A Festive Floral
Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:43 AM 
Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
First Lady Mrs. O visited Bancroft Elementary School today. Students from the school helped to plant the White House kitchen in March and April; today, following a reception in which the First Lady stressed healthy eating, Mrs. O helped the students plant their own vegetable garden on school grounds.
Lynn Sweet's blog for the Chicago Sun-Times has a full report. Our favorite quotes: "Here at Bancroft, we are big fans of carrots," one of the students read. "We are also fans of the first lady."
For the event, Mrs. O dressed in a floral cotton shirt, worn several times last year (see below). The top was paired with a lemon yellow tissue cardigan (J.Crew perhaps?) and light blue cropped pants.
Mrs. O wore the same blouse a year ago, stopping for an ice cream cone at Prince Pickler's Puckler's (Thanks chimene!) Ice Cream in Eugene, Oregon during May 2008:
Update: Mrs. O wears a blouse by Etro, available (as of 10/18/11) here.
Photo by Flickr user Barack Obama / Creative Commons
Reader Comments (74)
Darn it-- I hate double posting, but I forgot: Peggy, I saw the Time mag with MO on the cover on the newsstand in Best Buy, of all places. So it's definitely available for regular purchase, not just online. Did you just check a bookstore that sells a lot of magazines, like Borders or Barnes and Noble?
I'm quite tired today, and pre-occupied with some new challenges, so I'm afraid this may not come out as carefully and tactfully as I'd like. You all know that I try to take great care with what and how I write. So here goes.
I want to respectfully comment on the suggestion by The Other Mimi and seconded by Audrey that they hope the Obamas have a new baby. I'll bet I'm not the only one who felt the wind go out at the audacity of this suggestion. I find this a more outrageous suggestion than a previous one from a poster who suggested that she needed the first lady to take a week off. That suggestion about the week off got lots of reaction. But the "week off" suggestion was minor compared with anyone here thinking that they know that Malia and Sasha need a brother.
Mrs. O has made it clear over and over again that their family is complete. How does anyone presume to impose their ideas about family planning on President and Mrs. Obama?
I have two reactions to comments like this. 1) They are very outrageous and need to be corrected; or 2) they are so out of touch with reality that they deserve to be ignored.
I don't want to alienate you, The Other Mimi and Audrey. But I don't understand your comment. Do you really think that your know better than President and Mrs. Obama how many children they should have?
It is a presumptuous comment. But, I think it comes from a harmless place, in the sense that a lot of us squee over babies, and wouldn't an Obama baby be so cute, etc. (It would be!)
What I find a little less benign -- enough that I think it's worth examining, at least -- is the idea that a boy child specifically would "complete" the family. I'm not just thinking about this comment here; I've seen it in other places too. I've seen it enough times that I believe it's worth exploring (not here, just internally) why a *boy* is "needed."
But I think the sentiment of just liking babies is mostly harmless (for the record, I though the "Mrs. O needs to take a week off" comment was mostly harmless, too.)
OK Michelle looks beautiful for their date night. Pics up in yahoo.
Joane, she looks stunning!
Christina - you may be right that the comment comes from a harmless place. I come to this site rooted in the reality of the political situation and the major changes the President and Mrs. O are trying to bring to this country. They are literally trying to save this country for the daughters they already have. They are trying to assure that their children, and all of America's children will have a better world to grow up in than the one we live in now.
Michelle told someone who asked her about having another child during the campaign that the campaign was their third child. Surely this presidency takes all the energy they have. The suggestion that they should instead devote tons of energy to raising another baby to please those who want to see a cute Obama baby is a fantasy devoid of the reality that President and Mrs. O are all about.
Maybe I take the comment too seriously. It's because I take this Presidency very seriously.
I check in regularly at sites like justjared(dot) com looking mostly for info on Brad and Angelina. (I confess to a fascination with Angelina, who I think is an interesting, complex, deep, and very worthy person.) The comments on sites like that are total projection and fantasy, and I take none of them seriously.
Here, however, I thought those who have an interest in our First Lady would understand that she is not some celebrity whose image should be toyed and played with to the extent some do with movie stars. I think our President and First Lady deserve more respect than that.
Mrs. O looks beautiful--she's also sporting that gorgeous blue clutch from the last date night to Citronelle. I particularly like the dress from the waist down...it looks like it has a "shimme"(sp?) effect to it. It fits her curves and looks great. Her hair is up, but I'm sure she has to fix it again from the Marine One blowing it.
@Christina--thanks for all the other good theater options in DC! I'll be doing some more research in the places you mentioned and I'll remain open. I was looking for a popular or Tony-nomimated/winning show for this particular trip, but I will stay open to other possibilities. My mom loves the theater as well, that's where I got it from. She saved up her pennies when I was younger to splurge on the arts, and now I can't get enough of it. I'm glad she did that for me.
@Christina... also meant to add that I see a lot of lesser known plays and classical theater and opera where I live, but when I travel, I tend to try to see a more acclaimed type of show that may not come to my city as a special treat. Either way, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy my trip to DC regardless.
The pics of the FL and the Pres are too cute. They look like they are going to have so much fun and that they are so happy. Mrs. O looks great as usual. I love the dress and love the pop of color from her clutch.
As far as the comments about the Obamas having another baby, I think that some are taking this comment to seriously. I am sure that we all know the seriousness of the Flotus and Potus roles, but I think that this blog is a place where we come to express our opinions on the FL wardrobe and her acheievements. I think this is a light hearted venue where we can give our deepest thoughts as well as our trivial fantasies. So while I hear ur thoughts about why this is trivial and unlikely, I think THAT OTHER MIMI was just sharing with us her wishful thinking, and it shouldn't be taken for anything other than that.
Rachel, thanks for your post above. I do read the blog faithfully but don't often post (unless I am really worked up!). Guess I don't have much to say about Mrs. O's outfits on a daily basis. As we know, posters here have come for a variety of reasons. Mine was that, like historian John Hope Franklin, I felt that even more transformative than having a black president would be having a black family in the White House. But since the nomination of Judge Sotomayor, though, I've slightly revised my assessment. Having a black president affects so much else!
For me, the image of President Obama beside the short, plump Sotomayor has been as revolutionary as that of him beside the tall and toned Michelle. As I see it, the world has now been given new images both of beauty and of brains that will ultimately be absorbed, however difficult the process.
. . . Slightly off-topic, I feel the right-wing's response to Sonia Sotomayor has been similar to that directed earlier at Michelle, and in some ways worse. As the daughter of Caribbean immigrants, with a mother so much like Sonia's they must be cut from the same bolt of cloth, I've been personally wounded. At first I had to stop reading news in English, it was too much for me, and just read Spanish on the internet. But even there, I was shocked to read -- in a blog directed to Chile and Argentina (where many delude themselves that they are the "white" countries of Latin America) -- the headline: "CUIDADO CON LA MULATA SOTOMAYOR" [translation: Beware the mulatto Sotomayor], as in signs like "Beware the Dog!". . .
re your post, thank YOU for introducing me to Platon. I hadn't been aware of him before, and he is quite special. I'm a working artist, so Photoshop's just part of the daily vocabulary, and I thought Platon did a beautifully subtle job with Michelle. I also totally co-sign your comment about Michelle's outfit today:
"As for this outfit, I am not a fan of the shirt, but her taste is certainly at least as valid as mine (she probably wouldn’t like my shirt either!:), and as always I am fan of the First Lady herself, regardless of what she’s wearing. It’s so nice seeing another example of the the reciprocal visits idea she talked about in the Time interview."
If I dressed like Michelle, people in my world would look at me as mighty strange. But if Michelle dressed like me, her husband would never have got elected! lol.
Nyon - I appreciate very much your thoughts and the suggestion that I should perhaps "lighten up" about this. And you are probably right. But, I still have a hard time with "wishful thinking" that seems so divorced from the reality of President and Mrs. Obama's singularly important place in the world.
Thank you for your thoughtful and considerate comment.
it's such a pleasure to look at Mrs o
Wow, Alsace, I don't even know what to think about that headline. What is going on with the colorism there?
Michelle looks gorgeous as they head up to NYC for date night -- and the President looks mighty sharp too! Love their coordinating black ensembles. But what I love most is how happy and excited they look to be out together. Their marriage truly looks made in heaven.
Hi Christina, that's a big topic! I'll be as brief as I can.
As you know, the U.S. term "Hispanic" is just an expedient census category. It lumps different people together without much nuance and gives a race attribution to a language group defined in difference from the "English-speaking" majority. It's significant that Sotomayor, like many others, never uses it and calls herself Latina.
But Latin Americans, both here and there, are acutely aware of the distinctions. They know and feel differences between the "mulato" Caribbean islands and bordering countries, where people and cultures mostly blend Spain and Africa, and the "mestizo" countries of Mexico, Central America and the Andean spine, with their Spanish-indigenous mix. Then there is the Plata group, Uruguay and Argentina, who with Chile consider themselves white countries and look to Europe in a provincial way.
And everywhere, in all the countries, great attention is paid to gradations of color and hair texture (the usual). I think most "white" Latinos would see Sotomayor, a Puerto Rican with distinctly brown skin, as a "mulata." She probably identifies that way herself as she is so politically aware. For sure, she is not from the Puerto Rican ruling class, which has traditionally been "blanco" or "white." That doesn't mean it wasn't still a shock to see the word used in the blog headline so baldly. The opening sentence of the blog entry was: "Prepárense. Tómense una pastillita. Vamos a estar leyendo y oyendo sobre Sonia Sotomayor AD NAUSEAM en las próximas semanas." [Translation: "Get ready. Take a pill. We're going to be reading and hearing about Sonia Sotomayor AD NAUSEAM in the upcoming weeks," to give you an idea of the tone]
There's also something easily recognized as "Caribbean culture," which crosses the various islands and countries, English, French, and Spanish-speaking. In one of his short stories, Gabriel García Márquez wrote: "I wouldn't know how to describe it, I can only say that when I get on the plane in Baranquilla, my passport is stamped by a black woman in a blue dress. And when I get off the plane in Kingston, my passport is stamped by a black woman in a blue dress."
All of this is registered by different people in different ways, depending on where they are coming from. But right now, it's clear, most Latinos are standing unequivocally with Sonia (except those who NEED to feel "blanco"). And I am sensing this support from "others" worldwide.
Willow I bow my head in shame, yes I'm bad but I still dont take it back. I say alot of things with tongue firmly planted in cheek...I need an icon when "i kid" but I still dont take it back but my tongue is in cheek and my head is bowed in shame. Someone got a ruler? or maybe a switch...my grandma would make me go out and get a switch when I was bad.
Alsace, that is fascinating. And troubling. But it reminds me of a column that a Washington Post reporter wrote soon after the election, asking, why doesn't Barack call himself multiracial or biracial instead of black?
www dot washingtonpost dot com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802219 dot html
The columnist has Peruvian roots. I found her column very irritating for many, many reasons, and they're too off-topic to get into here. But one thing that I remembered particulary was that she made it sound like Latin America is one friendly melting pot where racial issues are non-existent. Uh, I don't think so.
@ That Other Mimi - I am sorry that I did not understand that your comment was made with tongue in cheek and that I took it too seriously. I hope all can be well between us.
Christina, I remember that article! I read the Washington Post online and at the time must have been as irritated as you were. It's not a discussion for here, but I'm sure we had similar responses.
I think the rise in Mrs. Obama's popularity has alot to do with her hairstylist and makeup artist. She really looks different in these two pictures. Yes, it helps to look POLISHED.
Alsace, thank you for sharing this. It is pretty heavy stuff and I read it with a heavy heart. The sadness in your post is palpable and justifiably so.
Please take comfort in the fact that Sonia Sotomayor is a brilliant legal mind that transcends race and gender no matter what negative narrative some might wish to push.
I salute her achievements, I salute her strength, I salute her guts and I salute her unyielding and unbreakable mind and spirit that has allowed this woman go from the projects to Princeton & Yale - Try as hard as they may to dispute it, this woman is simply PHENOMENAL!
Decent outfit. 3 out of 5 stars. I see she switched up from her usual dresses when visiting a school.
@ Lota, thank you for your kind words. I totally agree with everything you say. In the end, Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed, no doubt about that. But in the meantime, the discourse around her confirmation, unless it is checked soon, will have done serious damage.
Mara it's so good to see you're getting the hang of posting positively about Michelle's style. Now we can all see that you're definitely here to support the First Lady's choices.
Alsace thank you so much for your insights here - very very valuable to me. I like to think my entire life is a learning curve. Bits of it are sharper than others but gradient is good. Stuff in there I didn't know - thank you ma'am.
One thing I would dispute - that the dialogue will cause her damage. I don't think so. And I'll be happy to revise that opinion later if it so proven, but I like to think that this appointment is like so many appointments that have gone before. The First's always have it hardest. This is the territory they occupy. And yet it needs to be done. As Hilary Clinton has said, she has put a thousand cracks in that glass ceiling - Sotomayor puts in another thousand with her appointment, Barack Obama put in several thousand by being the first AA President of the US. We've all read and heard stories told by people who were the first of their race/creed/colour/gender to get some equality in education or career or human rights. But someone has to go through this, for all the people behind them to walk an easier path afterwards. I am not saying that this is the right way for things to happen. I am probably saying that some humans learn little about progress and learn nothing from what has gone before. But the bold and the bright need to endure all this rubbish so that things change.
I hope that I am right on this. I will be very sad otherwise.