Steinem: Bettmann/Corbis; Roosevelt: George Karger/Pix Inc./Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Obama: Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Gillibrand: AP Photo/Tim Roske; Bush and McCain: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty ImAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowEvery year on Passover, we Jews sing a song about how fantastic God is, called "Dayenu," which translates loosely to "it would have been enough." You know the gist: If He'd just taken us out of slavery, it would have been enough. If He'd just parted the Red Sea, it would have been enough, and so on. Clearly, God went beyond the call of duty. So too does our new first lady, Michelle Obama. If she were just brilliant and eloquent and accomplished, it would be enough. If she were just the mother of the two cutest children on planet Earth, it would be enough. And if she were just downto- earth yet extraordinarily charismatic, that too would be enough. But on top of all that, the first lady of the United States of America has mad style.
More From ELLETrue, she's not the first. Other recent presidents' wives were elegant and glamorous, notably Nancy Reagan and, of course, Jacqueline Kennedy. Nancy's flashy, Falcon Crest-worthy Galanos gowns and aristocratic Adolfo suits were alternately gushed over and reviled for epitomizing '80s Republican excess. The world's approving eyes were glued to Jackie's Oleg Cassini column dresses and her coiffure from Kenneth, which was somehow frisky and regal at the same time. But neither of those divas was exactly of the people—I went to see an exhibition of Jackie's clothes a couple of years ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for crying out loud. Michelle Obama's style, by contrast, is sophisticated but accessible. We've heard a lot about her love of color and interest in American fashion. But perhaps what matters most is that she doesn't dress like The Wife of a President; she never appears to be in a costume for her role. She dresses like a Harvard-educated, young, professional mother: herself.
Before Michelle, first ladies have traditionally been expected to look, above all else, appropriate. Their fashion choices have usually sent the reassuring message that everything was as it ought to be, traditions were being upheld, the Queen of Camelot was keeping the castle in order. Enter Michelle.
Of course we have all dissected the night Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination. Media coverage focused on the fist bump, but all I could think about was that vibrant purple sheath (by Chicago designer Maria Pinto) Michelle was wearing with an Azzedine Alaïa belt. She looked chic and dynamic at the Democratic National Convention in a knee-length red Thakoon dress with a bold floral print—the look was immortalized in a painting by Elizabeth Peyton, which hung at the New Museum of Contemporary Art this past winter alongside Peyton's portraits of Marc Jacobs and Kurt Cobain. And she was gorgeous in graphic black and white on The View, in a dress that cost $148, came off the rack from White House/Black Market, and sold out immediately after it was modeled by the first lady-to-be. She is the first first lady to have the confidence to wear inexpensive clothes from chain stores, and when she does shell out four figures for something special, she chooses relatively unknown talents like Isabel Toledo, Jason Wu, and Thakoon Panichgul, whose work tends to be artful and idiosyncratic rather than ostentatiously luxurious.
Steinem: Bettmann/Corbis; Roosevelt: George Karger/Pix Inc./Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Obama: Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Gillibrand: AP Photo/Tim Roske; Bush and McCain: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty ImBut what makes Michelle one of us, fashionwise, isn't just that she wears the kind of clothes that are popular with American women who have come of age in the era of Vera Wang for Target and Sex and the City. It's also that while sometimes she gets it just right and looks polished and radiant, other times she makes wacky choices and clearly prioritizes her personal style over public approval. Her firework of a dress on election night, a black and red piece by Narciso Rodriguez, was controversial and anything but safe. Her decision to wear a big glittery necklace and Toledo's beaded lemongrass lace ensemble at the inauguration provoked reactions from "regal and inspiring" to "old-fashioned" and "too cocktailish." And her one-shoulder white gown by Wu was equally polarizing. Though a symbolic color choice—and a silhouette that flattered what Wu believed to be her best feature, her buff arms—some thought she looked like she was wearing a wedding cake. She has even been criticized by the Black Artists Association for not choosing to wear an African-American designer. But like most modern women who are lucky enough to live in a time when our accomplishments are as important as our appearance, Michelle Obama really seems to be dressing for herself.
This kind of personal, individualistic style may be the norm on the street and in Hollywood, but it's extremely rare in politics. Think of Nancy Pelosi's cautious formality, Laura Bush's matronly pastels, or Hillary Clinton's traveling pantsuits. When I covered the McCain campaign on the Straight Talk Express last year, I was struck by the way Cindy McCain used fashion as armor. She always looked flawless but stiff in her size 0 St. John suits and her snug leather blazers with her hair lacquered into a helmet. You could describe her style as crisp and classic, but above all, she looked rich. I never saw her without her bejeweled white ceramic Chanel watch or diamond studs the size of raspberries in her ears. (The press corps and the campaign staff, on the other hand, always looked wrinkled and slightly ragged.) Cindy's style sent a clear message: I am not one of you; I am a member of the upper class. Don't mess with me. There was an uproar, of course, over Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's $150,000-plus campaign clothing budget, but at the Republican convention in Minneapolis, Cindy McCain wore a single outfit that reportedly cost twice that much. In a time of economic collapse, Michelle Obama's relatively modestly priced wardrobe seems even more fashionable by contrast. (Full disclosure: Wu agreed to not charge Obama for the dress, as it is to be donated to the Smithsonian Institution.)
Women have largely rejected traditional uniforms and fashion axioms in the twentyfirst century. In many professions, as we've gained ground at work, we've stopped feeling compelled to wear power suits to the office every day in order to be taken seriously. We mix things from J.Crew and H&M with our best designer pieces, we wear white in winter and black to weddings, and in our downtime, we let our bra straps show (if they're cute). It's fitting that we have a first lady who makes her own rules. Like so many American women, rather than changing the way she looks or the way she sounds to fit into her station, Michelle Obama has the power and style to transform the role instead.
A woman in the White House who prioritizes her own preferences, invites her mother (the first granny) to live with her during her husband's term in office, knows her own mind, and is not afraid of fashion bucking the status quo—that's change we can believe in. If we just elected Barack Obama president, it would have been enough. (Dayenu.) But getting Michelle along with him is the ultimate luxury.