Michelle Obama: America's new style icon knows just what to pack

[babylonsister]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/04/06/michelle.obama.europe/?iref=hpmostpop

Michelle Obama: America's new style icon knows just what to pack

By Hal Rubenstein


(InStyle.com) -- Is anyone else besides Michelle Obama leaving the house these days? Because for the last week, you would have thought that Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow and Halle Berry had gone into the Witness Protection Program.


First lady Michelle Obama arrives with President Obama in London, England, for the G-20 Summit.


During first lady Michelle Obama's whirlwind visit to Europe this past week, her refreshing take on American style has emerged. It is elegant, smart, appropriate and shows the first lady to be comfortable in her own skin.

Coverage surrounding the first lady's wardrobe in Europe, from cardigans to kitten heels, has been relentless, riveting, fawning and, frankly, missing the objective of her strategically packed suitcase.

No doubt about it, Michelle Obama scored big, looking terrific everywhere, delighting everyone -- probably no one more so than Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew. But the post-game commentary sparked by each of her appearances has been hyperbolic when it hasn't been comical.

You would have thought each of the first lady's "face offs," as both American and British tabloids labeled her meetings with Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's first lady Sarah Brown, and France's Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, had been deliberately set up as counter-programming to C-SPAN's coverage of the budget negotiations in Congress.

One wire service reporter asked me if Michelle, wearing a two-toned silk dress by Jason Wu, should have "taken a bigger fashion risk" when meeting the 83-year-old British monarch, who was all mumsy in blush pink. It was an afternoon tea, folks, not the Embassy Ball in "My Fair Lady." :)

Another wanted to know if I agreed that the first lady's now-sold-out J. Crew outfit, an embellished cream cardigan and mint-green jacquard skirt, was "a little too down-market" to meet the prime minister of England's wife, completely overlooking where the two women were headed after the photo op. Or would a bias-cut silk charmeuse dress have been a wiser choice for visiting a children's cancer ward?

snip//

When speaking to a group of school children in London, the first lady freely admitted, "I like getting A's. I like being smart." She sure is.

[politicasista]

1. I love her

The First Family has been a breath of fresh air for sure. :bounce:

[Cha]

2. It would pay the media to do their homework.

That's a blanket statement that rings true for the last 8 years and beyond.


"Another wanted to know if I agreed that the first lady's now-sold-out J. Crew outfit, an embellished cream cardigan and mint-green jacquard skirt, was "a little too down-market" to meet the prime minister of England's wife, completely overlooking where the two women were headed after the photo op. Or would a bias-cut silk charmeuse dress have been a wiser choice for visiting a children's cancer ward?"

[babylonsister]

3. Yep. That's why I liked this article. It blew the other media out of

the water for their foolishness.