Michelle Obama stated that throughout her eight years as first lady of the U.S., she could transition from delivering a speech to engaging with a foreign dignitary to tending her vegetable patch alongside visiting students.
TL;DR
- Michelle Obama prioritized practicality and comfort in her outfits, wanting to be able to hug people.
- Her fashion choices aimed to be welcoming and versatile, sending a positive message.
- She discussed her inauguration outfits, including the maroon Sergio Hudson ensemble that "broke the internet."
- Obama also reflected on her role as First Lady and the significance of her style evolution.
She also needed her outfits prepared for that occasion. With so many other responsibilities, such as raising her daughters Sasha and Malia, she stated she lacked the time to fixate on what she was wearing.
“I was concerned about, ‘Can I hug somebody in it? Will it get dirty?’” she said Wednesday night during a moderated conversation about her style choices dating back to growing up on the South Side of Chicago to when she found herself in the national spotlight as the first Black woman to serve in the role. “I was the kind of first lady that there was no telling what I would do.”
The world closely followed Obama's actions and words, as well as her attire. She documented her style evolution, including her hair and makeup, in her newest book, “The Look,” penned alongside her long-time stylist Meredith Koop, which was released earlier this month.
During her tenure as first lady, she gained recognition for her athletic prowess, notably catching a football thrown by an NFL player, participating in a soccer match with David Beckham, setting a Guinness World Record for the most jumping jacks, and performing pushups alongside Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
She wanted her clothes to be welcoming as well as versatile.
“The thing about clothes that I find is that they can welcome people in or they can keep people away, and if you’re so put together and so precious and things are so crisp and the pin is so big, you know, it can just tell people, ‘Don’t touch me,’” she said.
She said she wouldn’t wear white to events with rope lines in case someone wanted a hug.
“I’m not going to push somebody away when they need something from me, and I’m not going to let the clothes get in the way of that,” Obama said.
Here’s what she said about a few of her notable fashion choices:
Her gown for Obama’s first inauguration
Designed by Jason Wu, a then-unknown 26-year-old from Taiwan, the white, one-shoulder chiffon gown transformed Wu's life the moment she wore it to the inaugural ball, a change she intentionally orchestrated.
“We were beginning to realize everything we did sent a message,” Obama said, speaking of herself and her husband, former President Barack Obama. “So that’s what we were trying to do with the choices we made, to change lives.”
She would continue to help launch the careers of other up-and-coming designers by wearing their creations.
Chain mail state dinner gown
Obama wore the rose gold gown by Versace for the Obama administration’s final state dinner, for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in October 2016.
“So that was a kind of a, ‘I don’t care’ dress,” she said of the shimmery, one-armed gown.
“I put that on. I was like, ‘This is sexy.’ It’s the last one,” she said, meaning their final state dinner. “All of my choices, ultimately, are what is beautiful — and what looks beautiful on.”
Pantsuit worn to Joe Biden’s inauguration
“I was really in practical mode,” Obama said, explaining why she chose the maroon ensemble by Sergio Hudson with a flowing, floor-length coat that she wore unbuttoned, exposing the belt around her waist with a big, round gold-toned buckle. Her boots had a low heel.
“The sitting president was trying to convince us that Jan. 6 was just a peaceful protest,” she said.
Two weeks following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by followers of President Donald Trump, who aimed to reverse Biden’s win, the inauguration ceremony took place there.
She said she had been thinking about the possibility of having to run if something else had happened that day.
“I wanted to be able to move. I wanted to be ready,” she said. But she and her team “had no idea” the outfit “was going to break the internet,” she said.
White House East Wing
Obama also discussed the East Wing, the customary hub for first ladies, which Trump demolished last month to construct a ballroom he's wanted for a considerable time.
Obama described the East Wing as a joyful place that she remembers as full of apples, children, puppies and laughter, in contrast to the West Wing, which dealt with “horrible things.” It was where she worked on various initiatives that ranged from combating childhood obesity to rallying the country around military families to encouraging developing countries to let girls go to school.
She stated that neither she nor her husband ever considered the White House as “our house.” They viewed themselves primarily as custodians, with numerous tasks requiring attention within the mansion.
“But every president has the right to do what they want in that house, so that’s why we’ve got to be clear on who we let in,” Obama said.