Michelle Obama

I was inspired to blog about Michelle Obama when I read a New York Times Style Magazine article called "To The First Lady, With Love". The format of the piece was four separate thank you notes. The authors wrote fascinating notes that were more like essays. I have never written a thank you note that was half as long but I am known for my brevity.

How is someone supposed to sum up our First Lady? Not easily because there is so much more than style icon. Here are a couple of excerpts from the article that I loved.


Excerpt by Chimamondo Nagozi Adichie

"She embraced veterans and military families, and became their listening advocate.  She threw open the White House doors to people on the margins of America. She was working class, and she was Princeton, and so she could speak of opportunity as a tangible thing. Her program Reach Higher pushed high schoolers to go further, to want more. She jumped rope with children on the White House grounds as part of her initiative to combat childhood obesity. She grew a vegetable garden and campaigned for healthier food in schools. She reached across borders and cast her light on the education of girls all over the world. She danced on television shows. She hugged more people than any first lady ever has, and she made “first lady” mean a person warmly accessible, a person both normal and inspirational and a person many degrees of cool."


Excerpt by Gloria Steinem

"Recently, over the course of the Trump-Clinton presidential campaign, Michelle has become one of the most effective public speakers of our time. That's serious. To be less serious, she has always been a woman who knows the difference between fashion (what outside forces tell you to wear) and style (the way you express a unique self). At one lunch in the White House for women who had been spokespeople and supporters in President Obama's second campaign, she invited local public school children to sing and perform. Those students, mostly African-American kids, were spirited, talented and at ease in the White House that belongs to them as much as to anyone in this country, yet they wouldn't of been there without Michelle."

Now to be less serious (a nod to Gloria), let's get down to Michelle's style. If style is a reflection of one's individuality then it is no wonder she is always so well dressed. She is so well educated and so well everything. I have a few shots of her that I think remind us of her strength and elegance.

 

In this photo her hair is blowing in her face but she still looks like a million bucks. This dress is very feminine and flattering. You may not have noticed the splash of red shoes because of the carpet but they make a sensible dress less sensible.

Michelle was not only appropriately dressed for any occasion but she out did our expectations again and again. I for one will miss this glamorous and dynamic duo in the White House.