Press & broadcasting / Fashion
Robin Givhan
born 1964 · fashion critic, journalist
Detroit native, Renaissance High valedictorian and former Detroit Free Press writer who in 2006 became the first fashion critic to win a Pulitzer Prize.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 62- Birth name
- Robin Deneen Givhan
- Detroit years
- 1964–1982, late 1980s–early 1990s
- Field
- Press & broadcasting, Fashion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Givhan was born and raised in Detroit and graduated as valedictorian of Renaissance High School, the city's selective public high school, in 1982. After Princeton and a master's in journalism at the University of Michigan, she spent about seven years at the Detroit Free Press, where she started writing about fashion. She moved on to the San Francisco Chronicle and Vogue before joining The Washington Post in 1995. There her sharp essays reading clothes as politics and culture, from Dick Cheney's parka at Auschwitz to Michelle Obama's wardrobe, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the first ever awarded to a fashion writer. The University of Michigan inducted her into its Detroiter Hall of Fame in 2013.
Highlights
- Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (2006), the first for a fashion writer
- About seven years at the Detroit Free Press
- Valedictorian of Renaissance High School (1982)
- Author of The Battle of Versailles (2015)
- University of Michigan Detroiter Hall of Fame (2013)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1978–1982
Renaissance High School
Detroit's selective public high school, where she was valedictorian in 1982.
Worked here · late 1980s–early 1990s
Detroit Free Press Building
Closed · 1925–1998
The Free Press headquarters during her roughly seven years at the paper; now The Press/321 apartments and offices.