Mrs. O Sparkles in Naeem Khan
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 7:08 PM 
Image by Nicolas Kamm / Getty Images
Image by Nicolas Kamm / Getty Images
Official White House Photo / Pete Souza
First Lady Mrs. O has debuted her ensemble for the state dinner, wearing a gown by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan. The strapless gown features hand cut sterling silver sequins sewn on champagne silk chiffon, which create an abstract floral pattern. The dress is entirely handmade, requiring three weeks of work by 40 people, completed in Naeem Khan's family workshop in India. The custom, one-of-a-kind gown was made by the designer with the theme of Mrs. O's first state dinner in mind. The evening honors the stateside visit of Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.
Mrs. O accessorized her ensemble with oversize Bochic drop earrings, featuring a fleur de lis at each ear and tear drop shapes made of gold and purple stones. Mrs. O completed the look with a dramatic stack of gold and diamond bangle bracelets on her left arm, a coordinating champagne-colored wrap, and her hair swept into a loose, romantic updo.
Earlier today Mrs. O hinted that she might turn to an Indian-American designer for her gown this evening, when she chose a skirt by another Indian-American designer, Rachel Roy, for the state dinner preview event. This is Mrs. O's first time publicly wearing a Naeem Khan design and what a debut! Mrs. O is bringing a modern brand of glamour to the White House, the likes of which we've not seen before.
For those who want to watch the coverage live, Politico has a livestream here. The White House will also live stream beginning at 8:15PM EST, here.
As a sidenote: Naeem Kahn is scheduled to be panelist on Larry King Live tonight at 9PM EST. Perhaps Larry will ask about the dress?
Update: We just watched Mr. Naeem Khan on Larry King Live. Of interest, both the designer's father and grandfather designed for Indian royalty in their careers. Mr. Khan relayed that he designed 3 or 4 gowns for the event, which were coordinated through Ikram Goldman in Chicago. The brief had been "Indian, chic, simple, but very glamorous." With that, Mr. Khan chose the color, embroidery, cut and all other aspects of the gowns. He called the moment of seeing the first lady in his design, "So joyous," continuing, "For me to be part of this historic occasion, being Indian, it is beyond amazing. It is an incredible moment for me."
Read more about the Naeem Khan's perspective (and the Halston influence beyond the state dinner dress) in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, here. Thanks denisegirl!
Official White House Photos by Pete Souza
Bochic, Naeem Khan
Reader Comments (246)
OK I must agree nude is not a color and there's likely a better way to describe the shade for our fabulous First Lady.
Finally, finally she looked wonderful. It was so nice to see her in something that didn't make her look dowdy or that stupid belt she insists on wearing every day. She's a beautiful woman; she needs to find a look that works for her and this was a great first step.
Anything that Michelle Obama wears is simple but with her poise and posture whatever she wears make it elegant. This dress simply looks Amazing on her. The golden color matches perfectly with her skin tone and sets off a fantastic glow.
This is her best look yet! The First Couple look so happy!
I cried when I saw her. She is delicously fabulous. More importantly I'm so proud of her for inviting young people to the White House. I am impressed with her effort to mentor young women. A beautiful person inside and out. How will she ever outdo this look?
I cried when I saw her. She is delicously fabulous. More importantly I'm so proud of her for inviting young people to the White House. I am impressed with her effort to mentor young women. A beautiful person inside and out. How will she ever outdo this look?
Absolutely flawless! The FLOTUS & Pres did it to death! You could tell he knew she was gorgeous, too! He was beaming. I am so proud of them. And Desiree is a bad mamma-jamma, too! I'm with PoshTater and Christine about Desi. She bad, too. FLOTUS is so inspirational for "women of a certain age" to be it all and have it all and enjoy it all.
Does this hair style remind anyone else of the Annie Leibowitz pictures of Mrs O from way back.... they were featured in a magazine, I fail to remember which. During the campaign I believe?
(Apologies for multiple posts, I keep remembering things...)
Her best look to date!
Gayle King's gown last night was very very nice. Saw it on Yahoo slide show.
For those who dislike the word "nude", it was the description used in the press release from the designer, and in my opinion, an accurate one. If you feel strongly, please feel free to suggest another word that better describes the color of the fabric, and I will consider changing it. Thanks! Mrs. T
Update: I have changed the description to "pale beige".
Just perfect! I want this dress! And they're so cute together!
I don't feel strongly, and I hadn't noticed the word nude, but I had thought of it as buttermilk. But it doesn't matter. As many contributors as there are to the blog, there will be different descriptions for that colour!
I just keep coming back and coming back to look at these pictures. I am a cold hearted pragmatist, but I am being sucked into this fairy tale vortex that is Mrs. O in this dress. And I can't get over her hair. What a combination of beauty and brains.
@jestina - I hope you got some sleep.
Beautiful! The fabric, the pure clean lines of the dress. Just one thing that keeps distracting my eye, how the top of the dress could fit her a little better. Bravo not just for them but for the entire staff!
@ posh
I think it was Vogue, it was a side profile shot
Wow, she looks soooo beautiful in that. And oh yeah, there's that other lucky guy, the one that she's with ;-P
@ Stephanie Green - in case you didn't notice, she was re-wearing a JCrew outfit earlier in the day. Did you expect the First Lady of the United States to wear Target to a State dinner. I suppose you would.
Wow.......wow .......wow........NOTHING LESS THAN PERFECTION! The PREZ looks at her like he wants to eat her up!
I AM SO PROUD OF HER.
Khan said on Larry King that Ikram was Mrs. O's stylist. Thought she did not have one. Seh looked like a queen last night.
@ Stephanie Green: The taxpayers didn't pay anything for that gown. Unless it was donated by the designer for the publicity, the Obamas paid for it, as they do for the rest of their clothes.
@ Stephanie Green ---- nice try at hate but they pay and must pay for all their clothes and special expenses. By the way they both on their tax return made $900000. So I am sure they can afford it. Furthermore, even the decorating of their living quarters they paid for turning down the allocated monies. The only thing that is your tax dollar is the yearly budget for State Dinners allocated since the beginning of the US, even FDR had state dinner during the depression. Now after dealing with your negativity....
I must say hot mama she is.
Let's keep this thread positive! There's been such a outpouring of support and praise for the first lady. I would love to keep the focus on that!
Mrs. O looked amazing last night. I am so proud to have her representing the United States.
Has anyone found a picture of Jill Biden last night? I read she wore Rheem Acra, but have not seen anything.
She looks gorgeous. I wanted to point out that the "dramatic stack of bangles" is a very Indian and almost mandatory accessory when wearing an Indian outfit, so it was very appropriate for her to use them here to accent her dress.
Stunning, flawless, perfection!
The tent and table setting were beautiful too.
Well done! Makes one proud!
WOW !!!!!!!
President Obama is smiling so broadly, his eyes disappeared in the first photo - so sweet! He doesn't look too bad himself LOL! A stunning couple *sigh*
Mrs Obama looks absolutely beautiful. I think the dress was perfect: not boring black (way too many people in black for a dinner honoring the Indian Prime Minister), Indian-inspired opulence, wonderful silhouette for her, and on-trend with lace and some sheen.
Has anyone found a picture of Dr Biden from last night? I usually love her outfits as well, but cannot find a pic anywhere. Still think of her Inauguration dress: red Reem Acra was lovely.
Love the dress. Mrs. O looks nice. However, too much boob again and again and again!
Smashing! And any number of other superlative adjectives...
Absolutely beautiful. Elegant and world class. On a league of her own.
Have you seen the article on the shocking Google search result for Michelle Obama?
See it here:
http://www.savablogs.info/2009/11/monkey-like-image-was-top-ranking.html
MAJESTIC, PICTURESQUE,
Supercali......fragilistic......expialidocious COVERLISTIC, I am tongue tied about this outfit.
I CANNOT FIND THE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS DRESS....JUST FRAME THIS PICTURE
EVERYWHERE. STARTING WITH THE WHITE-HOUSE WALL. TOO BEAUTIFUL.
As I said before, I always felt Mrs O, knows when to put on her "SUNDAY BEST" (SMILE)
Mrs. O was definitely the best dressed last night, hands down. She didn't even have competition IMHO. I mean, there were a lot of pretty dresses and beautiful woman, but Mrs. O looked red carpet ready. She looked like a star.
Like the others - this was Michelle's best. I agree with Nakajima that this gown, earrings, bangles should go in the Smithsonian with a mannequin wearing the same hairstyle.
I thought that Eric Holder's wife looked good in her dress.
I suspect that many of the other females knew that this was going to be Michelle's show and competing with her was not a good idea. So, they chose to find something appropriate and call it a day.
This was Michelle's night to shine and she did.
Absolutely gorgeous!
CHAMPAGNE - is the perfect color for her milk chocolate skin tone.
WOW - she has really hit a home run with the overall look.....
Hair is pefection
Also, does anyone know who Michelle Fenty was wearing? I loved her dress as well!
U n f o r g e t t a b l e That's what's this is to me.
Colour is perfect. Love the shimmering hem line - like silvery shimmering
see through lace, while opaque at the top fitting Mrs O, not a stitch out
of place emphasizing her great figure. It took 40 people and 3 weeks to make this DRESS,
but the ONE and only Mrs O wears it like a princess. Mr. President is the icing on
the cake. I heard so many rumours about a necklace, I was looking for one. I personally
must wear a necklace. I feel incomplete without one. Our Mrs O's beautiful skin -
just blended beautiful with the colours. Yes she did... Mr. khan great choice.
Gasp...wow, absolutely stunning, exquisite, perfection, magical and ethereal.
No words really do her justice.
A host should not be upstaged at her own event and there was no way anyone could have in this ensemble plus her adorable accessory who looked quite daper himself.
Question on the "nude" color terminology for you fashionistas from this know-nothing..when someone mentions the color "champaigne", the background color of Mrs. O's dress is what I think of. Is this not "champaigne" colored?
@ Posh
Is this the picture you meant? Always liked that picture. Liked the other
YouTube for Mr O's speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0GjqzIvzbo
Slightly off the topic of Mrs Obama's choice of frock, I have to say that Mr Singh's speech is FABulous. I couldn't agree with his sentiments more, and I think he was spot on in all his observations. Bravo Mr Singh. (Nice that the audience was so supportive of his points, too.)
A news review of snippets....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMeHeNjaLk
Champagne is the perfect description of the color. I've updated the post. Thanks all!
Yes Jazz that's the one - thank you!
Champagne IS perfect!
Thanks Denisegirl. I got to bed at 2am but frankly it was worth it. What a night !! What a dress !!
They even showed a snippet of last nights event on GMTV (Breakfast tv) this morning and the presenters gasped when Michelle walked out to the world with THAT dress on.
I bet she is still floating on air. She was SO the belle of the ball last night.
"A host should not be upstaged at her own event . . ."
Kanini, proper etiquette is that the hostess should not outshine her guests. (Though that's easier to maneuver at a small seated dinner than a State Dinner for 400!)
"The hostess' dress should be rich in material, but subdued in tone, in order that she may not eclipse any of her guests." (from "Decorum, a practical treatise on etiquette and dress of the best American society")
"The daughters of a house, when a ball is given, may dress with great elegance, but should be careful to make no effort to outshine their guests." (from "Encyclopaedia of Etiquette", by Emily Holt)
and many other references too numerous to list.
Like fish out of water...
Thanks to you Mrs.T we have an out let in which we can gag, gasp and hyperventilate on. What would have been our predicament if there were no beauteous pics of Mrs.O for us to adore or fairytale dinners with candelabra and handsome Presidents to sigh and swoon over?
Here's to 4...5...6...7 more years of this (definitely worth a Vol.2 of Mrs.O!)
Cheers!
Go away "Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 1:57 AM | Stephanie Green"
It's such a bore when these fake admirers enter the thread. Should I reply to the troll?
Mrs. O buys her own clothes. End. of. story.