Pleated Perfection
Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 7:57 PM 
Image by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
Image by Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
First Lady Mrs. O looks stunning in a pleated, orchid purple chiffon gown at the Kennedy Center Honors this evening. More details on the gown and necklace to follow.
Update: Mrs. O wears a corset gown by Peter Soronen and necklace by Tom Binns from the designer's Mutiny of Splendor collection (thanks Torrance!).
Per the New York Times, the evening honored five artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, Gracy Bumbry and Dave Brubeck. Tonight's gala performance followed a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday night and a reception earlier today at the White House. We are crossing our fingers that a full-length view will surface on the White House Flickr feed. We will also have a chance to watch the event when it airs on December 29 on CBS.
Front and Back of Peter Soronen gown:
Images via Peter Soronen Studio Tom Binns necklace in detail:
Image via New York Magazine
Peter Soronen, Tom Binns
Reader Comments (139)
So lovely. I think the color is gorgeous, but what really hits is THE FIT. Wow! What equisite pleating.
And the neckace, too. Perfection.
BTW, the Washington Post has a nice series of profiles for each honoree. Slideshow and recent interviews.
I love the sophisticated femininity of this dress -- she looks gorgeous. And POTUS, as always, looks handsome and elegant and smart, and happy to be with his beautiful wife. Lovely!
Stunner! I'd love to see this dress in motion. Love the second pic posted with the chandelier creating a halo effect.
Registered posters, do y'all have a problem logging in on your iPhones? Hopefully an iPhone app for this addictive site is in the works.
ahhh....how much I love her
she represents the modern woman so well without being up front about it
and her daring fashion sense is so admirable even when she wears something I don't like....I still appreciate the thought and the spirit behind it.
and she looks absolutely stunning tonight
What a stunning woman!
a full-length picture of the dress will be more than welcome.the woman can wear any color.i wish i were so lucky.i'm happy that she is giving her hair a much needed rest.
Mrs.T, i think the dress is isabelle toledo.she said in an interview that the first lady purchases a dress that flows.i wager it is this dress.
her necklace collection slays me.
Love her style - and this is a gorgeous dress. Her husband is the perfect accessory (smile).
Elegant! Simply Elegant! 100% This should be among her primier designers.
Michelle knocks it out oof the park again.
Her dress looks beautiful. I hate her hair style. Mrs O has beautiful body and skin tone., however she doesn't have pretty face and her head is big. I think she needs to be careful how she style her hair. I love her make up but her lip stick colour doesn't look good for her skin tone.
Nic John, that is ur opinion, i beg to differ.she has a gorgeous face..u should avoid such blanket statement.
Chrystelle, I didn't mean to be rude, I really hate her hair style . I'm not Obama basher, I like her but she is not pretty. she has a body to die for.
Nic John ....I actually sort of agree with your honest opinion. Michelle is beautiful in her own way.But she is not someone you would see walking down the street and say "Wow, What a really beautiful woman." She has average looks at best which helps her relate to many women in this country. Because not every woman can look like the bone thin super model type that people in the industry try to push on young girls.
Michelle is highly educated woman who has done well for herself and is someone I would want my daughter to admire. Plus, Michelle average looks is more of a realistic model for young minority girls to follow.
VICTORIAN VAMP!
Stop the press!!! Who is this woman in this lovely shade of orchid?!
Gasp, sigh, swoon, whoa, golly, gee wiz, the Gods sure outdid themselves this time. Mrs.O is not only a show stopper, but a heart thumper as well. Even when the President seems to lose he ends up a winner ALL the time, with a woman like this.
Simply superlative...
She beautiful and stunning.
Aserehet you and I are >>><<<.
I, like yourself have run out of words to describe how completely and utterly breathtaking the first lady looks.
I love the pleated details on the dress. Love it !! I like other posters are guessing that the jewellry is by Erasmus. It is very similar to the one she wore with th Michael Kors pink dress.
Michelle, you have outdone yourself yet again.
Muah ! Muah ! Kisses for an American Queen.
BTW, lets respect Nic's opinion. He or she is clearly on their own in that assessment of the first lady but lets be mature enough to disagree without being disagreeable. At least in doing that we can continue this thread on the positive note that it deserves. Michelle is flawless and I think it is fair to say that 99% of us here agree with that.
Mrs T, I am looking forward to Mrs O (Edition 2) next year. You did such a great job with the first book. The clothes she has worn in the last few months are truly stunning.
@ Nic John,
Who determines what is pretty? Which European standard are you using? Everyone IS (pretty)in their own right. What is big about FLOTUS' head? As a professional Make-up artisit, I must put in my two cents re: the shade of her lipstick.IT IS PERFECT.
As a woman of colour, I must state very clearly, that almost every shade, hue, tone whichever you want to use, looks good on us. Michelle fits right in that category
LOVE HER DRESS THIS TIME SHE WEAR A NECKLESS VERY NICE DOES SHE KNOW ITS WINTER IN DC? ITS LOOKED LIKE SHE IS STILL IN THE SUMMER SHE ALWAYS WEARRING SLEVELESS DRESSS IN THE WINTER SHE MUST BE HOTTTTTTTTTTTTT OR SHE CARRYING WITH CHILD ONE OR OTHER. LOL SHE LOOKED GREAT I LIKE HER HAIR WITH THIS DRESS THEN A UPDO.MR OBAMA LOOKING GOOD AS ALWAYS. MMMMMMMMMMMM IF HER KIDS WAS THERE?
Where is the respect for the First Lady? How dare you, you ought to be ashamed!
Stunning!
Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous!!!!
She's absolutely Stunning!!!!. For those of you who thinks FLOTUS is not an attractive woman, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!
I am awestruck! She looks amazing!
@Mike: very funny.
@Mrs. T: bought the book yesterday as an early gift to myself and i love it! Thanks for putting such a lovingly crafted work out there. It is special!
I have always been proud to be a black woman,
Michele has even made me so much more
Wow! To have that tiny little waist.
Mrs O looks fabulous. I still haven't gotten over the "masterpiece" she wore at the state dinner but this is stunning on her as well. The placement of that elegant neglace with this dress couldn't be any better.
@ Nic John...it's one thing to have an opinion about style such as not liking her hairstyle but then you lash out insults about her phyical looks. IMO you are just trolling for attention.
You make a point donnanoshock but you know what ? I bet Michelle doesn’t give a fiddle what anyone thinks of her and her looks and therefore I refuse to give negative posters a platform on this website. I am treating them the way the First Lady would by ignoring them.
Michelle LaVaughn Obama is having the time of her life. She is married to the most powerful man in the world, a man who loves her to death. She has two beautiful healthy princesses. She lives in a grand house and gets up every morning doing a job that she clearly loves. She wears beautiful clothes and lovely jewellery. She meets head of states and travels the world in style, stopping off in Paris, Rome and Broadway for date night. She has gone down in the history books until the end of time as the first African American first lady. She’s smart, beautiful, intelligent, educated, a lady without a smutty past. Class all the way. All the way. All the way.
If people think that Michelle is not beautiful they clearly have too much time on their hands. But let Michelle be an inspiration to all the disabled, overweight, ugly people who go through life conditioned to believe that they won’t amount to anything because of how they look.
Michelle Obama looks stunning in every color!
Simply gorgeous, it brings tears to my eyes :) I love you sistah Michelle!
SORONEN AGAIN...
Mrs.T et al, Politico Click states that the dress IS Peter Soronen as some of you were guessing.
See link:
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0912/michelle_sports_peter_soronen.html
I promised that I would not comment too much on here any longer, but there's always that one comment that makes you give in LOL.
Nic she is not beautiful according to YOUR "standards". She is GORGEOUS! She has high beautiful natural Nefertiti inherited cheekbones, huge expressive eyes, a beautiful skin tone ( you got that right!),and a head full of hair which may come across to you as her having a big head.
I just don't get where people come off saying she has to be careful about how she styles her hair, what she wears, what she says, how she walks, how she stands, when she eats, where she goes etc. careful for what??????? Stop trying to mold Michelle!
Where folks come up with this stuff is beyond me.
I agree with you 100% trinisamba.
BRAVO - she looks flawless !
She looks amazing as usual!!!
Where can I see the preview clip of the Obamas Christmas Special Interview??
Does anybody know?
Look everyone my apology if i offended anyone here. I felt that her hairstyle doesn't suite her( for me). Seriously when I first saw her hair in this picture and I said what is that "very ugly". I always admire Oprah's hairstyle and she really has a good hairdresser, always love her hair. Mrs O may need to change her hairdresser. Like i said i really love her skin tone and her body but not her face. For me Presdient Obama is really handsome not only he is tall but has very cute smile and face and also very photogenic. May be some of u here found Presdient O not that handsome but your are entitle to your own opionion.
Lovely .lovely , lovely !!! .What more can I say. She could not carry this number any better. Go Michelle go!!!!!
We are all (myself included) running out of adjectives to describe Michelles fabulous outfits! Maybe we should brainstorm and manufacture some new adjectives just for this blog!
Love how the Prez is looking at her with total adoration.
Every time I think that this woman couldn't possibly outdo herself, she does !!!!!! She just keeps getting better and better. She makes me sooooo proud, not because of her outfits, but because they grace a compassionate, loving woman who is confident and graceful and calls herself mother, daughter, wife, First Lady AND kick - butt lawyer and orator.
So the preview for the Christmas special, Mrs O is wearing a V-neck dress with pearls, looks wonderful. The Oprah Special airs this Sunday.
does anyone know who that young girl is who is standing behind her? I feel like I've seen her before but I can't remember who she is. Just curious.
ms
@ That Other Mimi
Where can I find the preview clip of the Christmas Special?
@Britt
Here is the link, it is at Oprah's YouTube channel under Christmas at the Obamas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXR61tmJako
Beautifull color , well cutted dress, Mrs O looks wonderfull.
I would like to see more of the jewelery she is wearing ...
I will be waiting to see how she cover her arms.
Mrs T, thank you
Gorgeous color and very imaginative for the FLOTUS to wear. As Mike noted, gone are the days when the FLOTUS wears a red velet dress and puts on a Santa pin. Mrs. Obama does evening wear well. Once again, she looks as if she is going to the Oscars, the opera or other grande event. I love her updos--they're beautiful as they show her gorgeous checkbones and she needs to give her hair a break as she flat ironed the heck out of her hair for most of the year.
This is why Mrs. T decided to start a blog in her honor and this is why FLOTUS Michelle Obama is listed on the Vogue, People, French Elle most beautiful, well-dressed lists.
Re beauty: I understand where Nic John is coming from--I don't think Mrs. O is beautiful in the traditional American/European sense, but neither is Carla Bruni. There's more to beauty than traditional European standards and even straight teeth, which seems to be most people's aesthetic issue with her. They are many women out there churned out by Hollywood who meet aesthetic standards but they are not whole people as Mrs. O. Mrs. O's popularity is not just aesthetic but about her interior as well. She's unique--a great mix of charm, intelligence, joie de vivre--with an innocence and maturity that make her gorgeous to me and millions of other women around the world. We'll take her over the numerous starlets and singers that are deemed beautiful today.
Mrs. T - Thanks for the front and back views of the Orchid dress. It's so beautiful. I hope there's a full-length photo of Mrs. O wearing it that will surface somewhere. Clearly, she didn't need the spaghetti straps which would have conflicted with the necklace.
That other Mimi - thanks for the preview of the "Christmas at the White House" Special.
This dress has a very similar back to it as that one photograph from an event early in the administration that no press were allowed at. If I recall, it was red and had the corseted back and the only photograph just shows Michelle's back. I wonder if it is the same designer.
Here is an interesting photo of POTUS & FLOTUS at the white house prior to leaving for the Kennedy Center:
http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?id=42-23942836&caller=search
A much better fit on Mrs. O. Is this is her second corset dress?
That's exactly what I thought, Kara when I saw it. It is very similar to the red corset dress that most of us only ever saw the back of.
Mrs T, thanks for close up's. That dress is gorgeous.
Curious - thanks for the wonderful photo. Just lovely. VP Biden loves beautiful women. ;-)
"My heart and soul is yours M'Lady"
...is what President Obama seems to be saying with that very chivalrous bow. Thanks Curious!
Not to mention that the laced up back just adds that extra bit of scrumptious to it! YUM-MY.
Hey! Check out VP Biden"s hand cuddling Mrs.O's waist...cute.