Friday
Aug212009
Summer Seersucker (Updated)
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 10:49 AM 
Photo by Win McNamee / Getty Images
The Os returned home yesterday after a weekend spent in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona. Mrs. O looks ready for Martha's Vineyard in her seersucker summer dress. We love!
UPDATE: Wonderful news! Thanks to a tip from "aw", we have confirmed that yes, in fact, Mrs. O is wearing Maria Pinto's Eula Stripe Maggie dress! We are delighted to see Maria Pinto back in the first lady's wardrobe rotation. The cut and fit of a Maria Pinto dress is always flawless.
tagged Maria Pinto
Maria Pinto
Reader Comments (86)
PAULA DUVALL: You are WAY out of line, and your post makes you sound incredibly ignorant.
And here's hoping Mrs Obama never, ever impresses you Paula Duvall...
And to sweet, sweet Char: the day you get the opportunity to be photographed (in any capacity) with "Air Force 1, the presidential limo and invited photographers" in tow, you Char get to make the choice of "appropriate" attire - But until then, feel free to rattle on-
To Paula Duvall,
Hosiery, as you call it, is an American obsession. In the UK, we wear it for practical purposes in the winter. In the summer, only the elderly sticks with tights (hosiery) here
Paula, YOU ARE CRAZY AS HELL, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!!!
The dress is by Maria Pinto
Interesting mention of the "Maggie" dress from the June 12, 2008, Wall Street Journal:
Olivia Sohn, a Takashimaya buyer, ordered the $1,020 "Maggie" dress three times this season. "It looks casual, but people purchase it for formal occasions because it is so flattering...whether it's a size four or 12," Ms. Sohn says. Stacy Wallace-Albert, a Chicago stylist and founder of thefashioneditor.com, says the dress gives her curves nature didn't. "It's all in the way the seams work," she says. "See the way the pockets are laid, on the diagonal? Waist-defining."
Source: http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121400121295793087.html
This blurb is from an article on Maria Pinto that many of you will enjoy reading in full.
Just when you think we've made huge strides in this country concerning racism and we can all have a lively, civil discussion about fashion someone like Paula comes along saying the FLOTUS looked like "kitchen help" on Inauguration Day. Sad.
I'm glad someone weighed in on the tights/hose issue in the UK, as opposed to the US. In fact, almost no women in all of Europe wear stockings or hose except in chilly weather. And when they do, it's mostly what Americans call tights - i.e., opaque, not sheer.
Personally, I think if a woman has well cared for feet (crucial point) and is comfortable with how her legs look when they are bare, then keep the stockings in the drawer if weather permits. Princess Diana almost never wore stockings, even in weather when I probably would have. There are countless photos of her in evening dresses (long and short) with bare legs.
Being the whitest white woman in the world - with the legs to prove it - I use self tanner during the warm weather and enjoy my bare, well-manicured toes and feet. When I feel the need for stockings, but am wearing peep toe shoes, I have discovered toe-less panty hose. I think Donna Karan made them. What drives me crazy is when women have entirely different shades of "nude" on their legs than the rest of their bodies.
But if I had skin in the condition and shade that MO has, there is no way I'd be going thru all this bother.
Please note I've deleted a portion of Paula's comment.
Thank you Mrs. T -
It's nice to know this is one site where racism is not tolerated.
Bevi
Re the hosiery issue, I wore sheer pantyhose for decades, every day, with 3" heels. Business attire for a corporate executive. I bought them by the multiple dozens because I was lucky if they survived one wearing without snags or runs.
I have not worn them since I retired except when I had to wear a skirt (rather than pants) for a dressy occasion, day or evening. I wear a lot of black so my first choice for evening is black hose. When I wear pants and want to look special, I wear black trouser hose, many of which are in lacy, fun knits. I wear closed toes when I wear any kind of hosiery.
That said, hosiery over a tan is a disaster. Race doesn't have a thing to do with it. I used to tan as dark as Mrs O. The choices are either "natural" tones, which make one look powdered, or a yucky "suntan" brown which is dreadful.
So I don't get excited about no hosiery.
In recent years I believe it was Princess Diana who often went barelegged. Once she got away from the royal designers and got her own groove, she was stunning - and always appropriately dressed as well. Great taste.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing"
I too thank you Mrs. T,
Now, my aching, erratic heartbeat, can return to normal....and my faith in the goodness of "most people" in this world will be restored!
I think the dress is wonderful. Simple and classic. I hope she chooses more Maria Pinto in the future
Just checked out the latest Harpers Bazaar. It seems that "thick black tights" (in the United States tights are opaque hosiery, usually in black or colors) are supposed to be the new hot thing for Fall. The magazine's fashion layouts showed them with some pretty dressy red designer duds.
I used to wear colored tights. Then, at the drop of a hat, I had to fly to SF on the company jet dressed in fire hydrant yellow Castlebejac wool dress and purple tights. One man thought I looked cute. I was an executive. I was not supposed to look "cute".
I still like red tights - or rather, the look of them in trouser hosiery - with smart black pants and black flats.
Did anyone determine if the fabric is searsucker or eyelet or some other?
how many bangles does she need? other than that, I think this is a good look
But it's interesting, almost every time they go on vacation, Michelle's hair is pulled into a bun.
When she's in Washington, it's her usual bob. Apparently, she really relies on her hairdresser.
I have this dress and love it! the fabric is a seersucker with a wider stripe than more traditional seersucker striping.
@BeeGee - yeah, tights are all over the place for Fall. What is interesting is that open toe shoes are also hot for Fall, and they are being shown with opaque tights. TIghts can be either the same color as the shoe, or a contrasting shade - and, apparently, the higher the contrast, the better. The shoes, of course, are those towering heels, with the almost as towering platforms - a combination just itching for disaster.
I doubt it's for me, though I like it on tall, skinny and very young models. Also, it's SUCH a hot look for Fall that you just know it's going to look like last season's fad in about 5 minutes. My rule of thumb is, if "everyone" is wearing it, I'm not.
Thank you, Mrs. T. It is good to keep things civil. Although we can all "agree to disagree" there is no place for the racist remark Paula used toward the FLOTUS in this day and age. Whatever happened to respect for our leaders?
I applaud your decision to remove it.
Yay Maria Pinto!!!!!! Maria really knows Mrs. O's body like no other. It hugs in all the right places and as mentioned above, it's simple yet sexy at the same time. Love it!
Have you been to Maria Pinto's website? Talk about gorgeous clothes.
operafanatic, I look, study, enjoy the fashion mags. Then I make up my own mind. Who wants to look like someone who came out of a copying machine?
The Pinto dress is from May 2008 collection. Any idea why Mrs. O hasn't warn anything new by Pinto since coming to the White House. Seems like Michael Kors is her sheath designer of choice now ... Why is Pinto on the outs?
Janelle...I agree. It looks great on her.
Asereht,
THANK YOU for such an intelligent rebuttal to an offensive remark! Your post should become a model for everyone who disagrees with another poster's comments. Your question "Who has displayed the worst sense of classiness?" should be asked by everyone who posts an arrogant, rude response to an offensive comment.
You are a class act!!!
Sorry MsG, but sometimes you just don't want to be classy when you are rebutting an offensive comment and you can't be mad at that.
You know I could never be mad at you, Nyon! I'm just saying I like Asereht's style. Blame it on the old lady in me! :-)
I love this look on Mrs O and all of the Maria Pinto dresses she's worn.
It's kind of useless to speculate on why Mrs O hasn't worn more recent Maria Pinto, but what the hey, I'll give it a shot!
I'm speculatin' that there's no dramatic reason or conscious decision involved on anyone's part, but just a matter of convenience for Mrs O since she doesn't live in Chicago anymore. Pinto sells through her own boutique in Chicago (as well as other places, I'm sure).
Now that it's harder for Mrs O to just pop into the store, she's relying on convenience of buying most of her high-end and small designer stuff from Ikram, whose shop doesn't carry Pinto, but has a wider range of other designers Mrs O also likes.
Paula--Jackie was famous for not wearing nylons, hope that doesnt crush you! Now the whole world doesnt wear them. Designer s are always trying with patterned hose, but its a lot of trouble.
I just want to say I think the way Malia and Sasha dress is awesome. What good role models for "tweens" to look to. There doesn't seem to be any "hurry to grow up" in these girls, a credit to their upbringing. They both seem very comfortable and confident, two characteristics that will make most anything they wear secondary to their inner essence and beauty. The "bloom" is never off of a confident woman. Just look at Mrs. O's mother! Michelle will be rockin' it way into her 70's for sure!
Sharon:
Back to your interesting post contextualizing the original Mrs-O.org and yahoo photos, how did you know that Mrs. O and Malia, then Sasha, were smiling because they spotted Bo ahead?
Thanks!
Regarding her hair:
Mrs. O has "Black" hair and she has a relaxer. That is a combination that requires a great deal of care and attention. Relaxed hair (especially highly textured relaxed hair) is incredibly fragile and needs to be handled with care. It it only supposed to be styled once a week (with heat) and then gently styled in the mornings between washings and stylings.
She wears her hair in the bun to "save" her hair. And it also seems that she doesn't travel with a hair stylist, at least not all the time. I think she had one on her first trip to Europe but certainly not this trip to America's national parks and monuments.
Pics of the first family heading to Martha's Vineyard on Yahoo. FLOTUS is wearing the dress she wore in Ghana. Girls and POTUS look beautiful as usual.
Paula - I am English and I learned in school to always dress proper, including stockings, when in public, esp. with the company of the Royal Family, but please do not fault our first lady because she did not get this training - I do not think her staff educated her - but this dress in MV is very fitting for the beach vacation and I think when she meets Elin Nordegren (Tiger Woods wife) this week when Tiger and Barack play golf, we will see a VERY fashionable First Lady - I can hardly wait ! Love and Cheers
@ Paula: Most women under a certain age (I'd guess about 60) just don't wear hose anymore. I worked in an office for years where it was in the dress code that women had to wear stockings; I suppose for some women, it can be hard to get their mind around the fact that they're just not worn much anymore. I have had lunch many times in the Hearst building, and all those fashion editors from Harper's Bazaar, Cosmo, Marie Claire? Not a pair of stockings among them.
(I'm glad I didn't have to read the rest of what was apparently a mean-spirited attack.)
Hanes Silk Reflections in "Gentlebrown" are my hose of choice, when I wear them (which isn't too often). But they're a great match for my skin tone.
@ KarinC
Most of her staff came from Chicago and are younger than her. I'm sure she educates them, not reversed. Also the 'wearing hose in public' protocal was abolished I'd say about 30 years. Hardly any women I know wear hose anymore, get with the time.