Thursday
May212009
Time: The Meaning of Mrs. O
Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 9:14 AM 
Mrs. O appears on the cover of Time, accompanied by a feature article inside and a collection of photographs by Callie Shell.
"...My message to women, if anything, over the course of this, is, find your space. Find your spot. Wear what you love. Choose the careers that may have meaning to you.
in Outfits
Outfits
Reader Comments (140)
FYI - I deleted Nichols's last comment. Seemed unnecessary. Like to keep things positive and friendly around here! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend. And Willow/PT, I will get you both in touch tomorrow. xoxo, Mrs. T
It's good to have the validation of someone who sees the difference between old and new monitors on a regular basis. Isn't it amazing?
I'm sorry, I did it again. Thinking of addressing Christina, I used her name into the author's box. I, Willow, am thanking Christina for the validation.
Love the story and pics; as for the comments that they should "knock down a wall," well, it's the White House, not a condo they just bought-you can paint or wallpaper, you cant knock down the walls!!
Christina,
Thanks for the Michelle/Jackie link. What strikes me is the choice of photos that show both women in clothes with simple lines and "timeless" looks.
And Jackie's coatdress is a similar color to Mrs.O's Inaugural outfit.
I love hats and gloves. Sigh. I was born a few decades too late.
Christina,
I'm old enough to remember hats and gloves, and I miss them--especially the hats. There's a woman at my church who still wears hats on Sunday mornings, and she looks beautiful and totally modern. I guess I don't quite have her courage or confidence, but I enjoy seeing her.
The fashion editor for the Guardian (UK) has a sweet little video tutorial on wearing a cardigan (Michelle Obama style). They love their cardies in the UK!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2009/may/23/how-to-dress-cardigans
@ jenh
You know what jenh, your right. We were discussing the fact that on the white house museum website, the gym on the 3rd floor looked too small and perhaps they would knock down a few walls to expand it, but as you said that would definitely be unlikely. After reading some more on the site I realize that the Obama's have the choice of turning any space in the private residence into whatever kind of room they prefer as many first families have done before them. Many of the rooms, such as Sasha and Malia's current bedrooms were once offices or sitting rooms. There is tons of staff there who can help them customize the many rooms in the White House any which way they please, but knocking down walls would be like destroying history.
I agree, the monitor makes a difference. My work monitor isn't that old, but is lowest bidder. The home one is just over a year old and I am always amazed how much more detail I can see in Mrs. O's clothes.
Thanks to those of you who sent that link to the VF Jackie/Michelle slideshow. But I didn't vote either - they both look so terrific, who could possibly choose?
It is amazing how contemporary Jackie's clothes look nearly 50 years later. It's a testament to wearing classic styles. We comment so often about how "edgy" (the best word I can come up with at bedtime) MO's style can be. But I suspect almost everything she wears (well, maybe not the blue argyle cardi in the UK, though I loved it) will still look great in 50 years.
Jackie's boots on Inauguration Day got lots of comment, but that height of boot never really caught on. Not everyone has the legs to carry that off. Did anyone notice the fur muff? I think she also had a fur collar or scarf around her neck for warmth, though it doesn't show in the picture, and there appears to be fur at the top of her boots. I think they were all sable, though I'm not positive. I'm taking no sides in the fur/no fur debate - but can you imagine anyone in current political life wearing anything other than faux fur now? (Did faux fur even exist in the 60s??)
I've just found the best photo of the Sojourner Truth bust that I've seen so far. What a beauty!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/3489085110/in/photostream/
The expression on her face is incredible: The very intelligent eyes with the determined yet gentle gaze. The very erect posture, her gentle hint of a smile, and the compassion. These are some of what I feel from the hands of sculptor Artis Lane. When you can experience warm, living flesh that you think you would feel soft if you touched it, in the cold, hard medium of bronze, the artist has succeeded. Ms. Lane is an amazing artist. I know this site is not about Sojourner Truth, but I'd be interested in any other comments on this incredible work of art.
Thank you.
I managed to enlarge it. This might get you to this larger size. I hope so. This is too splendid to miss.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/3489085110/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Not gonna lie...the cover isn't the best picture of her. I felt the same way about the Vogue cover. Now, the black n' white photo!? i can just imagine seeing the black and white photo on teh cover of Time magazine and start squealing with delight scaring innocent bystanders lol. She looks absolutely fantastico in that photo...i wonder who took it.
Not gonna lie...the cover isn't the best picture of her. I felt the same way about the Vogue cover. Now, the black n' white photo!? i can just imagine seeing the black and white photo on teh cover of Time magazine and start squealing with delight scaring innocent bystanders lol. She looks absolutely fantastico in that photo...i wonder who took it.
When there are no new posts for a while...i love clicking the older posts and going back. I haven't ever gotten to the very beginning of this blog's epic chronicle of Mrs. O's brilliant fashion sense and first lady perfection...but hopefully i will one day. Actually...I kind of don't- that would mean there were no new posts for far too long. I NEED my Mrs. O Fashion Fix!!!
Love everything about this growing community here though. I started checking regularly [everyday...constantly] just after the People cover (in the pink dress) and i've been here ever since. Never commented but since i feel compelled to..all the Mrs' who run this blog are great!
I remember those boots. I had a NYC aunt who wore very affordable boots modeled after Jackie's. She bought them at Kleins on the Square and yes, she had great legs! I remember hers having the black, long fur, but the boots were very cheap.
Hey, OperaFanatic - check this out, I think you're going to like it!!!
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Thanks so much, IVA! Great photos - great outfit on MO too. I wonder what magazine POTUS is carrying. Maybe it's the new Time!
No problem! I instantly thought of you when I saw it. They look like such a young couple!
This picture is incredibly beautiful. Either you love Mrs. O's eyebrows or you don't. Upon first seeing her during the campaign, I thought they were arched rather high. I think her look would soften if she lowered them a bit. However, since she's such a warm and charismatic person, I think she can leave them alone and still connect to people. I do prefer her hair worn with the bangs down. Again, her hairstylist is a genius. I can't wait to read the article.
=-)
Michelle being mentioned in Iranian politics
http://televisionwashington.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=en&t=floater_blog&id=10652
Speaking of Sojourner Truth...
I don't know if ya'll have seen these or not so I thought I'd post them.
Recitation of Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman' speech from the Women's Convention in 1851:
By Cicely Tyson (the day of the bust unveiling)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0YR1eiG0us
By Alfre Woodward (my favorite)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vr_vKsk_h8
By Alice Walker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsjdLL3MrKk
Back to monitors. I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that we bought a really high end monitor. This is a Dell LCD monitor. (My computer engineering husband tells me that stands for Liquid Crystal Display.) It seems quite comparable to the monitor in his Mac Power Book. Dell is a mid-range monitor. This is model # SE178WFP, which is a discontinued model. It retailed at Best Buy for $129. We got it for the clearance price of $104. It seems like a really good deal to me, to be able to see things so clearly for what seems like a pretty low price.
I've looked at the TIME cover images (both color and black-and-white) several times and am pretty sure they are not photographs but instead illustrations based on photographs. That would account for some of their strong impact. The artist did a great job in selecting and highlighting details. Most TIME covers are illustrations, I think, at least the best ones.
Not sure, but my feeling is that the original photograph is a much older pic that we've seen before, but one that looks new here because of the work of the illustrator. Also suspect that it's much more tightly cropped than the original.
POTUS and FLOTUS looks so stunning today leaving for their little holiday.
here is a link to the video clip of their departure to camp david. not the best quality but its ok.
http://www.necn(dot)com/Boston/Nation/2009/05/23/First-Family-leaves-for-Camp/1243097738.html
Alsace, it hadn't occurred to me until your previous comment, but then I thought they might be illustrations too. They kind of look like it. I investigated, though, and they're both on this photographer Platon's web site: platonphoto(dot)com/portraits/politics/index.html. The b&w one looks exactly the same to me, but the color one maybe looks a little different? (Like, the cover version could possibly be an illustration of the photo on the photographer's site? Or maybe the resolution just isn't as good on the cover?) What do you think? I don't see any dates on Platon's site, so no info on that. Anyway, thought I'd share.
I feel fairly certain the Time magazine images are photographs. If they were photo illustrations, they'd be marked that way. News magazines have gotten into trouble for this in the past, (I can think of one occasion when Newsweek, I think, darkened OJ's skin and people said it made him look more sinister.)
But of course they've gone through the normal Photoshop enhancement process, though.
Hello, Rachel. Sorry I'm so late to reply. You are a great sleuth! Thank you for the link to Platon's website. I found it fascinating and went through much of it, even the interviews. Platon seems an artist for whom the photograph is the basic first step. Our confusion -- photography, or illustration? -- may come from how much work goes in after the shot is taken. The Motorola interview shows the difference between the shots as taken and then as printed in the ad campaign.
There's lots of difference in the amount of manipulation, though, from the minimal to the extreme. Michelle's picture seems a very subtle conversion from photo to illustration. And clealy it's not an old photo, but a recent commission for Time Magazine. He seems to do a lot of work for them and for The New Yorker.
So much talent. I really liked his use of different lenses (like the fish-eye). He works so modestly and self-effacingly to let the subject come through that many of the images are remarkable. For me the rock star pics were even better than the political, in which the negative figures make more interesting images than do the positive ones.
Totally off-topic, I agreed completely with what he said about Marilyn Manson in the Fly Magazine interview.
Ooops, forgot to mention your question about the black-and-white pic. To me it seems the same image as the one on the cover, but in greyscale mode instead of RGB or CMYK color.
@ Christina, there's an interesting page at TIME on the current cover (vol 173 no 22, or 21, depending on the market). It shows how differently Michelle's skin tone is made to look on the covers for the various markets: U.S. (lightest); Europe (conspicuously darker); and Asia and South Pacific (somewhere in between).
The link for now is: http://www(dot)time(dot)com/time/magazine/current -- but they keep the page on the site with a different URL later.
Why isn't she wearing a seat belt in picture 9 (she's in the purple outfit being driven somewhere)?
wow, she really is a mean, angry black mo*nkey beas*t.
Leah D - thank you for the links to "Ain't I a Woman?"
I think Mrs. Obama is right. She sets a fine example.
I'm french, so sorry for my mistakes ! I saw this picture in France and I love it. Michelle is very charismatic. bravo Michelle !
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What a strong woman! She's amazing! One day, I want to see her in an stunning suit with a pair of eyeglass frames for flava!!