Mrs. O's Designers Speak

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A Today Show segment looks back at Mrs. O's inaugural wardrobe and interviews designers Isabel Toledo and Jason Wu. In a heartfelt message to Mrs. O, Toledo shared, "Thank you for being so optimistic and for giving us all so much inspiriation."

Showing a Little Feith

Photo by Donavan Marks / National Cathedral via Flickr user speakingoffaith

On her first full day as the new First Lady, Mrs. O - along with her husband and the Bidens - attended a multi-denominational service at Washington National Cathedral. She wore a dress by Tracy Feith. The dress has a rounded neck, fitted bodice and waist, and a full skirt-a very modern twist on a 1950s silhouette. It also features one of Feith's trademark bold prints. More photos from the service can be seen here and here.

Tracy Feith's clothes often recall his hippie-luxe-surfer background. Known as a maverick who brings an edgy quality to his designs, Feith is currently working on a lower-priced collection for Target. This collection is expected to debut in early May 2009. After the service at the Cathedral, Mrs. O will be hosting an open house at her new home. So we will be watching to see if she will be wearing this Feith dress then. Update: And indeed, she did. 

Wearing History on a Historical Day

Image used courtesy of Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection

There was much talk yesterday about the pin at Mrs. O's neckline during the inauguration ceremony. Some thought it was a necklace; others called it a collar on the Isabel Toledo dress. It turns out the piece is a Victorian paste pin, once meant as a sash decoration. It came from Carole Tanenbaum, who offers a premiere collection of vintage costume jewelry. We love that Mrs. O would wear a historical piece on such a historical day!

On her blog, Tanenbaum, who is based in Toronto, writes that she acquired the pin through a Florida dealer who said it came from a Palm Beach estate. Tanenbaum has never seen another piece like it and she believes it was probably made in England. The sash pin was purchased by Ikram Goldman (profiled on this site in "The Mix is the Message") and, one and a half months prior to the inauguration; it was sent back to Tanenbaum so that one stone could be replaced.

We did predict just last week that we might see Mrs. O in some vintage pieces some day, but we had no idea that that thought would materialize so quickly. Mrs. O showed great style, mixing the new (Isabel Toledo) with the vintage. What a grace note of history!

At Last, Mrs. O Wows in Jason Wu

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

After months of speculation and hundreds of designs, we finally get to lay eyes on Mrs. O's Inaugural Ball gown - a gown for the ages. We are amazed and delighted. On the first day of December, we wrote a post entitled "A Name to Remember" that was inspired by the young designer behind the perfectly sophisticated, modern shift dress Mrs. O wore for an interview with Barbara Walters.

The designer of said dress was Jason Wu - a 26 year old Taipei native, former student of designer Narciso Rodriguez and finalist for the 2008 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. Tonight, Mr. Wu won the greatest prize of all, dressing our First Lady in a winter white one-shoulder gown flecked with organza flowers and crystals for the Inaugural Ball. Of great interest is what Cheryl Tan of Heard on the Runway reported at the time of the Barbara Walters interview:

Mr. Wu isn't working on any more 'special projects' for Ikram at the moment but is hoping to get another call. While Seventh Avenue has been abuzz over who Mrs. Obama will wear on Inauguration Day, Mr. Wu said he isn’t focusing on that. “Oh,” he said, “that’s a long shot!”

As background, Ikram (referenced in the paragraph above) is Ikram Goldman, the owner of the famed Chicago boutique that bears her first name. We explored Ikram's style influence in a piece earlier this week, "The Mix is the Message". She is responsible for connecting Mrs. O with many of the designers that have become familiar names throughout the campaign and inauguration. In an odd twist, Mrs. O's gown shows similiarity to the design we predicted in interviews with the Chicago Tribune and NPR several weeks ago:

"Winter white chiffon gathered asymmetrically from an empire waist to one shoulder, with a gray-silver full satin skirt. A bejeweled diamond brooch worn off-center at the waist line."

With so many pointing to Mrs. O's penchant for jewel tones, we thought she might choose just the opposite: a white winter that we would remember forever. Indeed we will.

Update: Cathy Horyn of the New York Times is on the case once again - love her. In a conversation with Jason Wu this evening, the designer revealed that he didn't know Mrs. O was going to wear his dress until he saw it this evening. The designer went on to describe the 8 to 10 yards of silk chiffon, and many crystals that went into the design. "It had to sparkle," he said. The dress had been based on measurements and details provided by Ikram Goldman.

Later Tuesday evening, Jason Wu spoke with CNN to explain his inspiration for the dress. "It's about hope. It's about newness," he said. "It's all a little dreamlike, and we're making history, and I wanted to really reflect that." We can practically hear the well-deserved excitement in the designer's voice as he added, "It's thrilling. ... For a young designer, I couldn't ask for any more than this."

Mystery Coat Revealed

Image used with kind permission from photographer seannaber

Mrs. O's impossibly chic black wool wing coat is the design of an impossibly chic French designer - Sonia Rykiel. The coat, show here in fuschia, is from the designer's Fall 2008 RTW collection. Immense thanks to our own Mrs. L, Michelle Liu, for calling this one in from Hong Kong.