The dress and jacket were fabulous—the 3/4th sleeves, the lace, and the color fashion-checked the Kennedy era flawlessly. She looked both elegant and sunny (counterbalancing his speech full of dark-and-stormy imagery), and that cut is very, very right for her figure. Shoes and gloves: perfect accent color, oddball but not screamingly bright like the Republican ladies seem to favor. I read that the gloves were J. Crew, and someone was dinging her for the shoes/gloves not matching perfectly, to which I say: She’s not a goddamn Barbie doll AND we’re in a recession, people.
I haven’t looked too closely at the evening gown, but it seemed unfortunately reminiscent of Bjork’s terrible swan-dress. Also that neckline is asymmetrical in a bad way, making her look lopsided rather than possessed of a Grecian-style elegance.
But former guest-Slogger, local costumer extraordinaire, &etc. It’s Mark Mitchell knows better than I:
I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the clothes, but agree with all of your points. Including the shoes/gloves not matching, which I noticed and appreciated. I liked that she chose Isabel Toledo, who has never gotten the recognition she deserves. I couldn’t have liked the color and fabric more, but thought it was a little dressy with the jeweled neckline. I would have preferred something less sparkly. Also, the chiffon bow at the waistline of the dress was pretty, but flapped annoyingly while we anxiously waited for those Texan Terrorists to get on the helicopter. But those are small points. She looked amazing and appropriate and happy.
The party dress was a disappointment to me, but not in a horrible way. Just a missed opportunity. It was too little girly for her womanly shape, and wasn’t Jason Wu (the designer) originally a designer of DOLL DRESSES? I would have loved to seen her in a bolder color, and you are correct about the bodice. It wasn’t flattering and there was something almost bandage-y about the shoulder strap. I didn’t get a Bjork swan vibe, though.
But none of it comes close to how cool it was to see them walking down the street yesterday, and how I teared up reading the NYT‘s reportage of the President’s first day of work just now, and how great it feels to simply type the title “President” instead of my usual way of substituting “that asshole who tried to kill our country and should thank Heaven we don’t stone him in the public square” or some such.
I love America.
Amen, It’s Mark Mitchell. I cried tears of joy at least four times yesterday.
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images; more photos and commentary here, where it is also revealed that the jeweled neckline is actually a brooch.
at first I didn’t like the swearing in dress because it looked like it fit poorly and made her look pregnant, but then I realized she probably had it lined so she wouldn’t freeze to death so that’s ok…
For fuck’s sake . . . enough with Kennedy, Camelot, and the rest of that shit.
OK, kids, it’s time to play, “What’s Barack saying to Michelle?” I’ll start.
“Is it just me, or does that old bible smell funny?”
I don’t like the comparison either. Jacqueline Kennedy may have been a fantastic icon that sophisticated America just a little bit in her time, but she was also a label obsessed elitist whose demands for life’s excesses had to be financed by her husbands wealthy father (speculated as a trade-off to stay with Jack).
That Michelle Obama is a much better example in every regard. She looks pretty good, too.
Larry King had Tim Gunn on last night for fashion commentary on our new First Lady (!!!) and even with the sound off (but captions on) he was fascinatng and hilarious. And mostly approving.
I don’t know anything when it comes to all that fashion talk, I just know the First Lady is a stone fox.
That dress is missing something…oh, yeah, plastic slip covers.
A lot of the criticism she’s taken over these clothes fails to take into consideration that it was a zillion degrees below zero out there.
I thought she looked terrific in the yellow.
I wasn’t a fan of the party dress, mostly because of the point about the bodice being unflattering. There was too much of a delineation between the bodice and the flowing skirt, making the skirt poof out just a bit at the hips.
I thought she looked terrific despite the yellow/chartreuse/baby puke/whatever…
..whatever it was i was thinking about michelle’s dress ( it did make me giggle with glee ) was totally obliterated by aretha’s ‘ i don’t want the aliens to know what i’m thinking’ church lady hat.
Thank god she has her own style and doesn’t listen to our advice.
Stop the hating.
I loved what she wore. Some have complained about the bulkiness of the daytime outfit, but I’ve read reports that she was wearing a bullet-resistant (as they say) vest underneath. So that could’ve added some bulk. And the night-time dress was lovely. I liked the flow and the color. Apparently she had only 20 minutes or so to get ready, and this dress wasn’t going to get wrinkled whilst sitting in the limo. In addition, it looked comfy. Good for her.
And her dress today (by Feith) was awesome. I loved the large floral print. She rocks the house. I’m just glad she’s not wearing skirt suits with floppy ties.
Am I the only homo in the world that liked Bjork’s swan-dress? It was so over the top. I loved it.
Michelle’s evening gown wasn’t great, but it was no swan-dress. She has a great figure, and can get away with wearing just about anything.
That was ME, I was the, ahem, dinger, and I stand by my statement. J. Crew made those gloves specially for her, supposedly, so there’s no reason they couldn’t have gone even slightly better with the shoes. The shoes were a strong blue-green in the pictures I’ve seen. The gloves were soft olive green. They didn’t go together. At. All. I ain’t claiming to be no fashion guru, but I can tell when two colors look like crap, dangnabbit.
P.S. I love today’s prayer service dress. And holy cow, flats?! On a First Lady? Sweet!
And here I had given up on U.S. media. Could we please talk more about Michelle Obama’s attire? I can’t wait for the next four years of news stories about Michelle Obama’s fashion. I wonder what she’s wearing today? I better check out MSNBC.
Today’s dress was amazing. Great, unusual cut that really suits her and the fabric was unbelievable.
She is the best thing to happen to America since her husband.
Here’s what I liked about Michelle’s ball gown. It was more about a little known designer than about her. It showed me she is an exceptionally generous and lovely woman. I absolutely love our new First Lady! And best of all, she’s not an uptight Republican but one of the people.
Her daytime attire was perfect. Excellent color, perfect fit. Remember, it was like 20 degrees, so of course she needs a coat of some sort.
I hated, HATED, the evening gown. It looked like a wedding dress, especially when she was standing next to the prez in his tuxedo. As someone else mentioned the shoulder strap hand a bandage look to it. And overall the dress had too much volume. A sleeker look in non-white would have been perfect. I know a lot of fashion folks are giving it a thumbs up just because they like the designer. I don’t know anything about designers. I’m just basing this on the look.