Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion journalist Robin Givhan is leaving the Washington Post. The Washington Association of Black Journalists confirmed today that Givhan took a buyout from The Post after more than two decades of contributing to the newspaper. She worked as a senior critic-at-large for The Post, most known for covering the fashion industry, along with arts, race, and politics.
Givhan first covered the fashion industry and wrote a column at The Post from 1995 until 2010. During that time, her fashion coverage earned her a Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2006. She also covered Michelle Obama during the first year of the Obama Administration. After that, she was a style correspondent for The Daily Beast for two years and returned to The Washington Post in 2014.
Last year, she earned the Rabkin Prize for her arts writing. And most recently, she wrote a book on the late designer, Virgil Abloh, called “Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh.”
At least 60 Washington Post journalists have been let go this year, according to The Washingtonian. Many have been with the newspaper as long as Givhan or even longer. The newspaper has been struggling to find its footing under new leadership with a fresh CEO, Will Lewis, and directional changes, such as the decision from Jeff Bezos for the paper not to endorse a presidential candidate in the last election.
In 2023, The Post cut 240 staffers. Kathy Baird, its chief communications officer, said at the time that the layoffs would put the newspaper “in a strong place for 2024 and beyond.”
