Monday
May302011
Happy Memorial Day
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 8:50 PM 
Image by Charles Dharapak / AP Images
Happy Memorial Day dear readers! And thank you to all of the men and women in our nation's military services.
Today the President and First Lady attended a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. For the occasion, Mrs. O dressed in a patriotic blue sheath dress accessorized with a double strand of pearls.
Update: Thanks to those with memory sharper than mine. It appears the First Lady wears a dress by Narciso Rodriguez, seen in 2010 here and here.
"Standing When the First Lady Pays a Call" [New York Times]
tagged Narciso Rodriguez
Narciso Rodriguez
Reader Comments (71)
Awww, Dana you think my comment is disrespectful? Shoot! And I tried to make it as respectful as I could, considering what I really wanted to say. Oh well!
Dear Readers (w props to Mrs. T)
Please, let us all start over again.
Memorial Day….Thank you to all of the American soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. And thank you to their families who live with that sacrifice daily.
My late father, though he did not die in service, was a veteran; and is buried in a National Cemetery. I remember the pride and honor I felt when that Air Force Colonel knelt before my mother, flag in hand, and said to her, “Ma’am, on behalf of the President and a grateful nation, I present this flag to you….”
So while we all have our likes and dislikes, I personally think the First Lady looks lovely, let us all try to be gentle with each other.
Peace.
O Dear, Mrs. T, I feel so sorry for you for having to put up with all of this cat-fighting. You work so hard and do SUCH a great job here, but this type of thing is so discouraging. One thing that is
really dismaying is the use of the word "Hater" by bloggers here. Maybe I'm just naive but that is such a strong word to use when referring to people one has never met, spoken to, or interacted with in person.
Thank you Mrs. sTAR and babs! I have truly loved this site from the beginning and never, ever posted but had to thank both of you for reminding us all about love and the true meaning of the Memorial Day Holiday. Thank you!
This posting has turned into a "cat fight." And I thought The Real Housewives of "_______" was bi*chy. *whew!" As the President once said, "Let us all appeal to our better angels." And remember, MO is a very modern first lady with a very "progressive?" fashion point-of-view--it appears. It might do us all some good to keep that in mind when we make our comments.
P.S. Every poster on this blog is NOT a "lady." Be mindful, "ladies." LOL!
I really like that Mrs. O wears a dress, suit, piece of clothing several times, and that it looks fresh each time because of her personality, the occasion, and of course, her accessories.
@ Auntie Mom
Thank you for your kind words. And cheers to you for joining in! Hope to hear more from you.
Peace.
I'm sorry you guys (ladies and gents) are so distraught over some of the words being passed on here and I mean that sincerely. However, I will not apologize for what I said to or about Nora. I overlook plenty of comments that I don't like everyday, so it's not just about someone disliking what Mrs. O wears. I don't like everything she wears and I have said it. It's deeper than that and I won't even go into a long explaination about what I think it is. SO, maybe I was petty or cattish by saying what I said, but I said it and I meant it. I bite my fingers alot(lol) and this time I felt I wanted to type what I felt. So, it is what it is. And, I won't promise that I won't go HAM again. And for those wanting Mrs. T to delete my comment, I have told her before that I will never be offended by her deleting my comments because it's her blog. With that said, On to the next one (in my Jay-Z voice).
@nora - good for you!!! the blogosphere is an interesting place...i've seen a couple of comment boards take a wrong turn the past couple of days...
anyhow-MO is doing what she does best, rocking whatever she wears with confidence, regardless of slight mishaps!
As a participant in this blog since the day after the '08 inauguration, I have observed, in some instances, you can read a blogger's name and before reading there comment, you know that you know that you know that you know, the overwhelming majority of the time, that poster will be making a negative comment. Frankly, there are negative people in this world, those who demean, constrict or attack, some find that trait irritating. For me, the connotation of today's slang word "hater" is as an identification of those "known" to be "prone" to point out the unflattering, real or imagined, those shoot straight from the hip kind of people, who feel free to express their opinions as "fact" in equivocal derogatory manners all done in the name of wide-eyed innocence.
From what I have read in this post, there are some of us, who just want to point out, that if you can be "depended" upon to make a negative comment, it is irritating. Then again, maybe some people don't realize they are viewed not as just someone expressing a negative comment, but as a negative person, this is irritating to some. If you are big girl enough to stick to your shoot from the lip style despite the fact that people are telling you they feel your comments are consistently uncomplimentary the overwhelming majority of the time you post....and because negative people suck the energy out of the room when you walk in...then know, we will continue to say in our own manner, "it is irritating".
I feel the subtle ruching detail down the front of this sheath is intriguing and engages the eye.
Hello ladies. This is my first time posting but not reading here.
Mrs. O looks lovely, but I do agree that seeing her belly button is not the most flattering thing. It may be more what she's wearing UNDER the dress than the dress itself.
I hate to see all you ladies getting upset over such a thing. From what I can tell everyone is here because they love, like, adore, respect the first lady. Let's all be kind and respect each other too.
@Boazwife,
You are so on point, you've hit the proverbial nail on it's head with your comments. I totally agree with. From the inception of this blog many so-called supporters and admirerers of the First Lady have repeated made some of the most eggregious comments about her physique, her intelligence (her ability to make decisions for herself), and yes, her clothes that were so outrageous that many other posters like myself could only come to one conclusion. These people were haters, troll, bigots, or whatever other adjective available to describe the way some went about expressing themselves in regards to this First Lady. I don't care whether the person is black, white, red, yellow or polka dot, a hater is a hater, whatever the color under the sun. Another thing that must be noted about these tactless people is that they're very thin-skinned for they forcefully go after Mrs. O castigating her for not wearing what they want her to wear, how the want her to wear it, and how often she should wear it. Yet when the tables are turned on them, they are quick to go about enlisting the support of like-minded individuals to extoll their innocence and wonder aloud why others are finding fault with their comments. Such hypocracy! Time and time again these people have been asked to moderate their tone and to use more comparison, contrast and context when commenting so the rest of us would truly understand the reason for their comments, both positive and negative. But no, they wouldn't offer the common courtesy of moderating their tone, instead they come here and let their venom rip, and when they suffer a backlash, their reaction is so predictable, like "what did I do, I'm only expressing my humble opinion?" Well, be warned, for if you want to persist in your game of character assasination towards the First Lady, know that it will come back at you. Constructive critique is one thing, poison and vitriol is another. I've said before and it bears repeating, if you respect Mrs. O so much, why is it so difficult to for you find an appropriate way (use a dictionary or thesaurus, if necessary) to express yourself without trying to denigrate her in your tone and words. Even those with expensive Ivy League education should be able to string a few words together that expresses a thought without maligning the subject of your commentary. Is this how you address or speak of someone you admire? Is this how you truly speak to your friends face to face? I would hazzard a guess and say "no" you don't, so why do it to a woman you profess to admire at every turn?. Nyon, I agree with you, some of these people need to be kept in check. For the same way I would not tolerate anyone in my presence who insults POTUS and FLOTUS, I don't intend to allow it to happen here. Intentioned or not!
And by the way, the sheath in question is a perfect fit. Positioning and camera angles do play a role in conveying how a dress flows, especially when the subject is in motion as the First Lady was at the time the photo was taken. So consider that for a moment.
First of all, I don' t see her belly button. I see two distinct bump like thingys toward the bottom of the dress but I don't think that it is a belly button outline I see. It could be anything. But you see belly button outlines, ok.
I do have friends who fit the Nora profile who really don't like Mrs. O's fashion sense. We have talked about it and while I don't understand, we just agree to disagree. But then again, there are people who love Carrie Bradshaw and others who think she looks silly.
I guess it is the same with Michelle Obama! I don't think the dress is too tight and I would love to see a pic where she is standing still to fairly judge the "tightness" factor.
@Pavi, and others, the Narciso Rodriguez sheath Mrs O has donned, has a ruching detail down it's front, the gathering produces decorative dimpling and horizontal gathers in the fabric of the dress. What you describe as a "belly button" is a design style of the garment.......sigh!!!
theobamadiary.com/page/2/
If you go, about half way down the page, to the May, 30, '11 "memorial day post", then to the second pic of Mrs O and the President, the ruching detail with its resulting dimples and gathers is very APPARENT!!!
Never mind; it's pointless. . . After reading that long post . . . I realize I can't win for losing :-)
The color is beautiful on Mrs. O. And she looks wonderful in sheaths. She is a fabulous representation of America to the rest of the world, and I am proud that she is our First Lady. I mean that sincerely. So you cannot call me a "hater" for saying that this dress would be a home run if only it were not quite so tight.
This thread took quite a nasty turn, and short of deleting the post, I'm not sure there's much to do except to move forward. I do ask that we continue to respect one another, pretty please. I sometimes wonder -- what if Mrs. Obama happened to read the blog? It would be a great disappointment if she happened to stumble upon this thread, because it's really not representative of the community that we've built here together.
Finally, my golden rule of commenting: Don't write anything you wouldn't say to someone's face.
Mrs. T.: I must say that I do feel a mistake was made in printing Nyon's post in the first place. I think that you must realize by now that words such as "hater" and the "B-word" are "fightin' words." Nyon's comments were meant to cause hurt, and they did. I think you bear some responsibility in choosing to print a post that contained such disrespectful words that were written in such a crude manner. Since when is it okay to call someone the "B-word" when you don't even know them? And no matter what she might say, I don't believe that Nyon would say those words to the face of a perfect stranger. I do not believe that someone deserves to be castigated in that manner just because she felt a dress was a liitle tight. In addition, Nora's original comment was expressed quite respectfully, unlike Nyon's comments.
@ Mrs. T,
Will you please consider requiring registration if you wish to leave a comment on your Mrs-O.org blog? The Word Press did it to control the "Obama vitriol" on the Obama diary blog.
When posters lace their comments with an abundance of subject pronouns (me, myself, and I) and feel the need to tout their credentials, it seems they should start their own blogs, rather than momentarily forget that this blog is about Mrs. O and her fashion choices. if you have to qualify your remarks by warning readers that they may have a negative reaction to your comments, that too might be a sign of a touch of narcissism and maybe a good checking point to filter what you are about to write.
Nyon and those of us who reacted to Nora's post generally don't respond to a one-time remark, but to a pattern of behavior that some of you have referred to in this thread. We are a community and some of us don't like each other, as is apt to happen in any community larger than two people, but that does not preclude making remarks about Mrs. O that are based on one snapshot in time. At least have the courtesy to check other resources before making a comment that might invite controversy.
Have received a few comments about the comment policy ... you must be a registered user for a comment to appear automatically. I personally approve comments left by unregistered users. Please trust that many comments are deleted on a daily basis. There is a lot that you don't see! If you have an issue with a specific comment, please email me at contact@mrs-o.org.