Wish List

Nordstrom is offering amazing luxury gift experiences this holiday season, two of which involve Mrs. O's designers. Though as one would imagine, the price tags are beyond steep, we are enchanted with the fashion fantasy of it all.

The two experiences that caught out eye: "Art, Love and Fashion" and the "Wedding Gown of your Dreams." The first includes a one of a kind couture design by Isabel Toledo, a signed sketch of the look by Ruben Toledo, and lunch with the couple. (Note, the portrait used by Nordstrom above is also featured in the Mrs. O book!) The second experience is a full fledge bridal fantasy. It includes a custom Jason Wu wedding dress, Manolo Blahnik shoes, Natori underpinnings and wedding day make-up by Nordstrom. Both experiences also include luxury dinners and hotel accommodations in New York, totalling more than $20,000 each. Well, one can dream!

More information on Nordstrom's Extraordinary Experiences is available here.

Anticipation Builds

The Os will host their first state dinner on Tuesday, honoring India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur. In Washington, the event is being considered as, "the biggest social occasion since the inauguration." It will be a wonderful opportunity to see the first lady in a stunning evening gown, but also a chance to observe how the Os host an event. We imagine every nuanced detail of the dinner and decor has been thoroughly thought through.

We enjoyed Robin Givhan's musings on state dinner fashion etiquette for the Washington Post, here, not to mention the video above, which we believe features Politico reporter Nia-Malika Henderson (thanks Ari, for the link). The Huffington Post has a fantastic retrospective look at state dinner fashion of past, here. Food enthusiasts will enjoy this video featuring Kiki Ryan of Politico and former White House chef Walter Scheib, discussing potential menu considerations.

What would you like to see Mrs. O wear? And might there be a nod to Indian culture in Mrs. O's ensemble? We have our fingers crossed for another Peter Soronen stunner.

As a bit of inspiration, we will close with one of our favorite photos of Jacqueline Kennedy, dressed in pink for a dinner to honor the French Minister of Cultural Affairs, Andre Malraux, in 1962.

Image via John F. Kennedy Library / Public Domain

A Tribute to Joan Weinstein of Ultimo

Image of Joan Weinstein via Chicago Tribune

This blog began a little over a year ago, inspired by the future first lady's style and driven by a curiosity to learn and share more about what and who Mrs. O was wearing. Understanding the various fashion influences at play in Chicago was one of the first steps in discovering the full story. As names like Maria Pinto and Ikram Goldman emerged in our research last fall, so too did one that we weren't previously familiar with: Joan Weinstein, the former owner of Ultimo.

It has been reported that Ms. Weinstein passed away last weekend at the age of 74. We are sorry to have never met Ms. Weinstein - by all accounts a thoroughly glamourous woman with impeccable style and unerring taste. We would like to pay tribute to her influence and legacy here.

Ultimo opened in 1969 as a high-end men's store in Chicago, run by Jerry Weinstein, Joan Weinstein's husband. The boutique later expanded to include women's wear, with Joan Weinsten at the helm. When admirers speak of Ultimo in its prime, there is often a gasp, an almost pained appreciation for how impossibly chic both the boutique and its glamourous owner were.

Ms. Weinstein's prized pupil at Ultimo is a name that will be familiar to fans of Mrs. O's style: Ikram Goldman. When ownership of Ultimo was assumed by a private equity firm in the late 90s, Ms. Weinstein retired to Florida and Buenos Aires, while Ms. Goldman left to begin her own Chicago boutique, Ikram.

While Mrs. Weinstein may not have had a direct influence on Mrs. O's style, she has certainly played an instrumental role in furthering the careers of many designers now loved by the first lady. As we began work on "Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy" this became increasingly apparent. Karen Erickson told us that Ms. Weinstein bought the first collection of Erickson Beamon jewelry in 1983. The same applies to both Maria Pinto and Peter Soronen, among others. Mr. Soronen told us, "I still have that first order from Joan Weinstein - she has such a beautiful cursive writing."

We would love to hear thoughts and perspective from those who visited Ultimo and may have known Ms. Weinstein personally.

For further reading, please read "The Ikram Touch" written by Marcia Coburn, "Mrs. C", for Chicago magazine in 2006. The Chicago Tribune has published an article on Ms. Weinstein's passing, here.

Lovely Lilac

Image  by Kevin Lamarque / Getty Images

What a busy - and thoroughly lovely - day for Mrs. O! Following her school duties, the first lady hosted an afternoon tea in the East Room of the White House to celebrate women in the military. For the event, Mrs. O debuted a lilac dress adorned with a purple satin bow at the collar. We love the pleated detail at the neck and delicate layers of fabric that form the cap sleeves. Also note the symmetric seam detailing on the front and back of the skirt.

Images by Samantha Appleton / White House

More coverage on Wednesday's White House event available here.

Update: NYMag reports that Mrs. O wears an Anne Klein New York dress.

Lovely Ruffles

Image by Tim Sloan / Getty Images

First Lady Mrs. O is in Alexandria, VA today visiting the vegetable garden of a Virginia elementary school. Per the AP, Mrs. O handed out bananas and tangerines during the school's lunch hour, while receiving a few gardening tips from students - all part of Mrs. O's ongoing efforts to promote healthy eating and exercise.

On the style front, we can hardly believe our eyes! Mrs. O is wearing a ruffled, olive green blouse from J.Crew. Fitting with operafanatic's new thread on O.Chat, "I Own the Same Thing", we have the same blouse in the same color - and in fact, wore it to J.Crew when interviewing Creative Director Jenna Lyons for the Mrs. O book.