Washington Post senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan provided a rousing defense of Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday. Although her defense was short on facts, it was definitely heavy on fashion, most likely due to Givhan's previous stint as the Washington Post's fashion editor.
However, from the headline of her story, "When Fani Willis took the stand, her fury was precise and laser-focused," you would have thought facts would have been the emphasis instead of fashion. That is, until you read the fashion-filled story.
Willis sat in the witness chair for hours. Or, more precisely, she reclined in the chair, woman-splaining how men define relationships and how they end them. She did so wearing a fuchsia dress with a single strand of beads around her neck. Her hair was styled in soft, shoulder-length curls and her eye makeup was precise and intentional. She was a singular bright spot surrounded by a black-robed judge and lawyers in mostly somber suits. Only Willis and her main inquisitor, Merchant, who wore a cobalt blue dress under a white blazer, stood out in the room’s sobriety.
Who wants to tell Givhan that Willis's dress zipper was in the front which means she was probably wearing it backwards? Oh, and her very well paid prosecutor, Nathan Wade, also received the Givhan fashion critique:
Wade sat in the witness chair in his gray plaid three piece suit, with his French-cuffed shirt, gold cuff links and powder blue pocket square.
And when not obsessed with fashion, Givhan focused in on body posture.
The hearing had been taken over by Willis and her outrage. Whether her anger was defensive or righteous, it was something to behold.
She sat with her body positioned at a slight angle and rested her fingers on her cheek. Sometimes, she’d lean forward into the microphone but mostly her posture was one of powerful repose. If there is a female equivalent to man-spreading, that tendency of men to sit with their legs akimbo as they take up more than their share of space on a bench or a bleacher, Willis’s stance may well be it. She filled the room with her presence.
She might be more accustomed to asking the questions in a courtroom than answering them, but Willis didn’t have the rigid posture that one so often sees from witnesses who might be fighting off nerves. She sat in the hot seat like it was her throne and she was ready to slice off some heads.
Naturally, Givhan's fashionable story about Willis came in for a lot of social-media mockery. A few examples:
I can only hope, for whatever integrity you may have left, you didn't actually watch the hearing before being given this damage control assignment. Because you can't have watched Willis self-immolate on the stand and then write this with a straight face pic.twitter.com/OaTHW3KsMc
— Daniel Reid (@danielp_reid) February 16, 2024
Her fury may have been focused, but her facts were anything but...
— I.B. FineX...or not (@IBFine1) February 16, 2024
This is a parody, right? 😂
— Daryl (@Daryl_Manuel) February 17, 2024
