Here are some additional photos from Amal Clooney’s pap-friendly walk in NYC earlier this week. I found out that the skirt and blouse are both Gucci. I still don’t like the ensemble – I think it’s “off” for her coloring. Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of Amal and George out last night – according to Page Six, they had dinner with Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Amal and Justice Sotomayor are seemingly old friends/colleagues – Amal worked as a student law clerk for Sotomayor for a semester while she was at NYU.
Yesterday, The New York Times published a puff piece called “How Amal Clooney Took New York”. Much of it reads like a fever dream of George Clooney’s publicist, but I was shocked to find there was actual information in the article! Like, they got quotes from designers, there was shade thrown at George Clooney’s ex-girlfriends, and they had a very interesting story about Amal meeting the cast of Mad Men. You can read the NYT piece here. Some highlights:
Teaching at Columbia. Apparently, all of Amal’s students are “under strict orders not to discuss her or anything about her class,” said a student who declined to give her name. Amal did a slideshow for her students too.
Meeting New York tastemakers. Amal had a private lunch with Anna Wintour, plus Amal and George had dinner with Tina Brown at Brown’s home. Brown told the NYT: “I think she has a natural charm. She talked about her cases. She is serious about her work. She is not into being a socialite.”
The Politician’s Wife: “There is perennial talk, too, that Mr. Clooney, 53, will seek political office. And in New York his wife has perfected the camera-ready pose of a political spouse: head tilted to the left as she strokes her luxurious tresses and parts her lips just so while slipping quietly into the back of a black sedan.”
Peggy Siegel, “the doyenne of New York publicists,” has an opinion: “All of a sudden George has this new stature of being married to a glamorous woman who is intelligent.”
Bonnie Fuller, the editor in chief of HollywoodLife.com: “People wonder what did she have that his other long-term girlfriends did not.”
Amal enjoys Manhattan: Amal lived in NYC through the early 2000s and she’s been telling people how much she enjoys being back in Manhattan.
Giambattista Valli loves her: Amal has been wearing a lot of the designer’s clothes, and Valli says he met Amal through Anna Wintour. Valli tells the NYT that Amal does not have a stylist, that she shops for herself and has come to his showroom to try on clothes in private. He also said: “She is not a reality-show girl. Finally there is someone with a mind and legs. She is very spontaneous. She is not the kind of woman who programs.”
Amal shops vintage: She stopped by What Goes Around Comes Around and picked up a “Chanel knit dress and a mink fur baseball cap.”
A mink baseball cap? Amal shops for herself? She has brains AND legs? And for someone not interested in being a socialite, she sure does love to go out to dinner with all of the important people of New York, right? But maybe they mean she doesn’t want to “entertain” and be a “hostess.” Darling, she doesn’t cook. She’s not a hostess. She’s not planning your party. If you’re lucky, she will ATTEND your party.
And the Mad Men story… Amal and George happened upon the cast of Mad Men and George went over to the table and asked the actors if he could introduce them to Amal. Amal was apparently very “excited” to meet the cast because she loves Mad Men. The NYT makes the point that John Slattery was in the group. Um… you guys know who John Slattery is married to, right? Slattery’s married to Talia Balsam, otherwise known as the first Mrs. Clooney (Balsam also plays Slattery’s on-screen ex-wife on Mad Men). I would LOVE it if Talia and Amal met. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I know DOZENS of women who are beautiful and intelligent and successful at what they do. Why is everyone acting like she’s the first woman who’s not ugly that can string two sentences together? It’s insulting.
+ 1
I know! It really is very annoying
George’s publicist and political advisors are trying really hard to earn their paycheck.
I agree, I don’t believe that she doesn’t have professional help with her “image.”
Agree
stop lying. George Clooney personally invented the prototype for a beautiful, intelligent and succesful woman. thats what all of those articles about them tell us!
But do you know dozens of statuesque, highly-educated, super-accomplished professional women that are married to Hollywood A-listers? No, of course not. And that’s the story here, obviously. She’s smart, stunning, stylish AND she married one of Hollywood’s most eligible (and infamous) bachelors.
And your point is Amal is good only because of who she is married to…taking women to stone age.
Word. While it is great to celebrate a woman’s accolades, it is insulting to act like she is the only woman to have them ever.
Absolutely,
The PR roll out in NYC has been almost flawless. Well done team.
BUT why are so many people just not buying it today or any day. Dinner dates with the high and the mighty intelligencia of New York, must have taken some negotiation, maybe PRteam promised George on best raconteur form regaling with Hollywood stories, who could resist. The problem is that my boss is in THAT circle and he says they are a laughing stock par excellence of the Fifth Ave set, which is not nice and unkind to think the people they are most trying to impress are laughing. I think their biggest faux pas has been trying to pass themselves off as “humanitarians’ especially after an uber expensive wedding in Italy, and a designer cat walk show almost daily.
Classy..I get this picture of ‘all shucks’ george in a 180.. forsaking his worn grey tee and ‘ the boys’ to kiss up to wintour–ice queen of the elitists– just to further sell this life script he’s continually shopping around. Pretty funny stuff.
All of his x gfs seemed intelligent and had body parts! These comments are objective and are elitist. Maybe the “other women” weren’t in the law business, but they worked. It pains me to hear put downs of women for “not having the right career”.
There’s an additional layer of misogyny here too. George decides who’s worthy of his attention. Those teenas he dated weren’t worth his royal paternalistic monarch’s long-term attention because they were just “ordinary” women who weren’t semi-brainy. Amal’s special because she has a solid education and a career. The other women are just…women.
I don’t find her gorgeous or anything. She looks okay. I’ve seen women walking down the street that were more attractive and more polished.
I don’t get the Amal love. Also George Clooney looks worst for wear, IMO.
The first rule of law school fight club is you do not talk about law school fight club…
Because you’re too exhausted and have no time to talk about anything with anyone. The entire class probably rolled its eyes collectively at that one.
Really? As someone else here indicated, this is a 1L elective. So, paranoid, competitive first-year law students cannot form a study group? Cannot ask questions about what she taught with anyone because they cannot discuss what she did outside class? How, exactly, does Columbia Law plan to enforce this rule?
This is just more f*&%ery from a woman whose career is full of similar stunts.
And I really cannot imagine that law students at freaking Columbia are going to be that impressed with her inflated résumé. Please. These students are the cream of the crop and I don’t think that easily impressed. My son went to Vassar with Meryl Streep’s daughter and dated her friend and was at her apartment in NYC and was like “So what? She’s no smarter than I am.”
It’s like there’s this desperation to find something nasty to say about this intelligent and attractive woman, even to the point of saying her being on the sidewalk is a “planned pap walk.” How ridiculous – people “do” have to use sidewalks you know….for various reasons. Obviously she doesn’t read all the nonsense printed about her and good for her not wasting her time on it.
Even with the clenched elbows, the ceramic cockatiels and the professional rollout, I’m still a fan.
Me too.
I like her, too. I just wish she wasn’t being used to insult women everywhere. It not her fault, of course, but all this “a woman with legs and brains! Wow!” Almost like a chair started up a conversation. It’s annoying to me. As I said above I know plenty of smart, beautiful women. These quotes make it seem as if she’s the first and only one.
I can’t honestly say I’m a fan of someone who’s dumb enough to marry an obvious alcoholic and is happy to be a PR vehicle. The arranged pap walks, these planted stories are all about selling this relationship. Too “try hard” for me.
Also there are plenty women in Hollywood with a degree but they choose acting it is insulting to them as well
Yeah, I think she’s alright too.
GNAT I get what you are saying…but since we are living in The Age of Kardashians, Amal seems like a rarity in the celebrity eco-system. That’s why I guess her narrative is getting such play.
Good point. Maybe they just meet Kardasian types all day long so she seems startling.
I really dislike all things Kardashian but don’t view Amal (as promoted by the Clooney marketing – also for profit) as any kind of counterpoint. In fact, loathe as I am to say it, the Kardashian approach to selling themselves is at least more ‘honest’ – however utterly urgh also.
The Clooneys are just as base in their need for the fame and reams of newsprint copy BUT have tried to disguise it with a veil of elevation &; ‘class’. Same coinage though, just flipped.
But, despite the attempts at guile, they are both still too obvious in their desire for their media exceptionalism. Especially Amal.
If it’s a binary choice, I can dismiss the horror of honest famewh0ring for what it is much easier than choosing to give a bye to the dishonesty of the Clooney approach to blowing smoke for $ & power.
I enjoy reading about her and am rooting for her and George to go long in their marriage. I think they’re a lovely couple. I can’t blame him for marrying up with someone as accomplished as her.
GNAT
I really doubt that. Clooney has cultivated his group to be more educated than a K crowd. To assume that’s all they deal with day after day seems very unlikely.
This is just Clooney’s PR countering all the Amal is a socialite stories. And I’m a huge believer of actions speaking louder than words. Amal IS a highly educated pretty woman, BUT! She is also diving right into her husbands world of celebs and taking advantage of that. Neither is bad and together it’s fine. There’s no issue here, unless someone thinks Amal can’t be both or can’t be seen as someone who likes to have fun.
Yeah, I like her too. I think it’s a bit ridiculous that people are offended that the media is making a big deal about her.
For a long time it has been the HUMANITARIAN word that gets me. I can take the fame wh****, I know it goes with George’s job, and can’t do her Chambers any harm either. PR, spin call it what you like is the life blood of commerce. Most like to just pay to take out an ad in a magazine and pay for it. These people Kimya included like to pay by parading their private lives, (so not actually parting with hard cash), which must be painful. To ease the pain and make everything easier and more “fun” Amal has decided to wear top end designer wear to do her ad/ F*** ho*** , thats OK too but pleeeeze don’t then say you are a humanitarian. In Lebanon, Amal’s home Country the refugee crisis is at breaking point, the outfit above could have eased so much pain, in Lebanon today. BUT Amal Looooooves NYC go figure. And George has never visited the birthplace of his much loved wife, go figure.
Absolutely Classy, she has zero credentials as a Humanitarian. She is a lawyer specialising in Human Rights. She is paid to represent the individual or body writing the cheque. Of the clients her name has been attached to (never as Lead), many are those who are viewed, by most, to be on the sketchy side of human rights observance or justice. She is linked, by association, to regimes viewed as guilty of human rights abuse.
Her representation of Assange is about preventing him being extradited to Sweden to face questioning (action) over multiple allegations of sexual assault. The Swedish authorities are now attempting to compromise in order that he can be properly charged (not just in absentia) before the statute of limitations runs out at the end of this year on those alleged crimes.
There are a lot of murky connections being muddied by her new HW Clooney sheen.
I believe everyone has the right to proper counsel, and Amal Clooney may be equipped to provide that (although some of her recent outpourings and performances even call that into question – but allowing her some qualification), but to conflate her practising Human Rights Law with her being an Humanitarian or activist is just incorrect. The two may not always be mutually exclusive but nor are they a given in the way the spin would have us believe of Amal Clooney. The receipts for this just aren’t there.
She loves the cameras too much for me to take her seriously. Her friend’s weird speech at her wedding about how all men were intimated by Amal confirms that she and her social set live in the 1950s. In my generation lawyers are second tier and tech chicks and management consultants are da bomb. Sorry, Amal. You’re way too smug and anachronistic and happily a prop for George. And wearing fur is so bogan.
she looks so unhealthy to me. Also, I’d be pissed if I paid good money for a class, only to be told what I could and couldn’t discuss about it. Amal is buying into her own hype.
Its her choice in outfit that makes her look unhealthy although she is really extremely thin. they emphasize her bones jutting out and her androgynous shape. when she dresses better for her body type she looks better. she’s like Kim K that way.
Hollywood wouldn’t like this PR I think this going to hurt george career
She definitely looks like she doesn’t try hard to be It girl and like all she needs is privacy. Said no one ever.
I don’t know what gave you that idea…couldn’t be all those obvious planned pap walks.
Touché ,Alex.
lol This charade is becoming more ludicrous by the day.
The thirst is real.
Amen.
To be fair, the magazines and blogs have fallen over themselves for Amal. She would have gotten at least 1/2 the attention even if Amal/GC’s PR people hadn’t been calling the paps (this was semi confirmed by some photographer); she did catch a guy who was once upon a time considered a very eligible bachelor.
The first part of the title explains a lot! If she had a stylist she should have been fired. Some of the pieces she wears are fine individually but it is how she pairs them that makes them all wrong.
She talk about her cases how boring is that & who talk about their cases with strangers? Great PR george she is not different then the K families
*cough*bullshit*cough*
Students pay tuition, and are basically told not to discuss anything about her or what she covers? Did she hand out NDAs? That is ridiculous.
Also, Talia traded up. Big time.
Oh please, it’s freezing in NYC and she’s doing pap strolls without a coat? She loves attention.
And if she doesn’t have a stylist, she should get one.
so true! it has been cold and windy these past few days, why the hell is she not wearing a coat? this propaganda is going to backfire on george clooney. if they continue selling how perfect this woman is to the public, it is only a matter of time before the backlash begins.
People get tired of a perfect couple or person because we need some scandal but if they keep selling how perfect she is I think something wrong with that because no one is perfect
I don’t believe for a second that she doesn’t have a stylist. No one goes from her prior questionable style to being an “icon” even with an unlimited budget. Maybe it’s word parsing–possibly it’s the stylist George pays for.
Giambatista Valli knows how to throw shade. If Kanye read it, it would be bad.
I wish the excerpt had started, rather than ended, with “mink fur baseball cap”. Now I’ve wasted my time reading about a woman who’s either (A) too dumb to know about the horrific fur industry or (B) too selfish to care that animals die in agony for something as stupid as a BASEBALL CAP.
Unacceptable.
Sorry to be the bearer of more bad news, Brittney B, but she’s wearing a python skin collar above. And has in the recent past worn a snakeskin jacket, a python skin clutch and python skin ankle boots. And we know, courtesy of Mr Valli, ” that she shops for herself and has come to his showroom to try on clothes in private” so these are her choices.
I wonder how she’d justify it if she was called on it…
Well, she certainly isn’t an animal rights’ activist, is she?
The fur industry really does sicken me. It’s awful. I refuse to wear it and be part of the demand that perpetuates it. It makes me truly sad.
It feels like to me ,Team Clooney couldn’t sell their product in Hollywood, so they took it to New York. The harder they push her on the public, the more negative people are going to be on her.
It’s so true she’s a product. Happiest product you ever saw being paraded in front of the cameras.
Amal Clooney = effortless fashionista.
The Clooney make over is strong on this one! Lol
My key issue with this whole thing is knowing so much of the before Clooney Amal and being aware she’s been puffed and padded prior to this roll out to a ridiculous and insulting (for women working in any field gaining note ON MERIT) level.
There are reasons why her prior work & social history have been enhanced and sanitised (or disappeared) entirely. And that she has been surgically and cosmetically adjusted over 18 months to become the acceptable model of aspirational womanhood is further insult to injury – and insult to all our intelligence.
And she is clearly complicit in this Weird Science George the teen boy experimental PR-ing of Perfect Woman which neither stands up on scrutiny AND, most crucially, actually wraps itself in a messaging which runs counter to women having success and acknowledgement based upon their own agency and their own worth.
She is a fantasy Hollywood realisation of womanhood with expensive PR and connections selling the blurb. She has just enough authenticity to make the movie open, but the plot holes are gaping with one viewing. Yet her thirst for more is obvious!
Whatever the contract for this marriage. Whomsoever made first approach or brokered it. However they exploit star power & contacts for further hyping. She is a falsified template which actually diminishes all the truly inspirational role models going about (in however a discreet or ‘small’ way) providing positive & constructive paving of pathways for women. She opted out of clearing her own ground because she was too hungry (or lacked the important drive) for the note without putting in the work. She bought into bulldozing wholesale with PR and throwing up a mansion of mythological womanhood built on shaky foundations.
She’s the product of graft NOT hard grafting.
Anyhow, whatever the next spin, the one after ad nauseum, I will never not see her as anything other than a tomb tabard (empty coat) and she has lots of stylists fashioning her as such.
Seriously get a life. Its none of your business who she married or how she dresses. The fact that you hav time to write this shows you are unemployed. Probably fat with cats too.
If that was your take on my post, it was your take. It’s inaccurate but hey-ho you’re Clooney PR dream demo.
Fat with cats? Meow!
That was rude and uncalled for. Perhaps you should take your own advice.
@Maryjones. Amal Clooney clearly wishes to have us comment on her, that is why she is in NYC on a very chilly day with NO outerwear. Brrrr.
The fact that many – I estimate over 75% – of us see this as a totally fake marriage and fast track Fame Ho****, is sadley to be expected. I think it will carry on like this until George (not Amal) throws his hands in the air and shouts CUT.
Maryjones, best not to read Amal Clooney articles I fear they will only get much worse.
@Heatherington, interesting read.
Maryjones, why do you bother commenting here yourself? Pretty pathetic for you to take Heathering’s comment so personally. You must be unemployed with cats (whatever the heck that means!)
@maryjones
Wow, personal attacks! How very mature. Heathering is entitled to her opinion as she see it. She’s obviously put a lot of thought into it. Your comment was uncalled for.
Well said Heathering. PS.. Love your name.
Sing it! *applause*
Fantastic post Heathering. Absolutely spot on. Could not agree more. Thanks for spelling it out better than I could have done.
Can you write my LinkedIn bio? And obituary?
Always feels a bit off returning to say thanks in response to a bit of general agreement on thoughts splurged oot online, but ta to those above (below (?) my phone display makes thread flows odd sometimes).
I just don’t like that they appear to be trying to mug folks off as to be so easily spoonfed hype. Too much suggests they think we’re dumb suckers ready to standing O to a questionable show.
Anyhow, @DogMom sure your LinkedIn reads well in your own words, and don’t be rushing to your obit mo. @KD the name just came from my Scottish roots.
/got an early mark for the weekend and hottest day of the year, thus far, so my garden and a glass of something are calling.
🙂
Well said Heathering. And I dislike how not liking her or what she represents makes me anti-women. On the contrary.
Spot on! lol…..
That’s basically what I’m trying to say from the start- only I cannot word it so well. I, too, see her as shallow, and very hungry for fame. The high education she got seems to serve that goal. She WANTS to be known, and seen, and photographed. Which would be fine, if they did not attempt to push her on us as a major, hardworking player in the field of law. It’s an insult to all truly professional women, and to every young woman aspiring to become one. They are trying hard to sell an image, but I would not advise my daughters to buy it. She’s a puppet on Clooney’s string, and she doesn’t seem to mind.
Yes, Heathering, I agree with all of this! This false narrative is particularly insulting to all of us busy professionals who have to put in the hard work and sacrifice to get ahead. Also, I continue to be astonished at the complicity of former august institutions (the NY Times, Columbia Law School, the US Supreme Court????? Justice Sotomayor, say it a’int so) in the advancement of this false narrative.
Beyond that, I still don’t see what George gains from this. I know the usual excuses (bearding, politics, the Tina and Amy joke???) but I cannot see this Kardashian-esque roll out advancing his career. Before Amal, his personal life was the subject of some minor ridicule, but my impression is that he had garnered some legitimate respect for his actual work in Hollywood and his actual humanitarian efforts. He didn’t need more fame and money. He must know, on some level, that people are not buying what they’re selling. Even Amal’s #1 fan, the Amal Clooney style blogger, is getting a barrage of comments asking why Amal is being photographed at close range, why Amal is wearing fur or python, and why she seems to enjoy the attention so much.
p.s. Heathering, what do you know about this pre-Clooney Amal???? Please describe this undisclosed entity.
@Lori – apologies on delayed reply. Mostly secondary source, Oxford (past-ish) & London (more recently), so I’m not about just splurging scuttlebutt indiscriminately or indiscreetly, I hope you understand and appreciate.
I did make one post with some specifics on the “I Don’t Cook” thread; also other comments in regard all not being quite as presented (academia/career or social).
I do, however, endorse the tenor of a couple of posts by others (someone re Inns’ chatter and another re 5th Ave) indicating that, whilst the Clooneys may be Hot convo topic in certain London/Manhattan circles, the substance and conclusions of those conversations may not be as favourable for their images and ends as they might imagine or expect from their PR push.
/btw – I personally side-eye much of the views of many of “those circles” whatever my associations but, like it or not (right/fair or not), those are the circles they hope to appear to be cultivating and convincing for credibility sake. But image and reality can differ.
/apologies: horridly guarded Law/pols style reply but didn’t want to leave you hanging.
Omg lol so hard @heatherinton posts…..the lack of punctuation and incorrect use of words and the “try hard” using sooo many “big” words (incorrectly) to show off. I can’t get enough, so funny to read the ridiculous ramblings of this awful writer lol.
@ Heathering….no worries about the response. I don’t want to put you in a position of betraying any confidences that you might have. I remember your previous post in the “I don’t cook” thread. She sounded positively insufferable then.
What I’m wondering is this — assuming, arguendo, that this is a contract relationship…..why her?????? From what you’ve indicated, and from what I’ve gathered from her post-marital legal exploits, she appears to have more baggage than the cargo hold of an airplane. I cannot imagine that her attention-seeking and her apparent obsession with social status is endearing in the long term. Was there no other legal aid lawyer, social worker, professor, etc. that had the “human rights activist” credentials for whatever George is planning, minus the diva attitude and staged pap shots?
If she is so confident and secure they why does she have to bring up how much better she is than his former girlfriends?
Why the competitiveness?
Perhaps their sexual chemistry is lacking?
He seems to respect her, for sure. But he is quite restrained in displaying affection.
Maybe he treats her like his mother. And yes, there are several mama’s boys who take their mother out to dinner, feel no one holds a candle to mom and their mothers are their primary companion.
Where exactly did she state that she is better than his exes?? I get it that people don’t like her for some reason (I happen to like her) but why make up stuff? At no time has she ever mentioned his exes in any terms whatsoever…
PR don’t state ex-girlfriends explicitly AFAIK. The main problem is how much media reminds us that she is speacial. She is smart AND pretty AND a fashionista. I don’t have a strong opinion om her but i am so tired of “Amal is the most interesting woman ever” narrative.
Isn’t she just George’s latest prop though? He seems incapable of not using his partners in some way. The others he dated for their asses; Amal he married to look respectable.
‘…reads like a fever dream of George Clooney’s publicist’
Hahaha yes exactly. 100%. It’s so OOT. Hard to think of a movie star or ingenue that has gotten this level of puffery. It would be considered too much in an actual film promotion, a liability for the movie. Transparently bought and paid for, phony as a three dollar bill. As usual it’s…off.
+1000.
“Does not have a stylist” and needs one, especially for pap walks. You’re not fooling anyone. First order of business: learn your colors and cover your arms when it’s 40 degrees out.
Yawn..this is the weekly ‘we are relevant and you must believe our pr’ item. I don’t like her penchant for wearing dead animals, providing paps a schedule, rude behavior (if your mother-in-law’s friend offers you a gift be gracious and not pompous..) . A Kardashian? No..they’re pros at the fame ho game..also they made and spend their own money. Worst contract for him since he signed up to be Batman.
LOL!
otherwise known as the first Mrs. Clooney (Balsam also plays Slattery’s on-screen ex-wife on Mad Men). I would LOVE it if Talia and Amal met. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
OH MY GOD.. LOL, i love you Kaiser.
and let’s just take a moment to raise our glasses to ms. balsam, for snagging not one but two silver foxes (one divorce notwithstanding).
” She’s not a hostess. She’s not planning your party. If you’re lucky, she will ATTEND your party.”
Aspirational, tbh.
Call me crazy, but I don’t get the fuss. There are plenty of women in the world who are beautiful and intelligent. Who cares? Move on. I also don’t get the fuss about Amal’s personal style, but to each their own.
My gripe isn’t even with Amal – it’s with Clooney, who apparently finds himself to be such an articulate genius that he dated women he thought were beneath him (waitresses, shot girls) until he found Amal, a lawyer who is established (or is she? Conflicting reports all the time) and now suddenly George wanted to put a ring on her finger because he believes he has finally met his intellectual match. GIVE ME A BREAK! George Clooney’s ego is insanely large
You are not crazy and i think most of what you wrote is right except , think Amal is not beautiful, Amal just okay looking ,creating fashion fuss because she buy and wear most expensive thing she find like new money girl and no she wasn’t like that before getting married most of her oufits/ dresses looked cheap .
as for her work so whAT?where is the miracle?when she did any thing special?none she went to law school then clerked then became a lawyer ,she worked for the UN so what ,how many lawyer around the globe doing what she is doing …Amal never won a case, as for UN and adviser for Kofie Anaan what is the difference she made in the world working this jobs?NADA
George Clooney is not going to go up to John Slattery’s table to ask that. Bogus.
All these people they mention on the article had dinner with them for this past months, I don’t get it what they try to accomplish with this, by going out every night with other people, and staging to be paps every night, do they even have life as couple because they got married they are with other people
It’s called networking;-) I’m sure at least one of them is aspiring some UN ambassador/Special Advisor function, so they need lots of contacts with ‘influential’ people. Aside from that, what do you do in the Carlisle for several month? It’s boring, even if you are rich. And all the staged pap shots are there to remind us, how many important people they know. Which, I guess, means, THEY are important, too 😉
AHH the UN diplomat thing has already been foreshadowed. That folder held by AC on her snake skin collar, freezing her designer skirt clad butt off ‘walk’ was for a NYU course in “UN Diplomatic [advancement] Law & Protocol” (she left her Columbia ‘work’ folders at the Carlyle that day, along with her coat).
I’ll say this for her, from junior barrister, to every case in the known human rights world carrying her name (if not actual hours worked), to visiting Fellow (‘Professor’ without portfolio experience but a very expensive briefcase), to fully appointed UN Diplomat (because she has a folder), she’s motoring through the top-notes quickly. That said, it does show a lack of conscientious sticking to one thing and getting it right. It all seems a bit fickle. A bit like Barbie when she quick changed outfits. And all that achieved in between cosmetic surgery, choosing her own fashion, wining and dining, and having blow-outs.
It’s amazing the verve a new name can give a person.
Re: her briefcase/Hermes bag on carry folder day – could that folder have fitted in that bag? Maybe at an angle, just… but there’d have been little room for anything else.
@WhyWhatWhen: Funny you mention that bag- I was wondering if there was anything in it at all…she’s not just a world famous lawyer, but a marketing expert as well, it seems.
Everyone I’m calling shade on the dinner outings. These are arranged as a two-way advert. We are told where they are dining and what they ate as a comp’d meal for the couple and free publicity for the restaurant. When Cloons was solo he always ate at the same place.
Think Heathering is spot on as well as a few others.
So, Talia’s first husband was George Clooney and her second husband is John Slattery? Why don’t we talk more about this magnificent bitch’s ability to trade up?
+1
Your comment makes my day! John Slattery all the way!!!!
ha, yes!
She schmoozes with image makers, not socialites. She probably is not into being a socialite (that would take work), but she is totally into being an empty celebrity.
Other NY Times puffery:
“She was by herself, far from the tangle of paparazzi who gather outside the Carlyle hotel” – No she wasn’t. She pap walked on Columbia’s campus, in white and cream with orange accents. The walk was close range (with consent and campus approval presumably?).
“As she spoke, passers-by peeked at her through the sliver of glass in the door. If anyone had thoughts to share about Ms. Clooney, they weren’t talking.” – so Someone was present (had been invited) to witness and report on this Amal Does Slideshow moment BUT with no actual details as students are prohibited from talking about her class. So this was clearly a” ‘show and tell’ she did it, but don’t tell” account. Kind of like a pre arranged ‘proof of life’.
“not been seen since Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt lived here in 2007″ – obvious allusion/association to J-P level ‘power coupling’. I’m just surprised they couldn’t try to reference Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in that paragraph too. Slight allusion to Jackie O is covered by the ‘politician’s wife’ section.
” lunch with Anna Wintour at the Lambs Club in late March.” – Amal’s image curator in chief, of course. Also the woman responsible for ‘legitimizing’ Kimye and all K et als (by providing Cover).
“None of the couple’s nocturnal wanderings go unmissed by the media.” – well they could, plenty of others manage it, but then that would be to waste all the dimes Clooney PR drop calling them so as not to go “unmissed”.
“Somehow, Amal Clooney’s New York sojourn has the mood of a carefully [/edit*OBVIOUSLY] orchestrated coming-out party for the newlyweds.”
“Ms. Clooney and her husband did not answer requests for interviews.” – hmmm, quicker and easier for their PR to send the bullet-points of the narrative to be covered this week by messenger.
‘“She is not a reality-show girl,” Mr. Valli said.’ – if BIs are to be believed, that’s her aim.
“Although Ms. Clooney has a background as a human-rights activist” – a human rights lawyer is NOT a human rights activist. They are different but that doesn’t fit the narrative.
“By the time the dessert plates were cleared, though, the paparazzi had arrived. “George said, ‘When you open the door there are a lot of photographers out there,’ ” Ms. Brown said. She added that he turned to Mr. Evans and said, “Hey, let me hold your book.”’ – all those paps must have taken a lucky guess as to the walls behind which private residence (in very small Manhattan) the Clooneys were enjoying supper. It took them as long as dessert before they ‘found’ them. AND the book, well at least that confirms all the comments on DM about GC deliberately holding it forth.
Excellent post.
YOU should work for Clooney’s PR- and we would buy all of it;-)
lol, @siri. “we would buy all of it” I’d come out in hives even with your “;-)”. Way too poacher turns gamekeeper. I like looking in the mirror in the morning and being ok with it, kinda, most of the time.
Still, it’s saddening to see this stuff done so soooooooooo badly.
I get that George Clooney has traded on Hollywood old skool imagining longtime but he’s an idiot in thinking old skool image management and stunting still works these days.
The whole nonsense screams old Studio Stable in style. His wife isn’t even Industry. The whole thing is out dated.
As an observer, it has all been very badly handled. I’m just glad my name is not linked to this.
God forbid you wasting your talents (AND your life) like this… But it’s true, it’s painful to witness this kind of ‘straight-out-of-a-C-movie’ PR. I said long ago George needs to fire his ‘handlers’- but he just wouldn’t listen;-) By the way, do you think they read in forums? Recalling his emails to Amy Pascal, it sure looks like he’s very insecure, and needs constant approval, and support…I truly wonder sometimes how he (or any other ‘star’ for that matter) can live that kind of life- and what THEY see in the mirror in the morning…
I’ll add:
I really like her despite all the nay-sayers.
She has the most amazing hair ever.
She is waaayyyy too thin. She makes Angelina look like a heavy-weight and that ain’t good.
sorry, double post.
There’s so much detail in the NY Times article that could only have come from George’s camp or from someone (Peggy Siegel) he empowered to put it out there. The Mad Men meeting thing is ridiculous-
“Although Ms. Clooney has a background as a human-rights activist, she is not immune to the charms of her husband’s Hollywood life. On March 21 the Clooneys ate dinner alone at a back table at one of the actor’s favorite haunts, Scalinatella.
That night, cast members of the AMC show “Mad Men” (including January Jones and John Slattery) walked in for a late supper after being feted at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Ms. Siegal said. Ms. Clooney, a fan of the show, was thrilled. Mr. Clooney approached the table and asked if he could introduce the stars to his wife. “She was so excited to meet the cast,” Ms. Siegal said. “They were shocked.”
1) as many have pointed out, George knows John Slattery through Talia Balsam who was formerly married to George and is currently married to John. They also all worked together on a tv show George produced called “K Street”. This is worded like George approached the cast instead of approaching the person in the cast that he knows pretty well (and who is also good friends with Matt Damon and John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, all friends of George and all attendees at George’s wedding) which sort of makes it look like “wow, so amazingly nice of them to come over and compliment the show, what excellent people they are”. Except, it doesn’t sound like George watches the show. George, if you read his interviews, likes to talk about the quality of projects in Hollywood but somehow manages to ignore the fact that some of, much of, the best work being done in HW is on cable television and via Netflix. He may mention the existence of the platform but he can’t be bothered to watch it, So, he’s too cool to watch Mad Men but his wife does. Mad Men has (arguably) the most lauded cast on television and was for a long time the most-lauded show on television. I think the Mad Men cast probably stopped being “shocked” that anyone was a fan of the show a long time ago. The president is a fan of the show. David O. Russell is a fan of the show. The show is a huge big deal. To suggest that the cast was “shocked” that Amal watched it is to suggest one of a) they think no one watches it and are surprised when someone does (probably not the case here) b) they think people who live in Britain don’t have televisions (also probably not the case) c) she is so incredibly important that she couldn’t possibly find the time to watch it and they found it personally edifying that she does because of her status . Which is probably what the article was aiming for but clearly she spends a lot of time on her hair, wardrobe, nails and makeup so free time isn’t really in short supply. And the fact that they didn’t mention that George was married to Talia Balsam? That seems to fit in with the idea that everyone’s slate was wiped clean in this marriage by how special the partnership is.
The thing that is galling about them( to me) isn’t that people are noticing that she’s lovely (she is! especially with less makeup on) or that she has an interesting job that she’s good at (which is true of many people, including other attorneys who do similar work; her work is not especially singular, there are thousands of cases like the ones she works on) or that she has cool clothes and the option of borrowing runway samples (which would explain why everything is so short on her; the versions of the dresses shown on the runway that are actually sold in stores have longer hemlines), it’s this need to make it sound like everyone is breathlessly excited about them all the time and looks up to them. Not just random plebs but people who would normally sort of be their peers.
The NYT article was a puff piece too far IMO. One artificially-flavored topping too many on the sundae. George WOULD believe that all (including reality itself) can be remade by PR. He’s of that generation. That’s been his game for a long long time and few have profited from it more than he has. Peggy Siegal…Tina Brown…this is some kind of rollout for something.
I once had a soft spot for Clooney; it passed a long time ago. But when all this fandango extravaganza of Amal and the wedding and the obvious PR paid for sychophancy began I briefly tried to give it all the benefit of the doubt. As they went into overdrive creating whatever we’re calling this ludicrousness now, I created my own fantasy that George, based on his stated past aversion to exactly this type of fame wh*r”g by others AND his calling out the paps and media hyping responsible for such fakery and idolisation of celebrity, was somehow pulling a long con punking of the media. I went so far as to storyboard it as some kind of hidden camera documentary project he’d eventually announce with someone like Michael Moore. It was to be revealed as a “we took this actress, created a backstory for her, gave her a make-over and the Clooney name, got others likeminded in their disgust at the way the media hype celebrity to validate her, and ran all the Kardashian style PR game… until the world applauded her as the greatest everything ever”… and, haha, fooled you.
Now, obviously, that was my fantasy justification for how out of whack this has become… and would probably have been a tough project to say the least. BUT, even my fantasy can’t bear up to the Manhattan stage of the project. THIS really is them trying to sell a ‘REALITY’.
Oh well, I preferred my subversive Clooney/Moore collaboration and wish the book he’d been holding on that post supper pap walk had been Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyperreality.
Wow. That is really weird.
Brilliant idea! I wish someone had the cojones to put out a mockumentary detailing the selling of a faux celebrity marriage to the masses. Which is what this whole thing feels like.
And, notwithstanding all the obsequious articles, all these effin’ photos paint a very contrary picture to me: A boatload of Gatorade couldn’t quench this woman’s thirst.
I’m a lawyer and I have never, ever met an attorney who discussed his or her cases at dinner parties.
We talked about that subject on another thread as well. Talking about clients…I assumed it would in principal be confidential matter, but she did the same at a party where Howard Stern was a guest. He later mentioned her hourlong monologue in his radio show. There’s a lot of self-importance at show here.
Humanitarian lawyer with six years of experience, that defends clients, that take away others basic human rights and murders.
Yep, it is hard to stomach but even I support the idea that every suspected criminal should have the right to have a lawyer in court etc.
Poor ole ego-driven Pappy. He’s tried so hard to change the narrative and it’s backfired so badly on him.
Still, he has his casamigos to console him.
She’s attractive, has a wonderful education, was successful without George Clooney. I think that’s what bothers people.
😀
just keep saying so and maybe it will become true!
Why would anybody be “bothered” by her appearance, or education? Many comments on here show clearly, why people are not buying into this charade. Aside from that, there are plenty of highly educated people on this thread, so the ‘green-eye-monster’-argument is a bit lame.
I don’t think that’s true at all. I respect Chelsea Clinton and think she’s way smarter. CC’s work is far more influential and relevant as well. I don’t like Amal for a few reasons: (i) her whole I’m a human rights lawyer thing seems really old fashioned (ii) she’s very smug and loves the camera (iii) George Clooney is obviously trying to engineer an image comeback (in the flavour of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s deified celeb status as your favourite celeb saviours of *insert the latest hot cause*) and has not learned that the public don’t like being manipulated.
And great hair.
@EM, please tell me you’re being sarcastic? If we’re really reduced to giving props to a woman based on hair that definitely isn’t even even all her own… Game Over – women and gender parity credibility Lost big time!!!
You can tell she doesn’t have a stylist by the way she dresses – she isn’t wearing brands for the sake of wearing them. But she must have a great hair stylist. I think she has the best hair and I’m surprised that no one has copied her look en masse.
she looks like a man
Tina Brown is such a celeb brown noser.
she looks like a man
guess that’s why George is into her/him
Perhaps Amal doesn’t want to be a socialite like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashina who are ladies who are predominantly being known for being known and famous for being famous and notorious.
I doubt she doesn’t want to be known at all. Her fashion game during and shortly after her wedding very much indicates that there are forces which try to create a certain image for Amal. Fashionable + intelligent + hard working + …
Additionally the dinners with people of Wintour’s or Tina Brown’s caliber do indicate that Amal wants to do the all-important behind the scenes work of being married to a rich and famous actor. Well, she ain’t no wallflower.
There’s no way she doesn’t have a stylist. That is all.
Well, there’s another puff piece on her in the NY Post…..I see that she’s making the media rounds in NYC. It’s good to know that her favored brand of lipstick is named “walk of shame.”
http://nypost.com/2015/04/10/the-secrets-behind-amal-clooneys-nyc-look/
The Times piece verges on parody, almost like they want you to know it’s not real reporting. Much too much overtly fake detail. And fawning ‘sources’ who are a Who’s Who of Media Hos…really the whole sycophant Chicken Ranch. In any case I’m embarrassed for the New York Times.
That NYT piece made me vomit a little.
I should be surprised at the amount of hate and jealousy toward this woman, but I’m not. I’m sure many of you love to brag, to anyone who will listen, about your “feminism” your natural support for other women and all that fantasy..and then there’s reality….the petty, junior high-minded, mean girls who fervently support each other on this thread by tearing someone down in order to feel better about themselves. Take a look in the mirror.
It’s not that people are jealous, it’s just that the George-Amal enterprise has been trying to sell us a highly refined image of Amal Clooney, the product, for their own ends. And they’ve been promoting a very elitist view of the ideal woman. Feminism doesn’t mean you can’t criticise. I agree there are some really obnoxious comments out there about her looks, but that’s not I personally find Clooney and Amal repellent. Besides, feminists usually aren’t this elitist. We should pay attention only to “special” women like Amal instead of celebrating the success of any woman.
Nah. Just not buying what you’re selling sorry.
I’m pretty sure the students are just asked not to talk with media or anyone likely to talk with media about her and the class. They can certainly form study groups and talk about the subject matter. The source for the “strict orders” comment was a student. In my experience teaching in a college, students are notorious for getting it all wrong, leading to endless surprises about things either their teacher or the administration clearly explained repeatedly, orally and in writing. Students’ listening and reading skills on such matters often are quite limited. Actually, the same is true for non-students of all ages….