Michelle Obama's Designer Maria Pinto To Close Chicago Store

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 16th 2010 at 10:01PM

Having the favor of Michelle Obama has been a golden ticket for some designers like Jason Wu but even the power of the First Lady and the all-powerful Oprah hasn't been enough to keep Chicago-based designer Maria Pinto in business. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the designer, who kept Mrs. Obama in ladylike sheath dresses and elegant evening wear during much of the 2008 election campaign, has closed her Chicago boutique and is expected to seek bankruptcy protection this week.

Like many smaller designers, Pinto found herself vulnerable to the recession which had many of her clients buying less clothing or switching to less expensive options. Her line appeared in luxury department stores which have also been having hard times, scaling back both the range of goods they purchase and the amounts. Maria Pinto remains optimistic that she will be able to regroup and that her namesake brand will not disappear permanently but is just taking a break to retool.

[via Stylelist]

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