Pleats and Pearls
Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 9:42 PM 
White House Photo / Samantha Appleton
What a tremendously busy day for Mrs. O! It seems the First Lady also hosted Jordan's Queen Rania in the Yellow Oval Room at the White House this afternoon. First Lady Mrs. O wears a pleated taupe chiffon dress, last seen for a daytime event during the Democratic National Convention. See our earlier post here. This dress is one that eludes us. Truth be told, we've spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to identify it. We've wondered if the March issue of Vogue perhaps held a clue.
In his interview with Mrs. O, the great Andre Leon Talley wrote, "The day of our interview at the Hay-Adams, she wears a soft, silk-crepe accordion-pleat dress by 34-year-old Thakoon Panichgul." If only he had hinted at the color!
Update: The dress has been confirmed as Rodarte! The dress is from the Mulleavy sisters' Fall Winter 2007 collection. It is 100% linen, with a feather bow belt. An additional image of the dress can be seen here. Mrs. O also wears a trio of glass pearl necklaces by Erickson Beamon, from their "Peace at Last" collection. The necklaces can be seen in detail, here.
Erickson Beamon, Rodarte in Outfits
Reader Comments (171)
This one's a winner. Classic but interesting, great color for her, sleek, refined, flattering and just a tad retro. Love.
I'm glad she's wearing sleeveless dresses again. Such a ridiculous thing for the haters to target. As this picture shows it is perfectly possible to look dignified and classy in a sleeveless dress.
And Queen Rania is a beauty!
I love her in this type of dresses, and truly dresses in general fit her really well. This one deserves a A+ with a happy face as my mom would say.
that was one of my favorite dresses of all time on her. She should stick to these lady-like looks, it softens her strong features and commanding presence.
By the way, 1st lady also addressed children and guests today, wearing two of the most controversial looks during her European tours, mixing it with beautiful flare black pants.
here is the look @ the executive branch employees on Thursday for "Take Your Children To Work Day"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/23/michelle-obama-repeats-tw_n_190808.html
Now, this is lovely. A beautiful color and fabric for her, she should wear more neutral shades (hint hint) as they look lovely on her. She gets a bit of fullness and flow with the pleats without being bunchy. Her hair and makeup are perfect! The triple strand of glass pearls the perfect accessory.
For this kind of event, the sleevess dress (as accessorized with belt & necklaces) is fine and Michelle looks lovely, elegant, refined and ladylike. And glamorous!
I haven't cared for what Michelle has worn the past few weeks...but this is a wonderful look!
Mrs. T.,
Here is the green dress from the St. Paddy's day celebration at the WH:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1893255_1874358,00.html
Thank god she repeats her cloths like normal people do.
What a busy day! Mrs. O really got a lot of use from her wardrobe today. Also, I remember her wearing this dress during the Democratic Convention last summer. The color is absolutely amazing on her. Her skin looks like it's actually glowing.
Mrs. O basically hit the two far ends of her fashion signatures. She was quirky and adventurous to spend time with children and then womanly and classic for her time hosting Queen Rania.
It's interesting that every single item, of the several that she has worn today, was "recycled", except for the Watanabe cardigan which was in a different color than last time. I always wonder how she decides what clothes to wear again. Of course, she's like all of us and reuses her clothing over and over again, as we have seen. There are so many items that we have seen two or three or four times. But then there are other items that we never see again! Does anyone remember that purple blouse she wore months ago, paired with a gray suit. We all agreed that we hated the suit but the blouse was fabulous, and we all wanted to see the rest. Sadly, it has not reappeared. The same goes for this lovely pinkish/purplish sheath dress that she wore for an interview on one of the morning shows, sometime during the campaign. Of course...she isn't photographed every single day. We must miss lots of outfits as we could see from that Time slideshow! But there's definitely tons of pieces she's worn that I really want to see again.
This is a lovely dress on her. She looks beautiful. Queen Rania is also lovely. The room looks so nice and bright to have a chat!
Queen Rania wears some beautiful clothing.
Pleating does seem to be a signature Thakoon construction element. This could indeed be by him, Mrs. T. Thanks for your hard work in attempting to solve this mystery.
Between the Erickson Beamon pearls; the elegantly decorated room (which I'd love to take up residence in); and the fashionable Queen Rania, this is possibly the most delectable picture (and post) I have seen (and read) all day!
Between the Erickson Beamon pearls; the elegantly decorated room (which I’d love to take up residence in); and the fashionable Queen Rania, this is possibly the most delectable picture (and post) I have seen (and read) all day!
http://cafefashionista.blogspot.com
The color of Mrs. Obama's dress is too matchy with her complexion and I'm not really feeling the pleats, but overall the outfit is OK. This is WAY better than that sweater/bow blouse/belt number!
As usual, Queen Rania is well-dressed and looks pretty.
Mara, I'm curious, what outfit of Mrs. O's have you liked? I mean, better than just "OK." I don't remember you saying much positive about any of them, but I might have just forgotten.
I dont see wear shes too matchy its a dress and sum pearls.
either way she looks gorgeous
That St. patty's dress is stunning. I never admired a dress as much as that one
Finally a full length of the St. Patrick's Day dress! And it's very lovely - I really like the shoulder detail of jewelled clips... so elegant.
Jenna I remember that blouse - I keep thinking how great it would look with long long long black trousers, black high heels and pearl earrings. Num num num.
Mrs T you made me laugh out loud with that comment about an embarrassing amount of time spent tracking a dress down! I have done the same for other fashion icons I've watched. Glad it's not just me!!! (That reminds me, I need to email you about a Mrs O dress I've spotted in a campaign photo...)
It's such a beautiful dress, too. Glorious.
(Christina, you made me laugh too. Nicely put.)
This outfit is "too matchy?" Good Lord! Mrs. O. looks absolutely fabulous in this beautiful dress, and I hope she wears it and the ones she bought in other colors again and again. Such a classic and welcome change from this morning's unflattering outfit. And yes, I especially like the belt here. It compliments the dress rather than distracting from it, it is an appropriate size, and it is worn at her actual waist. What a fantastic concept!
Mrs T., I do believe Mrs Obama's worn this dress before...?!
Could it be by the same designer of the deconstructed dress she wore during the campaign/convention..?
I think the belt here is actually lower than her actual waist. That's the challenge -- I do believe Mrs. O generally wears belts at her waist, but her waist is high.
I wonder what Queen Rania was in town for? She has quite a few humanitarian interests.
Well, her husband was meeting with the President and Secretary of State, but she was in D.C. to launch The Big Read.
If you go to daylife and add this suffix to the URl you'll find pics. photo/03LG4tofmqeb1?q=queen+rania
Please ignore my eralier post...didn't notice you'd already made the connection regarding the dress Mrs T...
By the way Christina, I'm sort of relieved to find that I'm not alone in thinking that Mara seems to have very few good things to say about Mrs O...
And her ever effusive praise of everyone else in photo-ops featuring the first lady, make her rather less than kind and seemingly endless digs at the the first lady all the more curious...
Mrs. O is who she is and nobody can be Mrs. O. All I can say is "Don't change for nobody." God made us all and threw away the mold. Absolutely adore the stunning arms while exposing the chocolate, pecan tan skin.
Her style expresses who she is, her spirit shows forth. Mrs. O did not rehearse being the U.S. First Lady, she was groomed from her childhood for this very moment. Most importantly, God had HIS hand in all of this!!!
Fit, fresh and well defined!! She is perfect in all her ways. Although, the glass needs a colster under it!!!
Absolutely right bbw...Mrs O is no "wannabe"...She is who she is and thank heavens for that...
This is absolutely perfect, for Mrs. O's position, for her age, for her build, and for the occasion. Also, for those who don't like the color, something subdued like this allows the spotlight to be on Queen Rania, whose attire is also perfectly suitable. It's an old fashion trick: when my mom worked at Marshall Field's back in the day, the sales clerks wore black apparel so that the garments around them would stand out.
I think Mrs. O looks beautiful and although I have only posted 2 times since I started reading 6 months or so ago I agree Mara has never said anything completely positive about Mrs. O. To each her own- but the consistency is noticeable and boring.
Lovely, ladylike look. And, best of all, the belt is at the correct place and does not distract from the simple elegance of the dress.
I love this neckless - such richness in color. And I applaud those arms any time, any occasion, any reason. Like MIchelle, those arms are beautiful.
I agree with Cafe Fashionista that this is one of the loveliest pictures I have seen of Ms. O. I love her dress, so soft and understated. Also, her guest, the Queen, is lovely in her own right. The Yellow Oval Room is a beautiful setting for two beautiful ladies!!!
That's a lovely dress, but even better is knowing that soon Mrs. O will be wearing something knock your eye out :-) as opposed to "ladylike" and "appropriate."
Two very stylish, beautiful, SMART women!
Thanks C. and Posh Tater -- I really wasn't trying to make an larger point, I was honestly curious if there's any outfit Mara has liked. It's just helpful to know where people are coming from.
@Trudy, is there anything wrong with "ladylike" or "appropriate"? After all, she is the First Lady of our country, not the First Knock Your Eye Out Celebrity.
the dress is by rodarte
Yes, Nancy. Being always ladylike and appropriate gets us cookie cutter and boring. And does away with innovation, not just in fashion, but in life.
Other topic, not fashion, but Hillary wraps up a Republican Representative and plants a bow on his head. Go, .ladies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mFrML6s0hw
ellen, you gem!!
This is one of my fav dresses that's she's worn in the past. I'm glad she chose to wear it again for the perfect occasion.
Queen Rania and Michelle Obama are the epitome of class in this pic
I loved this look, and especially the color and her accessories. If you go the White House website, you will be able to zoom the high resolution photo in, and really see just how beautiful Mrs. O's skin is. That, to me, is the secret to why her arms are so special. She's got a great complexion.
The best part of this picture, to me, is that they seem to be having a very intense and serious discussion. It's awesome that Mrs. O can go from chatting with kids one minute, to discussing world affairs with a queen the next.
i loved this dress at the convention and i love it again here. i disagree that mrs. o looks best in muted colors, she works bold colors and beautiful jewel tones beautifully.
i'd die for a glimpse of her closet, i'd love to go shopping in it for just one day. i wonder if she wore this dress for dinner last night as well?
Would be interested to know where the Rodarte sourcing for this dress came from. I know their designs quite well and this is not typical of their work.
I am also surprised that Andre Leon Talley would have met with her, determined who designed the dress she was wearing, and got it wrong - in print, in the Vogue cover story on Mrs. O. Highly unlikely.
I'm pretty sure the dress is Bottega Veneta; it was featured in its ad campaign last year. Here's a post that includes a photo of the ad:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f60/tomas-maier-bottega-veneta-articles-66810.html. (Scroll midway down to see the photo.)
It's look #35 for the Spring 2008 ready-to-wear collection on style.com:
http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2008RTW-BVENETA?page=2
BeeGee, I found that they featured accordian-pleated dresses in their Fall 2006 collection. I haven't had a chance to go look at it, yet.
Lovely dress. I think what I'm beginning to really appreciate about her style is how varied she can be. Bright violet, asymmetrical, sequinned, argyle cardigan in the morning to muted, understated classic in the evening. Both perfectly matched for the occasion.
And, even better, she keeps everyone guessing. That's the real brilliance of it; she can be the funky-cool that some people like and the Stepford-ish (but not) that others seem to prefer. There's a little something there for everyone.
I love this quote. Someone asked David Axelrod about the most recent Gallup poll giving Michelle a 79% approval rating compared to her husband's 65% rating. David A. quipped,"fortunately, she's agreed not to run against us."
I love that she wears so many dresses. Dresses are so much fun. This is absolutely beautiful. The colour and style are elegant.
i love Rodarte, if there is any doubt that Mrs. O is definitely not going to be some tea party cocktail pretty fru fru weraing first lady, and that she is doing to push the envelope, and be exciting, the fact that she is wearing Rodarte should confirm it....I LOVE IT!!
Mrs. O is stunning as usually.
Well, Trudy, I guess we must agree to disagree. I suspect your idea of "ladylike" and "appropriate" is much more "cookie cutter" than mine. Innovation can and does include ladylike in my book. In life AND in fashion. D'accord?
Edwina, I love that quote too!! I have actually been looking for a button or bumper sticker or something that said "I voted for Michelle's husband!" to let everyone know how I really feel. lol
Ooh, the Bottega Veneta "evidence" as presented by Lily is pretty compelling, ladies! I'm leaning in that direction.
Mrs. O has encouraged me to wear more dressses. I don't wear them as often as she does, but I find that I do indeed feel more pulled together with them.