Monday
Dec122011
Christmas in Washington
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 3:27 PM 
Photo by Mike Theiler / Getty Images, Jacquelyn Martin / AP Images
The First Family was joined by performers including Jennifer Hudson, Victoria Justice and Justin Bieber for the annual Christmas in Washington taping at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC last evening. On the style front, Mrs. O donned a festive green dress with criss-cross neckline. Silver pumps completed the look.
Update: Mrs. O wears a custom forest green crepe dress by Cushnie et Ochs, inspired by the design duo's Spring 2012 collection. The label is designed by Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, who were recently named finalists for the 2011 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. You'll find more background on their website and Tumblr.
tagged Cushnie et Ochs
Cushnie et Ochs
Reader Comments (40)
Malia looks like a teenage model. I like the color of Mrs.O's dress but not the cut.We have a beautiful First Family! God bless our First Family! God bless the United States!
Love her dress... but is it too revealing in the front?
Love the color combinations the Obama women are wearing!!!
Malia and Sasha are so grown-up and beautiful. Malia looks like she's 18!!!
Love Sasha's haircut!
Malia is so, so tall and Sasha has such a small waist! They are B E A U T I F U L!!!
Sorry, but I have to give this whole picture an "Uff-da", with the exception of the President. Don't care for any of the colors in general, and Michelle's dress looks way too tight, and just not a good style for her.
The dress colour looks nice on the First Lady, her hair and face too, but with so much boobs and arms and stuff showing I don't know, maybe not official enough. Hats off to the president, he looks handsome, festive and "official."
The dress colour looks nice on the First Lady, her hair and face too, but with so much boobs and arms and stuff showing I don't know, maybe not official enough. Hats off to the president, he looks handsome, festive and "official."
This is a very beautiful dress for Mrs. Obama but the reveal is unfortunate.
all the dresses are wonderful, including the colors. malia's dress is perfection, loving the sleeves.
For me, best dressed has to go to Sasha. She looks like a cute little holiday ballerina :-) i usually like Malia's look, but this was just ok for me. I like the color on her and the necklace is a nice touch, but im not feeling the dress much. Looks too much like a literal interpretation of the 70s on her. FLOTUS definitely dressed out of the box here. An edgy look for a First Lady, i must say. Looks great on her cuz she certainly has the body to pull it off, but i could see some saying this isnt conservative enough. But ya gotta love her for taking fashion risks.
mrs-o dress is a little too revealing for a FLOTUS and espically for a christmas concert.Sasha looks like a ballerina and Malia and POTUs look fab.im just saying.
Gorgeous! But, why do I get the feeling that one of these girls will rebel against fashion in teenage days to com?. Ladies, you know how we rebel against anything important to our moms (regardless of how great she is) to assert our independence and forge our own identities. Not sure which girl will do it but it will be one of the two. Hmmm...Sasha does seem to have a little rebel in her. Will she be the Solange of the Obama family? Just kidding! Very beautiful. This is now my Christmas desktop.
I have to take a pass on this one. Too tight and low cut for a family Christmas photo. And they colors don't seem to work as a group - surprising since they usually seem so coordinated.
I must admit this is a lovely dress but to revealing. A shot on Huff Post shows way too much. I love the color and the look of this dress but not for this occasion. The girls are beauriful.
Come on how old are you guys? So the picture shows that the First Lady has breasts. Don't most women. I like the dress Mrs. Obama has on and in my opinion it's not to revealing.
okay, who else audibly gasped when you saw Mrs. O in this dress?! She is absolutely stunning...just stunning, beautiful, knockout! The neckline is so flattering and she pulls it off with those wonderful shoulders and arms. LOVE IT!! The whole family looks wonderful. I love Sasha's tutu and I LOVE Malia's yellow tunic....I cannot get enough of this family. Also saw the video of his speech after the show where he spoke about how much Christ's birth means to him and millions of Americans. Bless this President and his beautiful family.
Wow, we need to follow Malia's style now, she looks AMAZING! She blossomed overnight it seems. ----EDITOR, could we also know who Malia's dress is by? ~Thanks!
Mrs. O continues to use her platform to showcase up and coming American designers and I love her for it. No doubt the designers appreciate her as well. To some fashion is trivial, but I believe fashion is just as important as architecture. It is a brilliant art form. Kudos to the pair who designed this festive frock.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out what is so revealing... #nonipslipinsight
I think this is truly beautiful picture. Everyone right down to the little elves look gorgeous. The girls are truly turning into little ladies. I can see that Malia is going to be a bohemian chick in the next few years.
Mrs Obama's dress (IMO) is fine, not too tight, not too low, she's a woman, women have breasts, lets not make this out to be more than it is. Instead, why don't we embrace the fact that as women we live in a part of the world where we are free to wear what we like when we like it without fear of retribution from our community or our husbands.
I love the dress and the color. It's unfortunate that she was leaning over when the photo was taken. In shots of her standing tall the dress doesn't appear too low cut IMO.
I knew the minute I saw this dress the comments it would receive....I think Michelle looks amazing. Wearing it successfully her is reward for hours spent in the gym. Were she not the FLOTUS we would just acknowledge her beauty. Let's ask the Pres what he thinks!
LOL, there is absolutely nothing inappropriate with the dress Mrs. O is wearing; it certainly isn't too tight nor tight! SMH, some people.
The girls are dressed cute and the Prez is handsome as always.
OAN: Malia doesn't look like she's 18; she looks and behaves like the typical fidgety 13 year old girl she is.
Didn't Hillary take a lot of flack for just a hint of cleavage? I like the dress, but understand the comments re "too revealing"
What does "SMH" mean, SoccerNana. According to urban dictionary it means
" Acronym for 'shake my head' or 'shaking my head.' Usually used when someone finds something so stupid, no words can do it justice."
Sooooo..., this describes those of us who DARED to express ANY "less-than-stellar" commnent about this photograph!?!
I am really liking this neckline on Mrs. Obama. She has a great pair of arms and shoulders to pull off this kind of look. Yes it's sexy and a little revealing, but you know what - who cares! I love that she is not afraid to be feminine without being over the top. I wish I had half of her confidence because it's okay to be daring and a little provocative at times, and THAT is what I admire most about Mrs.O.
Cheers!
I love the green and yellow they are wearing. Mrs. O looks great STANDING because in the rest of the pictures there is just too much boob out of her dress. I guess she didn't notice that when she tried it on. I don't mind the cut of the dress (a good idea would have been TAPE) or the fact that it shows both arms and chest, had she remained perfectly still the whole night.
I LOVE them all! Mrs. O looks perfect and so does the rest of the fam! And thanks to a friend, I think we found Malia's dress. http://piperlime.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=118799002&tid=plpn000611&kwid=1&ap=13&mkwid=U4j00a&adid=Cebqhpg+Nqf&redirect=true
@ Babs,
I have no use for an "urban" dictionary, so I can't tell you what's in one; however, "SMH" is used to implicate "shaking my head" by those of us who text and tweet. As for as using "SMH" to refer to someone's comment as being "stupid", that's obviously your issue not mine.
OAN: ""Uff-da?"
When I saw our Michelle's dress, I just knew it was going to be Azzedine's. It has that look to it. How wonferful for Carly & Michelle to have FLOTUS don one of their pieces. It must be a thrill for them!
I love this color and how it's keeping with the holidays without being too literal. The girls always look like sweet young ladies, ALWAYS! I know some are bothered by (among other things) the colors not "matching or going together" but I think it works here. I'm cracking up over the face the little elf is making. He's standing in front of Malia and he looks like he wants to tell the photographer, "take the pic, already!" Too precious!
LOL My father was full-blooded Norwegian and "Uff-da" is a funny expression I got from my aunts on that side of the family:
If googled, this is one defininition:
"uff da" is probably the Norwegian expression best known to Norwegian Americans.
It is a perfectly polite expression which may be used in place of various phrases employed to evince displeasure. One wag has observed, "In Norway, Charlie Brown says, 'uff da!' instead of 'Good grief!.' "
It is an analogue of such words in other languages as "oy vey" or "carumba."
I think it's too much cleavage for this event, too. The vintage black lace Norrell Mrs. O wore for this event last year was a better match to the occasion. But I love that our FLOTUS is supporting young American designers.
Our First Lady is a lovely young woman who also happens to have the type of physique that looks great in many outfits. I truly like this green dress and see nothing wrong with the neckline. Author Kate Betts in her book, Everyday Icon, addresses this issue in Chapter 2 - Style versus Substance. Some of the pictures in this chapter show various First Ladies baring shoulders, décolletage, legs, etc. One interesting picture (page 20) is one of former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower receiving guest at a state dinner honoring Supreme Court justices in 1958.
Peace.
Okay all this talk about how Mrs O has the body to pull off this look and how it's her reward for working out and how we live in a country where women can dress the way they wish...that is all very true but are we all forgetting that she's not a fashion model or a Hollywood actress but she's The First Lady?
And regardless of whether or not she can pull it off, this dress is just woefully inappropriate for the occassion esp. with having young children around. It just screams inappropriate just seeing the 1st family photo there not to mention the photo of her bending down.
There is an appropriate time and place for every outfit for all of us, even more so for someone in her position and on that count, Mrs. O failed miserably on this one.
I do also wonder why so many of Malia's outfits are so often way too short for her as well but her and Sasha look adorable as always!
Hello Everybody!! Read Chauny's comment and then go on Huffpost and look at the picture of the First Lady bending over and you will see what Chauny is taliking about and what I am talking about.
Are we sure she's 47???
I agree with @Chauny. Though she has a wonderful body, her title and role is First Lady. This dress it too innapropriate for 1) this event and 2) her. I love the dress and feel that if it wasn't too revealing in the front, there would be no complaints. I love the color though!
Mrs. O has a wonderful body and deserves to show it off, but not in this dress and not at this event.
Thank you Natalie K for finding my holiday dress! I wish it was the color of Malia's dress but cognac will work for me.
Wow...Mrs. O is on fire!