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77 First in Fashion: Michelle Obama’s WHITE HOUSE STYLE carson poplin PHOTOHOUSEWHITE white house history quarterly
michelle obama became the first african american first lady when her husband Barack Obama became president of the United States on January 20, 2009. During her eight years as first lady, she was an inspirational figure to many Americans, spearheading healthy eating initiatives and championing girls’ education around the world.1 The media covered her activities with great interest but also consistently focused on the one thing that unfailingly captured the public’s attention: her personal style.
Michelle Obama’s use of fashion greatly contrib uted to the image she portrayed to the American public. During her tenure, she dressed in a way that people found approachable, by mixing highand low-fashion together. She was also extremely conscious about the designers she chose to wear, often selecting young brands as a way to high light unknown American designers.2 Mrs. Obama understood the power of her clothing and made intentional decisions to create a fashion image that was relatable and message driven. Her image came to embody just what Barack Obama’s historic pres idency represented to many people: the American dream.This approach differed from many first ladies (and first lady hopefuls) in that the style was attain able, not aspirational. In October 2008, Michelle Obama went on Jay Leno’s late night talk show right after news broke that the Republican Party had shelled out $150,000 for vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s wardrobe. Mrs. Obama did the appearance wearing J. Crew and appealed to a mass audience when she said, “Ladies, we know J. Crew. You can get some good stuff online!”3 Revealing that she not only bought off the rack like the rest of America, but also shopped online like so many other twenty-first-century women, was a calculated move. By this point in her husband’s first presidential campaign, she had proven herself an extremely effective surrogate, and her clothing was always an important aspect of that image. So by the time Michelle Obama attended the Inaugural Balls with her husband on the night of January 20, 2009, wearing a white Jason Wu gown, she had already established herself as someone the public admired not just for her fashion choices but for her character. Americans identified with her, a Black woman from a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago who went on to earn degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She and Barack Obama embodied the American dream, and they consistently campaigned on this narrative. In August 2008, when she delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama was officially introduced as above and left MichelleObama’s decision to
white
The Tonight Show in October 2008 at the height of the campaign.presidential 78 house
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Americanaspirationalattainablehighlightoverfashionendearedhertomillionsofwomenwhoshoponlineandofftherack.HereshewearsJ.Crewforanappearanceon
previous spread President and Mrs. Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha pose for a family portrait with Bo and Sunny in the Rose Garden on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015.
right For her 2009,arrivingaMrs.inauguralfirstgown,Obamachosedressby26-year-oldJasonWuandthusmadetheyoungdesigner’slabelahouseholdname.SheisseenherewithPresidentObamaatthetheNeighborhoodInauguralBallattheWashingtonConventionCenteronJanuary20,intheone-shoulderedwhitesilkchiffongownembellishedwithorganzaflowersandSwarovskicrystalcenters.WudidnotknowthatMrs.Obamahadselectedhisdesign,whichheintendedtosymbolizehope,untilhesawitontelevision.
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dressed, she was captivating. . . . We couldn’t be the only one interested, could we?”6 Indeed she was not. Helped along by end less, instant feedback from the internet, Michelle Obama’s fashion choices were documented by the media in real time. She credited the interest in her clothes to the fact that she is “tall and unafraid of bold patterns,”7 but the truth is probably more because the public saw her wardrobe as engaging.
the party’s presidential nominee, she spoke about the hard working, honest, and optimistic ideals both she and her husband had been raised on. 4 These ideals are essentially what got her husband elected and were the basis for her philosophy as first lady, guiding the kind of work she chose to take on while in the role. The causes she championed, the way she dressed, and her appeal to the American public stemmed from these values. As public interest in Michelle Obama continued to grow, traditional media and fashion blogging, still a relatively new form of disseminating fashion news in 2008, documented her every move. The blog Mrs-O.com was started in September 2008 to follow “the fashion and style of Michelle Obama.”5 The first dress featured on the blog was the teal Maria Pinto dress Mrs, Obama wore to deliver her speech at the 2008 convention. Blog founder Mary Tomer wrote about her reasons for starting her site in its first post, saying, “The inspiration came in late August, half watching the convention, half lost in thought somewhere else—until Michelle Obama stepped on stage. Radiant, poised and impeccably left Mrs. Obama wears a teal Maria Pinto dress to deliver her speech at the 2008 NationalDemocraticConvention. opposite Michelle duringandandclothessuspectedObamathattheinterestinherwasdueinparttobeing“tallunafraidofboldpatterns,”andinfactshedidoftenwearbrightcolorsstrongpatternswhiletraveling.Clockwisefromtopleft:MichelleObamagreetsastudentaRoomtoReadprograminCambodia,2015.Mrs.Obamameetsthesonofacrewmemberaboard Air Force One, 2011, and strikes the Heisman pose to help promote the Let’s asarrivesMrs.initiative,Move!2012.ObamainCopenhagentosupportChicagothelocationforthe2016OlympicGamesandspeaksattheNationalConferenceonVolunteeringandServiceinSanFrancisco,2009.
On top of the pressure to navigate the already difficult role, Michelle Obama had to do so in a way that represented Black Americans. In her autobi ography, she wrote, “As a Black woman . . . I knew I’d be criticized if I was perceived as being showy and high end, and I’d be criticized also if I was too casual.”11 She was fully aware of not just the atten tion that was paid to the clothing she wore but also to the image she was presenting to the public. “It seemed that my clothes mattered more to people than anything I had to say,” she wrote. “I tried to reframe it as an opportunity to learn, to use what power I could find inside a situation I’d never have 80 white house history quarterly
Michelle Obama recognized this conundrum by saying, “It was a thin line to walk. I was supposed to stand out without overshadowing others, to blend in but not fade away.”10
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“I mixed it up. I’d match a high-end Michael Kors skirt with a T-shirt from Gap. I wore something from Target one day and Diane von Furstenberg the next,” Michelle Obama wrote.8 The duality of image may seem contradictory to her reputation as “everywoman,” but it was also an essential element of how she projected herself. The public enjoyed seeing her in custom dresses, in clothing that showed off her toned arms. Even decades before, when Vogue was covering the sartorial differences between Jacqueline Kennedy and Pat Nixon during the 1960 election, author Keith Kyle noted: The public attitude to the White House has traditionally reflected two competing pulls, both of them typically American. On the one hand, Americans do not want their chief of state and his wife to appear, in the eyes of the old world, to be country cousins unable to do the honours in credible style; yet anything suggestive of royal magnificence, especially if it is combined with social aloofness or exclusivity, is liable to strike a false note of alien decadence.9
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Michelle Obama understood that her choices as first lady had consequences, and she used that power to bring attention to American fashion. New York University professor David Yermack pub lished a study entitled “How This First Lady Moves Markets” in 2010, analyzing her positive economic impact on various brands and individuals.19 The designers who dressed her also attested to this boon. Prabal Gurung, a Nepalese American fashion designer, stated in an interview with ABC News’s Juju Chang, “I wouldn’t be here, sitting, talking with you, had it not been for her and her gestures. Like me, there are so many other designers that she’s
83 opposite and right Michelle appearedObamaonthree Vogue duringcovershertime as first lady. Although hesitant to appear on the cover in 2009 during the recession, Mrs. Obama decided that it “mattered every time a woman of color showed up on the cover of a magazine.” Vogue editor Anna Wintour also praised the first lady for bringing worldwide attention to American designers. white house history quarterly chosen for myself.”12 She carefully considered the way the public gaze dictated her choices, not just when it came to her wardrobe but also as a Black woman in the spotlight. When considering appear ing on the cover of Vogue in 2009, she wondered if it was a bad decision as America was still deep in the Great Recession. In the end she agreed to appear, saying, “It mattered every time a woman of color showed up on the cover of a magazine.”13 Michelle Obama would go on to appear on the cover of Vogue twice more during her tenure, in addition to the covers of numerous other publications, such as InStyle, Essence, Ebony, and Good Housekeeping. Michelle Obama’s attention to these matters of representation did not go unnoticed. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay recounted the pride she felt in seeing Michelle Obama become the country’s first Black first lady. She saw Mrs. Obama present herself in a way that was thoughtful and admirable. She wrote, “Michelle infused the image of the first lady with pride, panache and polish. Many of us saw a woman to be admired. A woman to be trusted. Scratch that. Many of us saw a Black woman to be admired. A Black woman to be trusted.”14 Plenty of other people agreed. Singer and songwriter Beyoncé KnowlesCarter wrote about Michelle Obama for the 2019 Time 100 Most Influential People article: “She resembled us and was moving in spaces where, as Black Americans, we weren’t exactly meant to be. . . . The way she looked, walked and spoke, we saw our mothers and sisters.”15 Author Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a chapter in his book We Were Eight Years in Power on how Michelle Obama’s image helped her husband appeal to a larger audience in America, crediting her strong presentation of self as a way to “connect the heart of Black America to the heart of all EvenAmerica.”16whenchoosing designers, Michelle Obama considered the idea of representation, at home and abroad. For her March 2009 Vogue cover she insisted on wearing Jason Wu and Narciso Rodriguez, both American designers of color. 17 She is recognized for bringing renewed interest to American fashion. Vogue editor Anna Wintour said, “No other American in the public eye has done so much to raise awareness around the rest of the world of our country’s designers and labels.”18
President and Mrs. Obama await the arrival of Indian Prime American24,Portico,ManmohanMinisterSinghontheNorthNovember2009.ThefirstladywearsagoldgownbyIndiandesignerNaeemKhan.
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PHOTOHOUSEWHITE Michelle Obama wore Jason Wu throughout her years as first lady and chose a red gown in his design for the Inaugural Balls in 2013.
Michelle Obama rejected the idea that first ladies had to trust their wardrobe to a few select designers, as Jacqueline Kennedy did with Oleg Cassini and as so many others had done since. “No one defined her style. In that way it was both uniquely her own and broadly American,” said Givhan.21
When Michelle Obama wore the white Jason Wu gown for the Inaugural Ball in 2009, Wu was a 26-year-old fashion newcomer who had launched his label only two years before.24 After the Inauguration he was catapulted into becoming a household name. Michelle Obama would continue to wear his designs for the following eight years, including in 2013, when she wore a red Wu gown to her husband’s second Inaugural Ball. Yermack estimated in 2010 the average value added by a public appearance of Michelle Obama in a brand’s clothing at $14 million.25 This is quite a significant asset to a young company, especially if she makes more than one appearance in a designer’s clothing. What becomes clear when analyzing Michelle Obama’s actions, fashion-related or not, is that everything is done intentionally. That intention ality is her strength, whether it be carefully cho sen words for a speech or a thoughtfully selected ensemble. It is what moves people to identify with her, to care what she does, says, and wears. Though she has support from various staff members to maintain her image, she is fully in control of her own actions. She made the conscious decision to stand out, not just as a Black woman involved in the American political realm but also in the way she used fashion to create an accessible and thoroughly modern first lady look. She is aware of the power her image has, writing, “If people flipped through a magazine primarily to see the clothes I was wearing, I hoped they’d also see the military spouse standing next to me or read what I had to say about children’s health.”26Much of Michelle Obama’s style was facilitated by her stylist, Meredith Koop, who started as a sales associate at the Chicago boutique Ikram, owned by 85
American designer Naeem Khan.22 She consis tently made a case for American fashion by put ting lesser-known designers’ work on display. In this instance, her choice was a kind of “fashion diplomacy,” meant to highlight both Indian and American fashion talent. For the next eight years, Michelle Obama would continue to wear Khan designs for various formal events, including when she announced the Oscar for Best Picture from the White House in 2013. The designer commented on her patronage by saying, “For her to choose my brand and put me on this world stage and today what has happened to the brand is just crazy. And that’s because of her. It’s important how she has actually cultivated and put the designers in front.”23
For State Dinners with foreign leaders, Michelle Obama often consciously chose the designer based on the country being honored. For her first State Dinner in 2009, she wore a gold gown by Indian
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Writing in the Washington Post Magazine , senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan observed: During her tenure, Obama brought widespread attention to Seventh Avenue. She energized designers, editors and stylists with her fashionforward wardrobe choices. She made industry insiders stand taller both at home and abroad. She’s been an exemplar of modern, fit and confident middle age. She instilled pride and kinship among countless Black women.
decided to wear. It really changed our career.”20
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Ikram Goldman, where Mrs. Obama shopped when her husband first began campaigning. Goldman was first to work with Mrs. Obama, helping guide her through the presidential campaign, and by 2010 Koop had relocated to Washington, D.C., and taken over the job full-time.27
Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, credits Michelle Obama with making Washington take fashion seriously. “When I used to come to D.C., I repre sented an industry that was considered decidedly unserious. I was the lady in funny clothes,” she said. “Fashion can be a powerful instrument of social change. . . . It allows us to think about who we are as individuals and as a society.”34
Meredith Koop, like Michelle Obama, under stood the power of dressing. The goal was not to have Mrs. Obama’s clothing distract from her. “You have to anticipate every avenue of attack and every possible outcome. You have to celebrate fashion but also be aware of the message people are going to take away. Fashion can bolster communications in the best-case scenario, or be a silent partner, or actually distract,” Koop said.28 Koop is the one who reached out to designers about garments for Michelle Obama’s various events. She took all aspects into consideration, from designer and cut to the practicalities of how Mrs. Obama would be moving that day. When trav eling, the two researched to make sure “the design ers, colors, and styles we chose paid proper respect to the people and countries we visited.”29 The pair has also always attempted to break the mold when it came to how a first lady dressed. Rather than the understated looks of some of her predecessors, Michelle Obama never shied away from standing out. She used her ability to command focus to bring attention to a moment or cause. The designers who worked with Michelle Obama and Meredith Koop also attest to this. Koop’s “vision for how Mrs. O wants to look for each event is always crystal clear. In spite of all the scheduling and logistics involved, she somehow also manages to keep the process light and collaborative,” said designer Tracy Reese.30
When the Obamas left the White House in January 2017, Michelle Obama left behind a leg acy that extended beyond fashion. She was candid, authentic, and relatable. She had used her position as first lady to promote numerous initiatives that made a difference in people’s lives. Her clothing was just one of the tools she used to make a differ ence. Michelle Obama made a case for the power of fashion, not just as a communicative tool but also as a way to promote a vital American industry. She recognized fashion as an important business sector in the United States and included it in her educa tion initiative Reach Higher, in which she encour aged young adults to continue their education past highInschool.aspeech at the first White House Fashion Education Workshop in October 2014, Michelle Obama said, “Fashion is really about passion and creativity, just like music or dance or poetry. For so many people across the country, it is a calling; it is a career. It’s the way they feed their families.”31 At that workshop, designers such as Jason Wu, Diane von Furstenberg, Jenna Lyons, and other industry professionals spoke to two hundred high school and college students about fashion as a career option. Michelle Obama again underlined her message with sartorial symbolism by wearing a dress designed by Fashion Institute of Technology student Natalya Koval.32 The workshop and her penchant for highlighting young designers were ways that Michelle Obama was able to encourage young people to pursue goals that they might have thought were out of their reach. This was the same message she channeled when giving graduation keynote speeches or speaking to a group of students about her Let Girls Learn initiative. “She underscored how most fashion companies are entrepreneurial endeavors, not big publicly traded corporations; they are the very definition of small businesses,” wrote Robin Givhan.33 That is why it is so important that Michelle Obama cham pioned up-and-coming designers. She did not just make a difference in a few people’s lives and careers, but she also brought the American gaze to these companies, forcing them to think beyond estab lished luxury brands and consider the people who are making clothes. She humanized her fashion, a tactic that worked so well on the campaign trail but that she proved time and time again was not just a tactic. Her authenticity in everything she did is what made her so engaging in the first place. So when promoting the fashion industry the public valued her passion and interest.
PHOTOSHOUSEWHITEPHOTOS:ALL opposite When “properchooseMeredithObamainternationalplanningtravel,Mrs.workedwithherstylistKooptocolorsandpatternsthatpaidrespect”tothepeopleandnationsshewouldbevisiting.Clockwisefromtopleft:MichelleObamachoseabrightyellowshiftdressembellishedwithagreenflowerforameetingwithItalianPresidentandMrs.GiorgioNapolitanoattheQuirinalPalaceinRome,beforedepartingfortheG-8summitinL’Aquila,2009.ForanofficialdinneratthePresidentialPalaceinDakar,Senegal,Mrs.Obamachoseacolorfullypatternedgown,2013.Mrs.ObamawearsabrightlypatternedjacketassheparticipatesinthetraditionalritualofdrinkingfromtheOtowaWaterfallattheKiyomizu-deraBuddhisttempleinKyoto,Japan,2015.TogreetchildrenduringavisittoSanSalvador,thefirstladywearsabeltedsleevelessbluedresswithablackfloralpattern,2011.
Michelle Obama’s carefully cultivated down-toearth image was successful because of her under standing of the power her choices had. In turn, she used this power to champion important causes and her own initiatives while also engaging in a form of cultural diplomacy. Analyzing her fashion proves a 87
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opposite Michelle Obama views a display of her dresses in the East duringColonnadetheFashionEducationWorkshop,2014. above Mrs. Workshop,RoomRoryobservesObamadesignerDuffyandstudentsatworkintheStateDiningduringtheFashionEducation2014.
20. Juju Chang, “Michelle Obama’s Stunning Outfits as Told by the Designers Who Dressed Her,” filmed December 21, 2016, for ABC News, available on youtube.com. 21. Robin Givhan, “Michelle Obama Didn’t Like to Discuss Her Clothes, But They Spoke Volumes,” Washington Post Magazine, November 23, 2016. 22. Cristina Everett, “Michelle Obama’s State Dinner Dress Designed by Indian-Born Naeem Khan,” New York Daily News, November 25, 2009. 23. Quoted in Annie Gabillet, “One of Michelle Obama’s Favorite Designers Dishes on How She Chose Her Most Iconic Dresses,” posted December 16, 2016, PopSugar website, www.popsugar. com. 24. Stephanie Eckardt, “Michelle Obama Has a Long History of Supporting Emerging Designers, from Teija to Jason Wu,” W Magazine, May 30, 2017. 25. Yermack, “How This First Lady Moves Markets.” 26. Obama, Becoming, 332. 27. Vanessa Friedman, “Dressing Michelle Obama, Then and Now,” New York Times, November 15, 2018, D1. 28. Quoted in ibid. 29. Obama, Becoming, 334. 30. Quoted in Friedman, “Dressing Michelle Obama,” D1. 31. Quoted in Robin Givhan, “Michelle Obama and Fashion Designers Show Students the Grit Behind the Glamour,” Washington Post, October 8, 2014. 32. Lauren Christensen, “The Stylist to First Lady Michelle Obama Finally Opens Up,” Harper’s Bazaar, October, 2016, 268–71. 33. Givhan, “Michelle Obama Didn’t Like to Discuss Her Clothes.” 34. Quoted in Givhan, “Michelle Obama and Fashion Designers.” 89white house history quarterly
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16. Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy (New York: One World, 2017), 48. 17. Obama, Becoming, 333. 18. Anna Wintour, “First Among Equals,” Vogue, December 1, 2016, 94, 96. 19. David Yermack, “How This First Lady Moves Markets,” Harvard Business Review, November 2010.
crucial point about the importance of fashion as a communicative tool, especially when it is utilized by someone in the public eye. notes 1. “Michelle Obama,” The White House website, www.whitehouse. gov. 2. Hilary Stout, “Can Michelle Obama Create a Fashion Star?” New York Times, May 9, 2010, ST1. 3. Quoted in Vanessa Friedman, “What Michelle Obama Wore and Why It Mattered,” New York Times, January 15, 2017, ST1.
4. Michelle Obama, 2008 Convention Keynote Address, August 25, 2008, C-SPAN website, www.c-span.org. 5. Mary Tomer, “About,” Mrs-O.com (blog), http://mrs-o.org. 6. Tomer, “The Inspiration,” posted September 22, 2008, ibid. 7. Michelle Obama, Becoming (New York: Crown, 2018), 333. 8. Ibid. 9. Keith Kyle, “The First Lady,” Harper’s Bazaar, November 1960, 89. 10. Obama, Becoming, 333. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid., 332. 13. Ibid., 332–33. 14. Ava DuVernay, preface to The Meaning of Michelle: 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own, ed. Veronica Chambers (New York: Picador, 2018), xvi–xvii.
15. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, “Michelle Obama,” The Time 100 Most Influential People 2019, posted April 17, 2019, Time website, www.time.com.
