Social Sunday: The White House crashers

Fashiona is a daring soul and unapologetically opportunistic but crash the White House for any event let alone a major one like an official State Dinner...she frankly has too much respect for the Obamas and herself.

Photo Credit: AP   Michaele (L) and Tareq Salahi

At first glance, this story seemed innocent enough.  The couple dressed up, she in a beautiful red sari, and crashed the best party in  the DC Metro area.  The Mrs. is an aspiring reality star...sound familiar....Balloon boy's  parents were on a similar quest. We all know how that ended...certainly not in a TV series.  

Fashiona has two main thoughts on the matter.  Her first is the motive...aspiring reality star.  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Isn't the whole premise of  "Reality TV"...uhh reality?  To invent reality is to create fiction...certainly a notable genre but fiction is fictional none the less.  Fiction, unlike real life, can be more dramatic, or more tragic or more perfect  and wrapped up in  a 2 hour movie or a novel. This is one of the reasons that Alicia writes as "Fashiona"...it allows her to  embellish or delete details at will for greater dramatic value.

Photo Credit: Reuters

Fashiona does understand the curiosity aspect, she kept up her " All things Obama watch" by following the night's action on Twitter and the Huffington Post. Who wouldn't want to meet the Obamas at such a swanky affair; even staunt Republicans whose politics  vastly differ from theirs, do like them as people.  Aside from the obvious security risk, there is the notion of privacy.  The State Dinner was still a private affair with Desirée Rogers, the fashionable White House Social Secretary carefully screening and reviewing the invitations with the final sanction by the President and his lovely wife. 

Point number two... now the deed is done and the Salahis are reportedly shopping around their interview.  Seriously...they want money now...for breaking all sorts of laws, bragging about it on Facebook of all places and getting caught?  

There isn't any story left and certainly not anything worth  paying a dollar for...this is it...the end...right?

*UPDATE December 1*

Apparently no such luck...and their 15 minutes of fame resets.

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Valerie Jarrett speaks at NABJ Hall of Fame Lunch

Photo Credit: Huffington Post.com



Valerie Jarrett in her signature white, talking and walking with President Barack Obama

It is Day 2 for Fashiona at the National Association of Black Journalist conference and she was given a ticket to the Hall of Fame Luncheon. She and the other attendees were looking forward to hearing Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration, who had graciously accepted NABJ's invitation to speak.

Photo Credit: Tom Maday

From left to right: Valerie Jarrett, Desirée Rogers, Linda Johnson Rice; in The Sisterhood from the August 2000 issue of Chicago magazine

Partial to wearing white, Ms. Jarrett looked lovely in diamond earrings, a multi strand pearl necklace, a two piece white top, and an A line skirt with a bow detail on the waist. In her remarks, she revealed while that SHE pays some attention to the fashion world, that President Obama pays no attention to the "Washington Chatter".

Valerie Jarrett (L) and Desirée Rogers (R) BEFORE they took office.


Fashiona

Pretty in Pink: Michelle Obama and Desirée Rogers

Last week, people from Fashion Ave to Hollywood to Political heavy weights attended the much anticipated White House Correspondents' Dinner. President Obama won rave reviews for his gift of humor and comedic timing. His jokes and sometime self-deprecating humor was much more tasteful than Wanda Sykes' "shock and awe performance". Fashiona, like her Facebook friends, were wondering just who invited her...

The guest list was 2500 deep, included a well-heeled Kerry Washington

Photo by Kyle Samperton

Kerry Washington in J. Mendel.

Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Designers included were: human muppet Donnatella Versace, Kenneth Cole, Jason Wu, and Narciso Rodriguez.


The First Lady, Michelle Obama, shined in a sleeveless pink Michael Kors dress and her partner in crime White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers in a pink full-length Halston Dress.

Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Michelle Obama in Michael Kors.

Photo by Kyle Samperton

Desirée Rogers in Halston and Valerie Jarrett

Now Fashiona usually not a fan of grown women wearing pink...give these looks the proper kudos they deserve.

The (sometimes fan of Michelle's outfits) Fashion Industry is even honoring the First Lady on June 15 at this year's CFDA awards...nice!!

Fashiona

Fashiona on Desirée Rogers and Brand Obama

Fashiona's friend Miss A. admitted to her a few weeks ago, that she wanted Desirée Rogers' job and... according to her research Miss A certainly has a point.

Desirée Rogers, the White House Social Secretary is a triple threat: with beauty, brains and that elusive but all important attribute...class.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers on the cover of WSJ. magazine.

Desirée's Pedigree:

• Beauty ~ Fashiona attributes that to the man upstairs and her parents of course.
  
• Brains ~ Desirée went to Wellesley for undergrad and is a Harvard MBA. Michelle and Barack are both Harvard Law Grads.
  
• Class ~ Fashiona says Desirée was born with it and just fine tuned her brand of urban chic through her life experiences. Ms. Rogers hails from New Orleans and has been on the Chicago social scene for years. She was also noted in Vogue in 2004 as being an chic executive.
  

Desirée's White House Social Secretary Job Description:

• Arranging events ranging from British Style Tea for the First Lady to the dinners with Heads of State
• Produces official invitations from the White House to events
• Coordinates non-political functions of the presidency
• In general coordinates political events for the President, the First Lady, and senior political staff.
• Creates a visual for the Obama brand and leaves no detail unturned.
  

Fashiona is wondering if Ms. Rogers needs an Social Networking Secretary...

Fashiona