HealthierUS School Challenge

Photo by Carolyn Kaster / AP Images

Yesterday was a jam-packed day for the First Lady. After the Joining Forces appearance, Mrs. O hosted a White House event to honor schools that helped to meet the goal of doubling the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in a year. 

For the afternoon event, Mrs. O wore a pink print dress and adorned with a bow pin.

Update: Mrs. O wears a Target Merona Collection Taren Woven Dress, available here. (Thanks for the links ladies!) The dress appears to have been lengthened for the First Lady, as the full-length dress can be seen here. The bow may also look familiar to some. The First Lady paired it with a Thakoon dress for her Ten at Ten segment on the Jay Leno Show in 2009, seen here.

White House video via YouTube

Heat Wave

Photos by Jason Hirschfeld, Gerry Broome / AP Images; Elaine Sanchez / DOD Photo

The First Lady had a full Thursday, taping an appearance for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Fayetteville, North Carolina (where, speaking of extreme, Mrs. O had to endure stifling East Coast heat), followed by a visit to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode focuses on a North Carolina community resource center for homeless female veterans, which will be redesigned and expanded with a new greenhouse and children’s playhouse. The episode is scheduled to air in October. The First Lady's TV appearance, as well as her stop in Virginia Beach, are part of her Joining Forces initiative with Jill Biden to support military service members and their families. 

Style wise, Mrs. O stayed cool with a pair of summer dresses belted at the waist. For her TV appearance, the First Lady chose a vibrant blue and green Chris Benz Nelda dress from Resort 201, seen here, accessorized with a jeweled bee belt from House of Lavande. For the stop at Oceana Naval Air Station, Mrs. O turned to a trustworthy staple, a Merona for Target dress, paired with a Sacai belt, first seen in August 2009, here. 

Some will remember that Malia Obama wore a Chris Benz dress this January, seen here. To my knowledge, this is the first occasion that the First Lady has done the same. Chris Benz is a young Parsons alum, who cut his teeth as a designer of dresses and special occasion for J.Crew before venturing out with his own eponymous label in 2007.

Target-ed Style

Images courtesy of Target

Fashion blogs have been abuzz with coverage of the new 136,000 square foot Target store that opened in East Harlem last week, with an opening party held Tuesday, July 20.

To celebrate the new store, exclusive designer collections for Target were revealed -- beach gear by Isabel and Ruben Toledo and colorblock knit dresses by Stephen Burrows (see above).

What's the tie to Mrs. O? Yesterday, we learned the designer of the "sunrise yellow" pantsuit the first lady wore last week -- Stephen Burrows. Now, how interesting that Mrs. O wore said pantsuit by Stephen Burrows on June 19, followed by an Isabel Toledo ensemble for the National Design Awards luncheon on June 21.

A coincidence? Or was Mrs. O, a self-proclaimed Target fan, showing support for the designers and their new collections? If the latter, what a fabulously clever use of fashion on the first lady's part. What do you think?

Scenes from the Weekend (Updated)

 

Photo by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images

The Os made several stops out west this weekend as part of a working vacation for the president. Saturday brought a visit to Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Mrs. O wore an ensemble quite similar to that sported in Paris, reintroducing her Rick Owen Lillies vest.

 Photo by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images

Landing in Arizona, Mrs. O debuted a new summer dress, paired with a Sacai belt. We have an idea about the dress, but want to confirm details first...

UPDATE: Thanks to those who contributed fabulous tips in the comments section. We have confirmed that Mrs. O's dress is in fact Merona from Target. It is from a past collection and no longer in stores. Another major moment for democratic fashion - hooray!

Will Mrs. O Go International?

One of Mrs. O's favorite designers is the latest to launch a collection for Target's Go International series: Thakoon Panichgul. “They were very easy to work with,” Panichgul said of the the partnership with Target. “They wanted a lot of prints, and I chose silhouettes that have done well in the past." Sounds like a winning formula for Mrs. O, who has a recent track record of wearing Thakoon dresses, blouses and jackets. The question is: Will Mrs. O wear Thakoon high and low? A fashion democrat through and through, it's not out of the realm of possibilities. While much of the collection for Target has a decidedly younger slant, we think this floral jacket would be a good fit for Mrs. O. In fact, the print is a tad reminiscent of the Thakoon dress Mrs. O wore for the 2008 DNC Finale. Check out NY Mag for more images from the Thakoon for Target collection, here. The collection is slated to debut at Target on December 25, Christmas Day.