Should Michelle Break Up With J. Crew?

Has J. Crew pushed the boundaries of their symbiotic Obama relationship a little too far? Politico posted an item disclosing a press release the retailer sent to reporters yesterday, advertising the fact that Sasha and Malia Obama have been spotted out and about in J. Crew wares. Specifically, if you must know—and they really, really want you to know!—the Silk Taffeta Trench ($298), black satin ballet flats with contrast trim ($98), girls’ crushed twill trench ($169.99), and girls’ minna printed ballet flats in classic navy ($108). Michelle’s gotten much traction from her public predilection for affordable clothes, but $298 for a growing child’s coat ain’t cheap. This might be great P.R. for J. Crew, but not so much for the Obamas. The larger issue, though, is the Obama girls’ privacy. Earlier this year, Michelle’s office delivered a strong statement against planned Beanie Babies dolls modeled after her daughters, forcing the manufacturers to pull the line ("We believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes” was the exact spokesperson-ese). And a J. Crew rep confirmed to Politico that they hadn’t run this release by the White House. Is this a lesser offense than Beanie Baby-gate, to which Michelle can turn a love-blind eye? Or does this gauche crowing mean that she should start seeing what Banana Republic has to offer?

Photograph of Sasha and Malia Obama in J. Crew coats at their father's inauguration by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Tags: Beanie Babies, fashion, J.Crew, Michelle Obama, Politico, retail, Sasha and Malia

Noreen Malone is DoubleX's copy editor. She is a native of Cleveland and a graduate of Georgetown University.

Comments

Companies will not waste a

By: Kamil | Tue, 08/04/2009 - 01:02

Companies will not waste a single opportunity to highlight such things and when it happens to be the President's children then they will certainly pull complete commercial mileage that can be possibly drawn from such appearances like Michelle Obama on the J Leno show.

Catimini

geeze louise!

By: GingerB | Thu, 07/09/2009 - 20:07

How many times do little girls get to see Daddy made President of the United States, or go to Russia with him? They looked nice.

While the prices for the children's clothes are beyond what I ever spent on my boys -ok a pair of $150 basketball shoes when one was 10- it's not out of line for a couple who had a best selling book last year!

In truth, ordering those duds online probably saved us taxpayers a bundle. The Obama's can't really head out to the mall without a full set of SUV's and manpower. That stuff isn't free either.

While I think the kid's are cute, I also think Michelle should ditch J. Crew because the stuff she wears from there isn't all that flattering. She's a womanly woman who is past 30. Those cotton straight skirts wrinkle across her hips - not flattering. The skinny sweaters that won't button over the womanly hips look like what they are - a sweater that doesn't fit right.

I say keep shopping there for the kids, but move on for yourself.

When Michelle appeared on

By: Ginia Sweeney | Thu, 07/09/2009 - 14:33

When Michelle appeared on Leno wearing J. Crew, and when the girls wore J. Crew coats at the inauguration, the company made sure to note it on their webpage. You could click and link to buy Michelle's whole outfit, and they had a page explaining that the inauguration coats were custom made by CrewCuts for the girls. In other words, the press release is just taking the marketing strategy they have already employed a step further...and a step too far, in my opinion. Maybe Michelle should scale back the J. Crew purchases.

Does anyone else think it's ridiculous that each girl has at least two pairs of $100 J. Crew flats, each disembarking from the plane to Russia wearing a different pair than she had boarded with? It all seems a little excessive, even for the first children.

J Crew

By: Thelonious | Thu, 07/09/2009 - 12:27

Wait a minute. One of your related sites, The Big Money, posted an article explaining in detail how insignificant Michelle Obama's contribution was to J Crew's success. Now they're exploiting the connection? Could it be that she actually HAS had a positive influence on J Crew's sales? Maybe? Possibly?

J.Crew has S.Crewed a marketing opportunity

By: foozy | Tue, 07/07/2009 - 17:59

In some ways it's hard to take J. Crew to task for a crass PR effort like this one -- the rag trade isn't marked by reticence and fair play, and it's been a rough year for clothing retailers.

But this could have been handled so much more effectively! Rather than send out a press release (where one might be criticized or ridiculed by the press, which is indeed what happened), it might have been more useful to go directly to the end user, the people who buy these clothes. That's the community that I'd organize! If I were the marketing queen of J. Crew (cue the shimmery harp music):

1. I would direct the store merchandisers to display the Obama items promptly and prominently after a sighting.
2. I would alert sales associates, and e-mail pix to the stores.
3. I would make sure that catalogs, websites and in-store displays feature plenty of adorable African American children.

The price points on these clothes is not necessarily a problem for the Obamas -- "fancy" kids' clothes are notoriously bought for kids by grandma.