Friday
Feb062009
Mrs. O Wows at Kennedy Center
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 9:08 PM 
Photo credit: Yuri Gripas /AFP/Getty Images
The First Lady looks stunning tonight, wearing a two tone black dress in matte and metallic. At first glance, it may appear as though Mrs. O is wearing a cardigan over her dress. But with a second look, we realize it's an illusion, created by clever construction of contrasting fabrics. A knockout oversize pearl brooch at the shoulder makes this an ensemble for the fashion history books. We love! The First Couple is enjoying their Friday date night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is performing. Additional images can be found at This Week with Barack Obama.
tagged Michelle Obama in Outfits
Michelle Obama in Outfits
Reader Comments (87)
I think her outfit might me Pre-Fall 2009 Narciso Rodriguez. If you go to style.com and look at some of his pre-fall 2009 collection, the materials and detailing are very similar. However, I think this outfit might have been custom made for her by Rodriguez through Ikram because the cut of the outfit is very different.
Hey there, Mel. I think that you'll find a day on that the First Lady still has the same lustrous, dark complexion.
That lightened effect is the result of the combination of the lighting and her make up. It is amazing what the two in combination can often do, inadvertently, to the tone/colour of Black skin (typing here from experience..!)
the weeMichelle's were with their parents but I can't find any pictures of them - any luck with that, anyone?
website: This week with Barack Obama
shows a photo of the President with Sasha
Hello to you, CG, and how is your day going? Well, I prefer to focus on the positive, soooo, the First Lady's hair looked lovely on her night out with the President, their daughters, and friends. As did she; that dress was very figure flattering don't you think?
She looked gorgeous! As side note, I just recently discovered this gem of a website and I'm completely hooked. For the past year I have been so fascinated with Mrs. O's wardrobe and have looked to her for so much inspiration!
icebergslim and Al Rodgers always seem to find the best photos. Thanks for the link.
They look wonderful, and so happy. What a pleasure ! I think this is the best outfit she has worn since the pre-Inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Elegant, timeless, highlights her form, and black is killer on her!
She looks stunning! I hope they enjoyed their eve as Mr. "O" needs to get back to work on that stimulus package pronto! :)
@ nonny
there is one picture in thie slideshow at huff post with Sasha's back facing us, so you can barely see her, but this is all I can find
she seemed to be wearing some type of peach flowery dress, and im sure cute as ever:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/obamas-head-to-kennedy-ce_n_164840.html
thanks Layo G. It occured to me that the girls were sitting down, or two short to be seen from the camera angle (which appeared shot from below). While I hate for children to be in the celebrity spotlight, I miss seeing the Obama little ones.
Here's a good close-up of the dress. I'm not a fashionista so the way I describe the look or FEEL of it is classically elegant yet hip, modern, and saavy. Her make-up is flawless. And look at her arms-long and lean.
http://thisweekwithbarackobama.blogspot.com/2009/02/obamas-date-night-pictures.html
There's a very clear picture of Sasha on the this week with Barack Obama link, which is cited on the home page of this site.
Here is Sasha! http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/alvinaileydatenight11.jpg
She's totally adorable, as always.
She looks stunning... Love the dress, accessory and the entire look. The President looks great as usual.
The both look absolutely stunning...
Mrs. O looks absolutely fantastic. I mean no disrespect when I say that it's hilarious that she loves the cardigan look so much she find a dress with a faux cardigan--that cracks me up!
Wow look at FLOTUS she looks stunning. POTUS ain't bad himself. stunning. i need a video clip of this now.
yes fantastic look. do we know who made this? narciso for sure?
There are newly posted pictures of the First Family before boarding the helciopter to Camp David at the website: _This Week with Barack Obama
I see her and I almost want to cry. Having the world see this dark-skinned African-American woman as beautiful brings me so much joy.
New photo slideshow of Michelle and the Obama family walking to Marine One at HuffingtonPost
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/07/the-obamas-take-first-mar_n_164932.html
Mrs. O is wearing a casual blue outfit today, as she takes her family on a getaway to Camp David. She looks very nice though not wearing anything newsworthy...except that I really noticed her really cute black flat Mary Jane walking shoes.
I go back and forth on Mrs.O's love of flats. I really, really wish she would wear at least a low heel. They do wonders for her legs and posture. But I also appreciate that she likes to dress sensibly and she is a Mom, after all. But sometimes her flats really detract from the rest of the outfit and make her look dowdy. There's a picture that she took once with Hillary Clinton where she is wearing a pair of beige ballet slippers that truly ruin what was an otherwise adorable outfit.
Anyway, I really like the flats she chose today. They are sporty Mary Janes, but they have some sort of very pretty lace-like detailing. They are casual but stylish. They look EXTREMELY comfortable and no doubt she can hang out with the girls and etc. I am a fan! I hope she will opt for this kind of style when she (inevitably) wears flats again.
LOVE this thread of comments. WOW.
I agree that the dress looks like it might be Narciso Rodriguez. But then, upon finding out that the royal blue dress from the National Prayer Breakfast was Proenza Schouler, have started to wonder if it might be theirs? We'll get to the bottom of it!
I get the flat comment but remember--she is almost 6 feet, being very tall myself (also 6 feet) I can tell you wearing even a little heel may not always be an option.
I'm totally in love with her style. That black dress is simply perfect. Love it! love it! love it!
classic and retro... you might say. I almost fell off my chair.
to the eye of the recreative medievalist (me), it's screamingly obviously some designer's take on the 12-16th centuries' biggest hit for the upper class, the SIDELESS SURCOAT. which comes with a snug-fitting underdress.
MO's dress has both layers combined into one garment, with a modern turtleneck-line added. wish I could find the illustrations I'm thinking of, these will have to do... the bottom right corner of p.6, Margaret Wylughby at http://www.bayrose.org/AandS/handouts/Sideless_Surcoat_web.pdf (it will take a minute to load, sorry) has the thin edging in a very square cut, as the MO dress; OR, this one should come up faster, the third illo at http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Costuming/andalus13c.html. This one shows the underdress (orange), the trim (black-n-white) with the center panel quite narrow, but going all the way up to the throat. Between them these give the historical background.
As made up in multiple blacks, this is really stunning. I like it a lot!
The woman is a goddess!
There you are, CarolineG! Pretending to be CG again? Excuse me, ladies. I just came to get CG, who is really CarolineG. She walked off the grounds as someone left her unattended. You ladies just go on with your talking about that pretty lady's clothes and things. CarolineG needs her meds. She'll be all right as soon as we get her back to her room.
Flawless!
There is so much that can be said about this spectacular look! This is definitely one of my favorites by far!
I was just flipping through the Feb. issue of HARPER'S BAZAAR and saw the article starting p. 106 on Michelle and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Whaddya know - there is a small photo of this outfit on p. 108 (must be the funeral). (I'll also mention that I like HB b/c there is a monthly feature on looking great "at any age").
this is my favorite look so far. love it, love it, love it.
DAMN!
That's really all I have to say.
Mrs. T,
Do you know of any photos of the gown that Michelle wore at the Alfalfa Club event? I believe I read somewhere that the gown was red and form fitting.
Hi Bevi, There aren't any photos but your description sounds correct. We wrote about here:
http://www.mrs-o.org/?p=3538
I've heard that there's a chance we may see this dress again, so fingers crossed!
Mrs. T
Loving this dress! I am a great fan of using texture when dressing so I just adore this. I also love that both Mr and Mrs O look so happy - I get that they are committed to working hard and earning themselves a good night out every now and then. Perfect!
Nice one, we are seeing improvement! Aren't there any full outfit pics?