Michelle Obama’s dress designer hit by financial crunch - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Popular designer Tracy Feith, whose clothes had reportedly been worn by celebrities including the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, is said to be facing financial woes. According to the New York Daily News, Feith and longtime partner Susan Winget have been virtually invisible as of late. Reason: He and his company owe around 200,000 dollars to landlords in Manhattan and in Montauk. Feith got the most coveted fashion seal of approval in January 2009 - outfitting the First Lady - when US President Barack Obama stepped out in his floral frock during inauguration festivities. But by May of that year, he was evicted from the Madison Ave , where he operated his boutique. By December, a judgment was issued in the Manhattan Supreme Court ordering Feith's firm to pay 77,060.38 dollars in rent he owed to his landlord, KPLJ LLC. Another judgment issued by the Supreme Court last August determined that Feith himself was on the hook for an additional 152,745.27 dollars because he had personally guaranteed the lease. "It is shameful that a popular and successful designer has shunned his most basic business obligation by failing to pay rent for his retail store," said KPLJ's lawyer Edward Shapiro. But Feith's troubles don't end there. Feith and Winget owe B J Wilson, the property manager of Montauk Lakefront Cottages, approximately 7,000 dollars for three cottages they rented last year for themselves and employees. "They paid half of what was due, skipping out on the remainder," Wilson said. "They won't return phone calls. They've disappeared," he added. According to one East End insider, "Tracy and Susan didn't show their faces in Montauk this summer," where they once were social fixtures.