I am senior critic-at-large for the Washington Post. I’m currently at work on a book examining the ways in which Virgil Abloh changed the fashion industry and how the fashion industry transformed to allow an unconventional creative force like Abloh to flourish. It will published by Crown Publishing in 2025.
The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into The Spotlight And Made History was my first solo book.
In addition to the Post, my journalism has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Essence, New York magazine, The Daily Beast and the New Yorker, among other publications. I've contributed to several books including “Runway Madness,” “No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade and the Rights of Garment Workers,” and “Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections by Women Writers.” I'm also the author, along with the Washington Post photo staff, of “Michelle: Her First Year as First Lady.”
I received my Bachelor of Arts in English from Princeton University and a Masters of Science in journalism from the University of Michigan. I came to the Post in 1995, to cover the news, trends and business of the international fashion industry. I also wrote a weekly culture column. From 2009-2010, I wrote about Michelle Obama and the cultural and social shifts stirred by the first African American family in the White House. From 2010-2012, I was special correspondent for style and culture at Newsweek Daily Beast. I returned full-time to the Post in 2014.
In 2006, I won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism for my fashion coverage. In 2024, I received the Rabkin Prize for my arts writing. After almost 10 years in New York City, I now reside in Washington, DC with my incorrigible dog, Oscar.