What's Judy Woodruff Wearing?

Lovely in Lilac

On Monday, Judy wore this lovely shade of, we’ll call it lilac, to permit us a snappy title.

She doesn’t look happy to have a close up, below, but the earrings worked with her eyes and the outfit:

Some of us have made rather, well, verging-on-unkind comments about Judy’s hair. It is this blogger’s duty to point out that, as of Monday, the color and the shape are looking great. No more strawberry; either the filters (thanks, Reader Gary) or the hairdresser has moved toward the blonde, to good effect. See how nice the back looks. Wonder if she’d ever dare to go gray?

Oh, Tam. A black jacket does NOT go with everything. It does not go with a red-and-blue dress. One cannot simply throw a black jacket over a dress and call it an outfit.

Mr. Blogger thinks I am being hard on Tam, because she’s a journalist who focuses on her work, not her clothes. Two responses: (1) SOMEONE has to focus on her clothes; and (2) we here at What’s Judy Woodruff Wearing are here to help Tam improve.

In this blogger’s fantasy someday, someone will point Tam gently in the direction of our blog. Just think of the good we could do! Tam, that dress looked just fine without the blazer, not too summery at all. If the studio was chilly, tough it out for your segment. Judy wore short sleeves for the whole show. Still, look at that cutie pie face.

Wait, did she paint her nails all funky and shit? That does not work with Judy’s show. Take a cue from Judy and wear clear polish if any at all.

By contrast, Amna looked lovely. She departed from the shell-and-blazer humdrum into a burnt umber (thank you Crayola for that crayon) for fall. The puffy sleeves are very 80’s-cum-2021. Love the accessories, too. Makeup complements the outfit. A perfect 10.

Even Bernie got gussied up for Judy. His hair’s all brushed (or patted down), he’s wearing a nice blue suit with a blue shirt and rep tie. Too bad he’s sound asleep. Looks like he’s dreaming of universal healthcare.

He even accessorized, I believe with a 117th Congress pin:

Really a big improvement over his inauguration outfit, fun as that was. I cannot see him without thinking of this meme, by Reeezy@MsReezy:

Bernie dressed like the inauguration is on his to do list today but ain’t his whole day.

Bernie Sanders inauguration memes are liberal comfort food - Vox

Great to be back with you!

A Bit Ho Hum But Still We Love Her

Mostly Judy has been going with tried-and-true, see Akris, below. Really suits her.

This look is nice, too, though not as punchy. Dig the orange stripes:

I guess it’s freezing in the studio. Plus which Judy doesn’t have much, er, insulation.

This blogger has long wondered if it’s ok to wear a jacket open that was designed to be worn buttoned. On Tuesday, Judy raised the issue for our collective consideration. These extra-large rouleau loops (I don’t know the technical name for giant button loops) call attention to themselves in maybe not a great way. I like the pattern on the jacket, and the color, and the nehru collar, but maybe not everything all at once on top of an orange jersey dress. I think those are black pearl earrings, which always look smart, but they do nothing to pull the look together.

I imagine she had the jacket on the back of her dressing room door, to throw on when she was chilly.

I don’t think I have mentioned it before, but I dig Judy’s Flair pens. Once in a while, we catch the younger female journalists using this classic old standard, perhaps as an homage.

Judy was out part of last week, and the fashion-o-meter trended down. I don’t know what Amna’s dress was supposed to do. I could see myself trying it on, imagining that it would make me look like I had a waist:

But no sale.

The next day, while Judy was still “away,” Amna reverted to a more flattering but so boooring I’m-going-for-my first-job-interview look:

Amna had great hair though!

Despite looking a lot like the guy in the Downy “half-washed” ad:

Roby Chavez was covering an important story. We’ll give him a break because it was close to 100 degrees in Louisiana yesterday with no power or water.

On an unrelated note, this blogger cannot wait for the next season of Succession to begin:

Succession' to begin filming Thursday at Great Escape | Local | poststar.com

Not one redeeming quality amongst the reprehensible lot, but great clothes and I can’t get enough of that show. Here’s an old but good article on the clothes, from The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/lets-talk-about-the-clothes-on-succession.

As summer draws to a close, at least we can look forward to some new fall ensembles from Judy!

Thanks for reading!

A Rare Misstep

All praise and gratitude to Judy. There I was, feeling blue and uninspired, having just launched my firstborn in college. What was the point of it all?

Then Wednesday happened.

What the?

One can only surmise that Judy took our advice about not baring arms, but why chartreuse?

Why chartreuse, I ask you?

Why why why?

I hadn’t seen the underlying dress before and it’s just fine, but…

why chartreuse?

Previously, Judy hadn’t had a miss in a long while. Witness this lovely orange shirtdress:

Or this orange sweater set:

Or the tried-and-true Akris:

I can only hope Judy wanted to give us something to talk about

Boy did she.

Moving on, Lisa needs to cut her hair to just brushing the tops of her shoulders, in this blogger’s view.

Too much hair is not pretty.

Addams Family Cousin Itt - Addams Family Photo (5684028) - Fanpop

Very recently, Lisa wore this clearly-fall outfit in the swampy humidity of DC. Looked out of place and must have been uncomfortable. What was up with the dragon pin?

Lisa did better with red, white and a simple gold chain.

But I do find all that hair to be a distraction:

Name one good thing to come out of this Afghan debacle.

Jane Ferguson and her reporting. (reportage?) That’s one.

Not only is she lovely:

But she dresses appropriately for the country, and fearlessly reports on the chaos, all the while tenderly grasping a tribble about the neck:

That tribble looks like a cousin to the one in Kirk’s left arm, below:

Tribbles - Tribbles from Star Trek - Tribbles Math Problem

So fun to see Katie Ledecky in all her glory. What a cutie pie.

The CA wildfires are no joke, but neither is Judy. How much nudity can The NewsHour take?

Pay her some respect, please, Mr. Shaves.

As this is a family blog, I have selected an image that (mostly) covers his nipples. If you watched Judy, you were not shielded from the full frontal effect.

We just have time for a shout out for a good-looking office. Love the houndstooth wallpaper and the bullfighter (or is it Don Quixote) poster to Joanna’s left. Note the Eames chair to her right. That plus her cool glasses and hair makes this blogger want to hang with her.

Welcome to my new followers! Glad you have joined the ride.

Red, White and… Nude?

Last Friday (July 30 already), the theme was red and white, as Judy dressed for her guests and, I hope, us, in a familiar red-and-white dress:

Her guests respectfully followed suit, as it were.

And you thought ties were passe. Keep reading.

First we had Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, in a tie complementary to Judy’s dress that, apparently, he just learned to tie all by himself.

Good on you, Dr. Jha!

Next we had our own Nick Schifrin, who looked to be in a real honest-to-goodness suit and a red-and-white tie: It was a dandy look for our ordinarily boring friend:

To this blogger’s immense relief, Jonathan Capehart was “away.” Never quite sure what that means, but I didn’t see him in Bethany or at Funland in Rehoboth last week.

Nothing personal against the guy; he just doesn’t provide enough historical context for this old gal with a lot of history behind her.

In his stead we had old friend of Judy, EJ Dionne. He too donned his red-and-white cravat for the occasion:

But I know all we care about is the “nude” part of today’s blog headline.

Well, reader, Friday had it all, or should I say, “nothing at all”? You be the judge:

I don’t know what’s going on at the WHO but evidently keeping up with Covid has taken a toll. Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Technical Lead for Covid, hadn’t gotten the red-and-white memo, or perhaps, finding nothing red and white in her closet, she decided to scrap the whole clothes thing entirely.

Lucky us!

Of course, Judy played the whole clothesless thing off like a pro, not even asking Maria for the naked truth. Groan.

RIP Carl Levin, the only truly good man and public servant who could pull off a comb-over. Almost.

About once a week, a reader asks me to name the designer of one of Judy’s outfits. I cannot do this without your fine detective work and sartorial savvy. Most recently, Ashley commented on the “Green with Envy” post that Judy’s green outfit, below, was Akris.

This blogger loves Akris (from consignment, natch).

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_3473.jpg

Available to you for a mere $3,490. Judy’s worth it.

Ashley hit a double as she identified what I refer to as Judy’s Mark Rothko outfit. It’s a dress, also from Akris. It’s on sale now for a mere $996:

I couldn’t do it without you!

Lost in Space

On Tuesday (July 20), Judy wore her zippy-doo outfit which I dig. The snaps and zippers are groovy. It’s like a kid’s activity toy.

Reader note: By no stretch of the imagination am I comparing Judy to a zebra.

Or was her top an homage to Jeff Bezos’s fuckin cowboy spacesuit?

What a moron.

Has there ever been a bigger loser?

VAN HORN TEXAS JULY 20 Jeff Bezos walks near Blue Origins New Shepard after flying into space on July 20 2021 in Van...

NOPE.

I don’t care how much moola you have, Jeffy. Your’e not Chuck Yeager. Not even close.

Yeager Statue Dedication | General Chuck Yeager

At first blush, Lisa had a good outfit, but was this some kind of poly jersey dress? Looks like neon-’90s club wear. She should know by now to plan for the mic to pull at her outfit. Judy plans for that. Judy plans for everything. Why? Because Judy’s the pro. Not at all like that piker, Bezos. What an ass.

Judy looked snappy last week with her beige-and-orange number. Again, I love the sleeves to the elbows. Nice look. Yes, she has the pipes to pull off a tank, but you and I have discussed that.

So she wore a new outfit on Friday. Kind of a sea foam green twinset. I like the cut and length of the cardigan the the neckline of the shell underneath. I guess if I had to criticize (and I don’t), I would say she is slumping slightly in this picture. But who among us doesn’t slump once in a while?

I am on vacation next week. Maybe I will run into Judy at the Delaware beaches? A person can dream, can’t she?

We’re Green with Envy!

Judy looked fabu in green last night. Love the vertical stripes – not that she needs a slimming effect, mind you. The sleeve length is just right to this blogger’s eyes. Right at the elbow is perfect.

Her hair is the perfect length now. Keep it that way, Judy, if I might be permitted to make a suggestion.

Here’s a horizontal view of the outfit, just to be comprehensive:

Lisa-Lisa has upped her game, to the relief of millions. The hair color seems to have settled on a reddish-brown. With this look, she remedied the problems seen earlier in the pandemic. Not too brassy. The soft look, rather than the hot-roller look, suits her face best. Really nice job with the hair.

Lisa hit a double-double with the hair and outfit, in fact. This blogger wonders why she doesn’t choose from this side of the closet more often. So professional and becoming. Also going with vertical stripes, we note.

Thanks so much to my commenter-friends (so many hyphens in this post) for noting that Judy is perfectly capable of wearing the same outfit (here with reference to the blue/white/yellow dress or top that looks like it hasn’t been fully colored in) more than once a month and look great doing it.

Of course, you are reading the work of a biased writer. In my view, Judy could wear this and look great:

Nah. No one could.

Keep the comments coming!

Right to Bare Arms?

It’s been a minute, as the kids today say, so a brief retrospective is in order. Judy has been favoring red, a color that favors her. Nothing outstanding about the above, but classic elegance has always been her long suit.

Last evening, Judy wore this fitted red-and-white dress. I like this sleeve length. I am not big on cap sleeves, and my views on tank tops to come, but this sleeve length says “summer” without baring too much.

The opinion on cap sleeves may stem from this blogger’s view that her own arms look like a linebacker’s in cap sleeves. Here’s one of me from a few years back.

Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers franchise history, win totals, greatest players and more by the numbers - cleveland.com

The studio might have been chilly last week, so Judy suited up. She looked great.

Friday was the controversial top:

Strong women’s arms (arms that are strong on strong women, that is) had a moment with Michelle Obama, and no wonder. Look at those pipes.

Michelle Obama Shows Off Toned Arms In Las Vegas (PHOTOS) | HuffPost Life

Clearly, Judy works hard on her arms, but readers have asked whether she should continue to wear tank tops. My view on this is (surprisingly, perhaps) nuanced. I am so Judy-crazed that I support her wearing whatever she wants, except maybe that green-on-green self-devised sweater set we saw her in during Covid times. I also hesitate to say that one can age out of wearing tank tops. She works hard for those guns and she wants to show them off. Have at it.

My hesitation comes from perhaps a surprisingly conservative angle: should anyone, women or man, wear tank tops to work? In addition to potentially being chilly, I don’t know if it’s professional looking. Of course anything Judy wears is professional, by virtue of it being on Judy.

Just above I said “woman or men,” but I think we can agree that a man should not wear a tank top to work and hope to be taken seriously.

Overweight man in tank top. Smiling at camera royalty free stock images

Send me your thoughts!

Lady in Red

Love this red. Yes, we’ve seen it before, but the lady in question works for a public news channel. I like the boxy shape, which is a departure from her usual fitted silhouette.

This evening, Judy wore one of her summer dresses. It’s unusual to see Judy in a print, as we know (other than the iconic Lucille Ball/cherries number). You see from the image below that we are back to fitted frocks.

I’ve always found this one interesting because the print looks like a coloring book that bored the child. Why else would one flower be an outline only?

Yams was apparently out playing night mini golf, if the teensy lighthouse is any indication. She tried to throw us off the scent by claiming that she was on the plane that was delayed by GROSS cicadas swarming its engine. (See yesterday’s blog.) We are not fooled.

I don’t feel like I’ve seen fuchsia with camel before -only seen it with black.

The combo seems to work.

Readers will recall I am a big fan of Yam’s coats and her makeup (the pink on her lids here goes so well with her lips and with the shirt).

Readers loooove (lurve, in some cases), Amna. I think she’s a top-notch anchor-to-be but sartorially dry as all get out. See, e.g., below.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa. That cat necklace did not amuse our readers. Diana aptly called it “Too Cute, ” but then Lisa has had a problem accessorizing from Day 1. Why not follow Judy’s lead and avoid necklaces altogether?

Not sure what she’s doing here with the three layers in June. Lose the button-down, honey.

I was so digging Ajay Banga and his Mastercard Foundation’s donation of $1.3 billion with a “b” to fight Covid in Africa that I wanted to dust off the ol’ resume and join his team, though Purchase, New York doesn’t have the glam factor of Park Avenue, does it?

Plus which he’s a Sikh. Sikhs are cool, as far as research has told me. No drinking, gambling, haircutting. I couldn’t make it for one hot second. I don’t mind the no-haircut rule (does their holy book mention partial highlights, I wonder?), but missing out on a nice G&T in summertime?

As if Boris wasn’t ipso facto silly enough, he and Prez Joe upped the bizarro ante by having a photo op next to a cat house. No, not a house of prostitution, a literal cat house, shaped like a tree stump.

Seriously, what’s up? Is it covering a spigot? A gas line? They couldn’t move it for the shot? Whatever it is, it’s cracking Joe up and he could use a laugh. Not surprisingly, Boris doesn’t get the joke.

The world leaders got the the deluxe faux-stump. (Technically, it’s a “Zilla Basking Stump and Reptile Hideout”). You can be the proud owner of the mini version, available on Chewy.com and shown here:

Reviews say it’s “Leopard Gecko Approved.”

And lastly this evening, you know it’s summer when… (No, not when the cicadas emerge. Fortunately this brood – even the word “brood” makes me cack – only comes out once every 17 years.)

…When the teenage interns report for duty!

Apparently, Danny is too young even to get braces. If he plans to wear that getup to his bar mitzvah or confirmation, he’s gonna need a new tie.

See you soon!

Together Again!

Judy and Lisa were together again on Monday and clearly delighted about it!

Lisa wore a cat necklace, perhaps because her real one couldn’t be with her on set:

Judy’s outfit on Monday was fine, but commenters love this little bolero-jacket number she wore again last Friday. Some said it is attached to the dress and others think it’s separate. Either way, it’s a dynamite look.

The cicadas are here in Maryland. They are so gross and numerous I can barely leave the house. Mr. Blogger has to sweep them away from the doorstep every time I need to go out.If one more person tells me, “they’re harmless. They won’t hurt you” I will scream.

Does this look harmless to you?

A periodical Brood X cicada climbs up an oak tree in Washington, DC on May 20, 2021.

Early this morning, as Blogger’s Mom noted, a plane carrying journalists to cover Prez Joe’s European trip was grounded. This from the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The plane set to carry dozens of journalists to Europe to cover President Biden’s first trip abroad was on the runway, ready to take off.

The cicadas had other ideas.

Somehow, the flying insects had filled the plane’s engines, grounding it and forcing Mr. Biden’s aides to scramble for another way to ferry the reporters overseas. What was supposed to be a 9 p.m. departure was delayed until 11. And then until 2:15 a.m.

Perhaps it was inevitable, with billions of cicadas flying around much of the eastern United States in recent weeks. In the nation’s capital, where a brood that emerges every 17 years is near its beastly peak, they have crawled up the necks of TV journalists, splattered across car windshields and gotten tangled in the hair of anyone braving the swampy, 90-degree heat.

They are just nasty. That is all. Nasty.

Let’s Get Back to It!

What’s my excuse for being gone for so long?

First, Judy was away, and I find Amna too often to be ho-hum.

But NOT on May 20, as reader Rex alerted me. Check out this Catwoman-inspired leather top:

8 actresses who played Catwoman in Batman | Vogue Paris

Oh wait, that is (Michelle Pfeiffer as) Catwoman.

Check out Amna, though. Meowrrrr:

You go, Amna.

Then it was time for my daughter’s high school graduation and all the flurry that entailed. When it was time to come back, I didn’t know whether I should do a giant retrospective or start where Judy was. I decided on the latter, though please drop me a line if you have a particular outfit you’d like me to take a look at.

I absolutely must give a belated shout out to Sara. I was waiting for Judy to wear THE DRESS again but I haven’t seen her in it since I received the results of some really stellar detective work. Sara found THE DRESS! Yes, the Lucille Ball dress, the cherry dress, the dress that launched a thousand comments. It’s by Victoria Beckham and Nordstrom had it. No longer. I am just absolutely floored that she found it. (Sara admitted to being obsessed; Judy does inspire that.)

VICTORIA BECKHAM Flower Print Pencil Dress, Main, color, 015

Yesterday evening, Judy wore what I think of as her Mark Rothko outfit. Turns out it’s a dress.

Judy’s hair looks great. A bit shorter this time. Flattering.

Then it was on to the guests. I should have been listening to the point-counterpoint about Israel’s political future but I was distracted by Carmiel’s bookshelf. I enjoyed it. The Joy of Cooking was there, cheek-by jowel with Tolstoy and…

What?

Yes, that’s a book on potty training off to her left. At first I thought Carm’s bookshelf was not arranged as much as shoved together. After all, a couple of the titles were upside-down. Then I looked to the right of the potty training book and it dawned on me that a mad genius had arranged it by theme. (As anyone knows who has tried to potty-train a child.)

I avoid researching Judy, preferring to gather what crumbs our pro lets slip. In the story about Coach K’s retirement after the upcoming season, Judy shared that she is a Duke alum. Well, how about that? So is this blogger! Let’s Go Duke! (That will be sure to stir up some comments.)

I’m so glad to be back here with you.