Loved all her dresses except this one..
The dress wore her, just my opinion
Disagree. Gorgeous dress! Doesn’t need to show a lot of skin when it fits her like a glove.
I think the goal was to have an ensemble that didn’t look like a separate dress with overcoat-as the dress and matching overcoat Michelle Obama wore (which was very nice, I thought). The bolero jacket with the high cowl neck provided the extra layer of warmth when coupled with the suede gloves. So it served as a coat without looking like a coat. I wondered if she might be wearing a bullet proof vest under it.
At the luncheon, when she removed the jacket, you could see that the dress was a simple sheath with a jewel neckline.