report psychological distress than either the bullies or the victims. •  Italian officials have made it illegal to perform breast enhancement surgery on girls under the age of 18. While there are many good reasons to wait a few more years for surgery, they are primarily concerned with the number of under-qualified doctors. They claim that the legislation is aimed primarily at girls who go under the knife "purely for fashion reasons and have no idea of the risks involved." •  On Sunday, the New York Times reported on Mar/Com, a company that is making a killing fighting gay rights. The San Francisco-based company has worked against human rights in both California and Maine. Residents in Maine payed Mar/Com about $1.6 million to produce anti-gay marriage television and radio ads. • Amanda Knox spoke with reporters from the Associated Press in her jail cell in Perugia. She says she is "waiting and always hoping," and recalls feeling "horrendous" after her conviction. "The guards helped me out, they held me all night," she says. Knox also says she is continuing her studies from prison, and remains in contact with her former professors. •  Investigators announced on Monday that two Muslim women, whose deaths sparked independence rallies and riots in Kashmir, were not actually murdered. The Central Bureau of Investigation says that the two young women were drowned and have taken action against doctors for fabricating evidence. However, the victims' relatives reject the CBI's findings. • The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has called for an investigation into college admission procedures to determine whether or not women are being discriminated against. Many schools apparently do not want to have a female-heavy population, yet receive far more applications from females than their male peers. In attempts to keep a balance, some schools have ended up making it much easier for men to be accepted than women. •  Pregnancy hormones may give women superpowers, according to a new study. When pregnant, women display a heightened ability to read faces, especially threatening or angry expressions. •  Police have combed the journals of Mitrice Richardson for clues to explain her disappearance three months ago. While her family holds onto the hope that Richardson is still alive, officials believe the most likely scenario is that she wandered into the mountains and "succumbed to the elements" after being arrested for skipping out on a check. • Two female players from the University of Missouri's basketball team were arrested on Friday after they allegedly beat up a 21-year-old male cheerleader at a party. Both women have been suspended from the team. • R.I.P. Rose Kaufman, co-screenwriter of the first NC-17 rated film Henry & June. Kaufman passed away on December 7th at the age of 70. • 

[Washington, D.C., December 13. Image via Getty]

WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 13: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pose with children dressed as elves during the Christmas in Washington celebration on December 13, 2009 in Washington, DC. The annual event that supports the National Children's Medical Center, is a program being taped at the National Building Museum and airs on December 20 on cable TV. (Photo by Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)

• Laura Ingraham is auctioning Sarah Palin's fleece from her Going Rogue cover. Let's take up a collection and shoot a real Going Vogue. [Facebook]
• Givenchy was the winning bidder for Audrey Hepburn's How To Steal A Million LBD. [WWD]

• Sir Elton John is selling — completely fabulous, no doubt — designer clothes from his wardrobe for the benefit of his AIDS foundation. Prices start at £10. [Vogue UK]
• Michelle Obama wore Calvin Klein collection in Oslo. [WWD]
• Antonio Berardi is too cool to collaborate with Lady Gaga. "I was approached to design a clothing range with Lady Gaga but I knocked it back because I wasn't interested in someone whose music is meaningless," says the Italian-born designer. This, from a man who designed heel-less heels? [SN]
• "Women have many lives in a day, and I try to do the best I can to accommodate that. If I have a meeting at my son's school, I don't want to look like a total fashion freak. I think, ‘Could I wear this to Trader Joe's?'" Ever sensible, that Maria Cornejo. [WWD]
• Isaac Mizrahi is returning as the Narrator in the Guggenheim's holiday production of Peter and the Wolf. [NYP]
• Could Taylor Lautner be the latest face of Armani? [InTouch]
• Roberto Cavalli, when not lending his name to opulent Dubai nightclubs with black crystal floors, apparently likes to jet off to Africa and take pictures. Now he wants nothing more than to exhibit them, he told Martha Stewart, and the Daily, yesterday. "I love shooting primitive and simple things," explained Cavalli. You know. Primitive. Like Africa. [Vogue UK]
• P. Diddy visited the New York Stock Exchange for a party celebrating AOL's re-listing as a separate company from TimeWarner, and was apparently inundated with requests for fashion advice from finance chaps. [NYDN]
• A The Sartorialist clothing line and a The Sartorialist television show are just two of the many projects Scott Schuman is discussing presently. [Pedestrian]
• Versace's spring shoes are insane. Normally the shoes that actually enter production are watered-down versions of the sky-high runway clodhoppers; these look like they're one and the same. [TheLifeFiles]
• Jil Sander's second +J collection for Uniqlo will hit stores January 14. In the meantime, here are a few pictures. [Nitrolicious]
• Alexa Chung's MTV show, It's On With Alexa Chung, will end after its season finale on December 17. The network plans to "revamp" the show's format for next January; MTV has already shortened it from one hour to 30 minutes, and experimented with the timeslot. Chung's contract with the company runs through early next year. [Variety]
• At worst, Chung can console herself with the knowledge that she has inspired a Mulberry bag of her very own. The Alexa is a twist on the company's popular Bayswater, and starts at £695. [Elle UK]
• Yesterday, we linked to a Daily Mail story that stated Mulberry's sales had jumped 16% in the six months to September 30. Well, we ought to have known better than to trust that rag for financial news: although profits at the company rose 16%, sales rose a whopping 39%. [Vogue UK]
• Mango opened its first store in Iraq. [FWD]
• "I get my best ideas when I'm in the bath in the morning or when I'm driving," says accessories designer Lulu Guinness. [WWD]
• Lily Cole, on modeling versus acting: "I look at myself differently. I think in magazines I don't have very much control. If a picture of me is great, then great. If it's not so good, it's not my fault. I have less control in that situation. That is one of the things that I like about acting: I do have a lot more control over what I'm doing and more responsibility." [Interview]
• As part of her Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund award, Sophie Théallet will be mentored by none other than Oscar de la Renta. [WWD]

[Oslo, December 10. Image via Getty]

OSLO, NORWAY - DECEMBER 10: First lady Michelle Obama smiles from behind bullet proof glass on the balcony of the Grand Hotel after waving to the crowds who had gathered outside for the traditional torchlight procession on December 10, 2009 in Oslo, Norway. Obama today accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he is humbled by the award and receives it with an 'acute sense' of the cost of war. Photographer: (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

I'm one of those cultural Luddites who's been fighting to ignore Lady GaGa this year, but after this interview I might have to join the rest of the world in paying attention to her. This was a pretty kickass thing for her to say: "The truth is that every bit of me is devoted to love and art and I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger, I felt like a freak. I guess what I'm trying to say is I wanna liberate them, I wanna free them of their fears and let them know they can create their own space in the world." Okay, world, you're right, she's in.


Kate Gosselin says all eight of her kids cried when they found out they were no longer going to be on TV.


An even smugger than usual (!) Sarah Palin recycles her tired old moose chili anecdote. She's the first person ever to appear on the special two years in a row :(


The most fascinating person of 2009, Michelle Obama, admits that she watches trashy cable TV to unwind. (But just for an hour a week.) The other Most Fascinating (to Barbara) people were: Brett Favre, Adam Lambert, Glenn Beck, Tyler Perry, Jenny Sanford, and Michael Jackson's kids, who, thankfully, were not interviewed.

• Jourdan Dunn, 19, has given birth to a baby boy with her boyfriend of five years. She memorably walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier at seven months. [Vogue UK]
• Gisele and Tom Brady might name their newborn son Gabriel. [P6]

• Last night at the British Fashion Awards, Karen Elson strolled on stage to present a prize — and promptly stepped right into an orchestra pit. She fell four feet. (Kind of like that one time she fell on the runway at Zac Posen, but worse.) She picked herself and got back on stage to say, "I am the clumsiest person on this earth. I cannot believe I just did that. That is the worst fall I have ever had. I might have broken a rib, but I'm fine." [Telegraph]
• For a play-by-play of the night, Elle's got you covered. [UK Elle]
• Dita von Teese: "I also used clothes as a way to counteract my extreme shyness when I was younger. I wore a lot of extravagant vintage hats, which can make people somewhat intimidated. I think people will only approach if they have something very, very interesting to say to the girl in the outrageous hat!" [People]
• Terrell Owens has signed with Wilhelmina Models to pursue endorsement contracts. [AP]
• Martin Margiela, whose departure from Maison Martin Margiela was finally confirmed yesterday, was spotted shopping for a home in Los Angeles. [Fashionologie]
• Vogue Brazil — long the poor relation in the Vogue family, with, if you can believe it, an even greater propensity for jumping model/white background editorials than the American pendant — convinced Alber Elbaz to guest-art direct a stunning cover, and a fashion story inside. The results are lovely. [MadeinBrazil]
• Burberry will again show its women's collection at London Fashion Week in February. Until the LFW 25th anniversary last September, the brand's regular venue of choice had been Milan. [WWD]
• Today in off-beat holiday gifts: The Marc Jacobs skate deck. It's Canadian maple, people! [FWD]
• Betsey Johnson, for her part, would be satisfied with "a hot new lover." [WWD]
• Perhaps better than Barneys' "Saturday Night Live" seasonal windows is this offering from Moschino. The holidays are a time we all wish we could be in therapy, apparently. [FabSugar]
• Jason Wu is moving his West 37th studio to a bigger space. "When I first moved in there I painted the walls myself, it was very personal, I was like 'this place is so big, I'm never going to outgrow it'. Then we outgrew it," says Wu. Since the recognition that designing Michelle Obama's inauguration ball gown brought, he has also increased his output to four collections a year — spring/summer, pre-fall, fall/winter, and resort. "We need four seasons a year to keep the store stocked," explains Wu. [Yahoo!]
• Douglas Hannant, who has not benefitted from Mrs. Obama's sartorial munificence, explained his earlier reported comment ("Michelle Obama is not the next Jackie O") thusly: "I did say 'Michelle Obama is not another Jackie Kennedy and I do not consider to be a style icon.' But in addition, I also said 'she has so much more to her and has mass appeal. I admire her as a role model and think she will achieve great things in her position as First Lady.' And by the way, I voted for Obama." [The Cut]
• In other political fashion news, Hillary Clinton presented Blake Mycoskie of Tom's Shoes with this year's Award for Corporate Excellence. For every pair of Tom's Shoes purchased, two more pairs are donated to needy children around the world. As Mycoskie said at a gala for an entirely different ACE award earlier this year, "Shoes, for 40 percent of the world, are not an accessory. They're a necessity." [Blackbook]
• Naturally, as gigantic arena rock-star fashion shows become the norm, since fashion shows are more about generating publicity than they are about selling to store buyers and editors, more brands are taking the next logical step: making their fashion shows public, on the Internet. [Time]
• Adidas is entering the performance outerwear market. Which is a fancy way of saying: They're gonna make some jackets. [BW]
• Despite the recession, Mulberry's sales rose 16% in the six months to September 30. Naturally the Daily Mail uses this as an opportunity to run a bunch of pictures of celebrities carrying Mulberry bags, and ponder the wastefulness of women. [Daily Mail]

• Gisele Bundchen has given birth to a baby boy. Husband Tom Brady has a two-year-old son with actress Bridget Moynihan. [People]
• A Chantilly lace LBD worn by Audrey Hepburn in How To Steal A Million sold for $97,000. [AP]

• Naomi Campbell might do a modeling reality show in the U.K. Then she and Tyra would really have something to fight about. "Naomi has been approached with an offer, which we are talking about and discussing," says her spokesperson, somewhat redundantly. [UK Vogue]
• Executives at Maison Martin Margiela have confirmed that the Belgian designer, famous for his closely guarded privacy and his avant-garde designs, has left the house he founded and later sold to Diesel. Margiela's presence or absence at the house had long been a subject of speculation, with most fashion commentators, including us, operating on the understanding that Margiela the person was gone, but this confirmation comes with a twist: Diesel will not be hiring anyone to take Margiela's place. (Haider Ackermann and Raf Simons had been mentioned as potential replacements.) The design work will continue to be spearheaded by the 28-strong creative team, saving the house the expense of a "name" creative director. Will this work? Fashion design is a collective effort — all designers rely heavily on their creative teams for the generation, not just the execution, of ideas — but fashion observers yearn for an identifiable individual (even one who is rarely seen in public) to pin their criticism on. [IHT]
• Yesterday morning, police executed raids on 30 businesses on Canal Street in Chinatown, long a hotbed of counterfeiting. The Cut snapped a photo of what a shop without its imitation Coach and Prada goods looks like: basically a particleboard shell with racks and cases. "It's time to take back the streets of New York," said a police officer. Could this be the start of a crackdown? [The Cut]
• The counterfeit goods seized, including perfumes and handbags, filled an entire trailer. The sting was the result of a month long investigation carried out by the police and a private firm called Counter Tech. Officers made controlled buys of the imitation goods, which bore the trademarks of companies like Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany, and Chanel, and then used those goods to obtain search warrants. Investigators noted that during the five weeks they observed Canal Street, there seemed to be more foot traffic in the stalls than ever before. [WWD]
• Apparently pointing out that Michelle Obama "is not the next Jackie O" is enough to count as evil, unthinkable "sniping." Designer Douglas Hannant allegedly said this perfectly reasonable thing — Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy-Onassis are different women who had different roles in public life even if they shared a position, and all the Obama/Kennedy comparisons are a tad trite — and people gasped. [P6]
• Vogue is doing a shoot with fashion bloggers. Somehow our invitation must have gotten lost in the post! There are allegedly seven bloggers involved, and only three of them have been named: Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil, BryanBoy, and Todd Selby of The Selby. Who are the others? Garance Doré recently mentioned losing weight thanks to Anna Wintour in New York, and Tavi Gevinson certainly merits inclusion. Seeing the women behind Refinery29 would also be great (although they were just in Elle). But how much do you wanna bet it'll just be Julia Frakes and Sea of Shoes again? [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Tavi: She plays a prominent role in this video about the Rodarte for Target collection. You won't spend a better 2:37 today than watching Tavi interview Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman at the Rodarte show, or seeing the Target ad shoot in surprisingly picturesque North Dakota. [Style.com]
• And Tavi is now writing for Harper's Bazaar. [WWD]
• Just what you needed for the holidays: A $3,000 Judith Leiber Hello Kitty clutch. [Racked]
• Tamara Mellon went out to the premiere of A Single Man after trouncing her mother, Ann Yeardre, in a legal battle. Mellon, the owner of Jimmy Choo, won a $10 million settlement against Yeardre after some Jimmy Choo shares were mistakenly transferred to Yeardre, and she refused to give them back. [P6]
• The spring Louis Vuitton campaign has leaked. Lara Stone's position, reclining on dark, mossy grass, with white doves and, duh, handbags, looks like a friendlier revision of editorials done by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, one earlier this year for Vogue and the other in 2007, for W. The ads were shot by Steven Meisel. [Blackbook]
• After auctioning off all his and Yves Saint Laurent's artworks and household goods, Pierre Bergé is putting their 5,400 square foot Paris apartment on the market. It has a garden roughly equal in size, and is expected to sell for around $30 million. [WWD]
• Curious about who the most powerful 25 people in British fashion are? Well now you can find out. Good to know the British Fashion Council's on top of this stuff. [Telegraph]
• Carolina Herrera is opening her first freestanding store on Madison Avenue. [WWD]

[Washington, D.C., December 8. Image via the Official White House Photostream]

First Lady Michelle Obama meets with Ermine Erdogan, wife of the Prime Minister of Turkey, in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House, Dec. 8, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

[Washington, D.C., December 3. Image via Getty]

WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 03: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama greets children before she reads the story 'The Night Before Christmas' to them during the annual National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse December 3, 2009 in Washington, DC. Lighting the National Christmas Tree is a yearly tradition for the President of the United State during the holiday season. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

[Washington, D.C., December 2. Image via Getty]

US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) speaks in the Grand Foyer of the White House alongside members of the US Marine Corps and Toys for Tots President Retired Lieutenant General H.P. �Pete� Osman (R) as she thanks volunteers who decorated the White House for the Christmas holidays in Washington, DC, on December 2, 2009. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

• A French bankruptcy court has backed a plan that will cut 90% of Christian Lacroix's staff, and reduce the 22-year-old house to a licensing operation. [ToL]
• None other than Simon Doonan is decorating the White House for Christmas. [NYTimes]

• Speaking of the Obamas: Naeem Khan made not one but five dresses for Michelle Obama to consider for the state dinner last week. "It took 10 people three weeks to make the embroidery," says the Indian-born designer. The dresses were made in America, but the beading came from India. [W]
• The point of this story seems to be: Rihanna has changed her style remarkably since she started entertaining us with song. [CNN]
• Tiger Woods may still be wanted for questioning by the Florida Highway Patrol, but Nike is emphatically standing by their $40-million star. [WWD]
• Kate Hudson loved the costumes in her movie Nine, set in 1960s Italy like its progenitor, 8 1/2, because the period fabulousness reminded her of watching her mother get dressed as a little girl. [UPI]
• Catherine McNeil's Australian Vogue comeback cover is out. [Models.com]
• Hey, everyone! This week is the week that all the major department stores expect to magically start reducing their prices as one! To a modest 30-40% off. (Just don't call it collusion!) Net-A-Porter went 30-50% off yesterday, so that $4,000 dress might now be $2,500, with tax, and Saks is starting its up to 40% off sale Thursday; hold on till after Christmas for steeper cuts. Stores laid in around 20% less stock than last year, in hopes of avoiding last fall's rash of below-cost markdowns. It appears they've been successful. [WWD]
• "Whoever your mom is, people won't give you hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, who was given $50,000 to mount his first art exhibition last February, and whose latest show, of Nicolas Pol's work, drew Jean-Paul Gaultier, Andre Balazs, Daphne Guinness, and, oh yeah, his mother Carine Roitfeld, to its opening. Young Vlad's secret? "We work extremely hard." [Bloomberg]
• For I-D's 30th anniversary spring issue, Nick Knight will photograph 100 portraits of different fashion stars featured in its pages over the years — live, in front of an audience. His studio will be open to the public as an exhibition until December 20, and people will be able to watch shoots with, say, Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell, through a two-way mirror. Or live on the Internet, at Knight's showstudio.com. There's nothing that strikes us as less tedious than watching a month-long editorial fashion shoot, but someone might be into it. [WWD]
• The Telegraph gets to the bottom of the mysteriously straight and non-neurotic fashion designer Giles Deacon. How come he's so successful, anyway? "Don't know. My parents weren't into fashion. I didn't have an eccentric granny who mixed lace mantillas with tweed. I never believe people who say that, anyway. 'Oh, my granny had great style.' I just like doing it and I enjoy working hard. I go to work at 10am and I'm still there at 8.30pm. We get the wine out then, but anyone who is successful and tells you they don't work hard is lying." [Telegraph]
• Olivier Theyskens has a book on the way! Olivier Theyskens: The Other Side Of The Picture is due out from Assouline in February. He also might be involved in a new "retail concept," but neither he nor the company involved would comment. [WWD]
• It's official: Bravo will begin airing the Kelly Cutrone reality television series we've all been waiting for, Kell On Earth, next February. As long as Ms. Cutrone keeps dropping f-bombs on live morning television, an audience for this shit is practically guaranteed. [UPI]
• Peaches Geldof, Photoshopped within an inch of her life, is in a second campaign for the UK underwear brand Ultimo. The dividends of just happening upon that News Of The World photographer starkers continue to accrue. [Telegraph]
• North Korean jeans made by a trio of Swedes who describe making contact with the communist regime as "like Facebook poking a country"? Is this a joke? [FWD]
• Inez and Vinoodh shot the spring Lanvin men's wear ads this weekend in Paris, and rumor is they totally pulled a Juergen and put themselves in the shot. [WWD]

He writes:

…Why has Disney brought out a black princess now? It's not as if the black population of the world has suddenly increased in size or spending power to attract its attention. No, it is sheer, commercial opportunism on the part of Disney.

And:

"…The high-profile nature of President Obama and his First Lady means that this princess is being launched against a heightened consumer awareness of the dreams of black people coming true and it will receive lots of press coverage."

Now, Mitchell is a professor at Cass Business School in London. So he's looking at this from a business perspective. But the concept of The Princess And The Frog — originally titled The Frog Princess — had been kicking around at Disney/Pixar since at least 2006. In fact, the decision to put Randy Newman in charge of the music of the film was made in November 2006; casting for voices started in December 2006. Barack Obama was sworn in as a Senator the previous year. It doesn't quite add up. Plus, Disney's first princess, Snow White, was "born" in 1937. So the question shouldn't be "why now" but "why so late?" Why, for an all-American movie company, does the black princess come after an Asian princess and a Middle Eastern princess?

Is Disney interested in making money? Clearly. But the company is also interested in telling interesting stories, and a fairy-tale set in America, with black characters, qualifies. Even more troubling is this, from Mitchell:

With the increasing rise of successful black American women - think Tina Turner strutting her stuff at 70, Whitney Houston's recent comeback, the Oprah phenomenon and now Michelle Obama all being seen as "princesses" in their different ways - the aspirations of black American women to transform themselves have never been higher.

Really? black American women aspire to "transform themselves"? From what? Into what? This man writes as though every black American woman is living a gangster life in a ghetto, dreaming of being Princess Michelle Obama. There are millions of successful black women in this country, with millions of different journeys. Ms. Obama is not the sole role model black women have. Plus, she is admired by women of all colors. And if any black woman "aspires" to "transform," what the hell do Tina Turner and Whitney Houston have to do with it?

Upon showing parts of this article to Anna, she declared over IM:

"Heightened consumer awareness of the dreams of black people" is the stupidest thing I've read in a long time.

I can't agree more. If you want to argue that black Americans are being covered more by the media, I'd say duh; our president — and his race for office — did call a lot of attention to "being black in America" and resulted in lots of articles about How Black People Live Today and Who Black People Really Are and What Black People Want. But consumer awareness of dreams? The black experience is not a monolith; not a product. Dreams vary, and ONE black Disney character doesn't — and isn't meant to — represent them all.

Don't worry, though, Mitchell expects that any excitement about black people will pass:

Tiana is likely to be a niche as opposed to a mass market product in the long term. So, just as black American first ladies have a finite period of office, so, too, will Tiana.

Look, admittedly I have not seen the film, but it's so dismissive to think of this project as "niche" because it's a black princess. Time will tell, of course, but it's upsetting to assume that mass-market = white. Was The Cosby Show niche? Is Oprah niche? Is Beyoncé niche? Is the wise Latina known as Dora The Explorer niche?

But you know, arguing about Mitchell's ridiculous essay is pointless, really — the man is OBVIOUSLY a little… off. To wit:

…Depending on how many hearts she wins over, someone is bound to make the connection between Princess Tiana and Princess Diana, which will resonate even more strongly with consumers and give the character an added dimension of stardom.

Yeah…no.

Disney Cashes In On Obama Era With Princess Tiana [Times Of London]

Earlier: 11 Cool Things From The Princess And The Frog
5 Possible Problems With The Princess And The Frog
How About An Animated Movie With A Female Lead Who Isn't A Princess?
About That Princess And The Frog Spoiler…
Disney's First Black Princess Is A Little Green
An Early Look At Characters From Disney's Black Princess Movie
Why Has It Taken So Long For Disney To Create A Black Princess?
The Princess And The Frog
Why Is Disney's First Black Princess Such A Challenge?

[Washington, D.C., November 28. Image via Getty.]

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 28: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama speaks with his mother in law Marian Robinson (C) and wife first lady Michelle Obama (R) during a college basketball game at George Washington University November 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama attended the game between George Washington University and Oregon State, which is coached by his brother in law Craig Robinson. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)