Posted on 08/26/2026 2:13:45 PM PDT by simpson96
Former First Lady Michelle Obama, a seasonal resident of Edgartown, drew enthusiastic crowds that filled the 791-seat Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center twice on Sunday, for a pair of onstage talks with journalist and fellow summer Islander Michele Norris.
Discussing her new book The Look, Ms. Obama recalled the fierce media spotlight that was aimed at her clothing choices, and her body itself, during her husband Barack Obama’s campaigns and presidency.
“It wouldn’t matter what the content of the speech was. The way the press often covered it was, ‘She was wearing X, Y, Z. Her arms looked like this,’” Ms. Obama said.
The scrutiny began while she was campaigning for Mr. Obama’s party nomination in 2008, and came from male and female reporters alike, she told the Island audience.
“When the media started taking notice … I think some of our Democratic opponents felt like ‘We need to target her,’ and that’s when the negative press started,” Ms. Obama said.
Attacks on her appearance continued during the general election campaign and her two terms in the White House.
“If they want to go after a woman, they go after how she looks, how we feel about ourselves,” Ms. Obama said.
Determined to outwit her critics, she developed a fashion agenda unlike any other First Lady’s before her.
“It is a job, and fashion was always going to be a thing. They were always going to focus on my shoes before they focused on anything I said,” Ms. Obama said.
“I needed to be smart about what I wore, what it meant. My clothes had to tell a story,” she said.
That story, Ms. Obama said, was about inclusion and opening up the White House to the American people who put her family there.
“You know, there isn’t just one kind of America. There’s this big, whole, wide-open, beautiful tapestry of possibility,” said Ms. Obama, who wore fashion by American designers from a variety of backgrounds throughout her time in the White House.
Her new book, a large-format hardback with more than 200 photographs, illustrates the choices she made and the messages they were meant to send.
Instead of Oscar de la Renta, the Dominican high-fashion heavyweight who had gowned First Ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy to Laura Bush, Ms. Obama chose the young designer Jason Wu for her first inaugural ballgown.
“That’s the beginning of just a broader story about who belongs,” she said.
Each crowd member got a copy. — Jeanna Shepard “I wasn’t doing [Mr. Wu] a favor, you know. I looked at other dresses, and I picked his,” Ms. Obama said.
“It changed his life, and it said something to a whole array of young minority designers that you are now going to get a chance,” she said.
Ms. Obama also became the first First Lady to employ a personal stylist, Meredith Koop, whom she promoted from a staff position because of Ms. Koop’s fashion sense.
“I realized this whole getting-dressed thing is a job in and of itself, let alone thinking about traveling and doing high-end ambassador work or doing state visits and trips,” Ms. Obama said.
“I really had a plan substantively to work on nutrition and education and a whole range of things, and I was like, ‘I can’t spend a whole lot of time on this clothes thing,’” she said.
Ms. Koop found new American designers to outfit Ms. Obama for everything from her National Portrait Gallery painting to overseas trips where she played hopscotch in bare feet with children in India.
Ms. Obama also supported aspiring designers, hosting a day of fashion to connect teenagers with top designers for hands-on workshops at the White House.
“It was Gloria Vanderbilt, it was Jenna Lyons, it was Marc Jacobs. I mean, you talk about some of the biggest designers, and [the students] were in breakout rooms learning how to drape and sew and [create]costume and jewelry design,” Ms. Obama said.
Ms. Obama and Ms. Norris greet the second show, with new outfits. — Jeanna Shepard On Sunday afternoon, she and Ms. Norris recognized a group of young Island designers from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s art and technology program, asking them to stand for applause.
For her appearances at the performing arts center, Obama wore a crisp blue and white striped sundress and heeled sandals.
It’s not her typical Island attire, she said.
“This is dressed up [and] we don’t do this here. I don’t even wear shoes,” said Ms. Obama, who thanked the Island community for embracing her family as seasonal residents.
“This place is magic to our family. I mean, it really is. It’s one of the few places where we can go and just be, and that’s thanks to everybody here who loves us but gives us space — maybe excited, but not too crazy,” she said.(snip)
Ticketholders — a majority of them female — received Ms. Obama’s new hardback at the door and underwent thorough bag checks and a metal-detector screening by Secret Service agents before entering the auditorium, where seating was unassigned.
The afternoon audience gave Ms. Obama standing ovations at both the start and end of her appearance, with frequent rounds of applause throughout.
As the crowd dispersed, evening ticketholders were already arriving by bus to get in line for seats, more than an hour and a half before the 7:30 p.m. start time.
FASHION???? FASHION???????????
I WILL NEVER LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO GET THE MEMORY OF HER IN THOSE “MADRAS” SHORTS OUT OF MY MIND WHEN SHE WAS “WALKING THE DOG”.
ABOUT AS UN-PRESIDENTIAL AS POSSIBLE
FASHION???? FASHION???????????
We are the goon squad and we’re coming to town....Beep! Beep!
jock straps are a fashion item?....who knew!!!
OH. COME. ON!!!
“Michelle Obama” and “fashion” in the same sentence? I thought it was the Bee.
What were the Mumus going for?
Fools and their money…🤔
Being instructed on fashion by Moochelle O is like being taught to cook by Jeffrey Dahmer.
She wouldn’t know fashion if it slapped her in the face. Actually, I don’t think even the world’s leading fashion designer could make her look good. She has the physique of a man, might look ok dressed like one. Obummer would like that.
Yes, the way the MSM treated Michelle was HORRIBLE!! They were
nicer to Sarah Palin!...
Could be they were referring to the fashionistas on FR. 😁
...or that black widow dress.
Ms.
A lot not sure of her it thing.
There was the t-shirt with shorts riding up her legs when she boarded AF1. She always made sure her two spawn props were equally tackily dressed.
A fashion icon! Even gay Barry can't take his eyes off of her.
The Left is determined that Michelle Obama be an icon of grace, beauty, and style. She is an adequate Michelle.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools
Romans 1:22
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