In her new book, Obama takes readers on a journey through the evolution of her style and how it intertwines with her heritage.
Michelle Obama breaks her silence after not attending Trump’s inauguration
Former first lady Michelle Obama has denied rumors of divorcing her husband and said she is reevaluating her public appearance.
It didn’t take long for former first lady Michelle Obama to reminisce about the East Wing of the White House.
Speaking to a captive audience in Washington, D.C., on a live podcast about her new book, “The Look,” President Obama compared the colorful costumes she wore as first lady to her work in the East Tower, which was demolished by President Donald Trump earlier this year to make way for a ballroom.
“I felt like the East Wing was a place of color and light and joy,” President Obama told host Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Morris.
She explained that for her and her husband, former President Barack Obama, the East Wing literally served as an entry point for visitors to the White House and a place where they welcomed Americans through their work there.
“We were thinking about the kids like us who were outside the gates on the South Lawn looking in without knowing what was going on in the White House…because so many of those kids felt uninvited,” Michelle Obama said. “Our goal was to make the house as open as possible, and the East Wing was the place to do that.”
Throughout her tenure in the White House and beyond, Michelle Obama’s fashion choices have been driven by a desire to welcome and embrace the public.
In her new book, co-written with her longtime stylist Meredith Koop, the former first lady takes readers on a journey through the evolution of her dress, hair and makeup from her childhood on Chicago’s South Side to her time in the White House and now as a political and cultural icon.
“It’s not what you look like that matters,” she said, alluding to the book’s title. “It’s us looking out for the country. It’s us looking out for the country. It’s us looking out for all the people who depend on us. … That gaze goes both ways,” she said.
“Can I hug someone in here?”
During her eight years as first lady, Obama remained active. Some days, she said, she would dig in the kitchen garden on the White House lawn with her children after giving a speech.
She conducted NFL drills and played soccer with David Beckham to promote “Let’s Move!” Tackling childhood obesity. She visited preschool classrooms and traveled to Africa to encourage young women to stay in school.
What she wore to keep President Obama active tAudience in the studio of an old podcast recording.
“I was worried, ‘Is it okay to hug people in here? Will it get dirty?'” She told Morris:
“What I think about clothes is that they can welcome people or they can push people away. When clothes are so neat and so precious and things are so clear and the pins are so big, you’re saying to people, ‘Don’t touch me,'” she said.
“This is not DEI employment.”
The designers Obama chose to make her clothes as first lady were also intentional, she told the audience on a taping of “IMO: The Look.”
When President Obama walked out of her husband’s inaugural ball in 2009 wearing a white silk one-shoulder dress by Jason Wu, she helped catapult the young designer to fame. This choice made a statement.
“This was not a DEI hire. It was the most beautiful gown,” President Obama said. “He just happened to be a child of immigrants, new to the business, and just as talented, if not more talented, than the greats who always had the opportunity.”
President Obama said he could have chosen an Oscar de la Renta dress, In addition to herself, she has dressed first ladies Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, and Hillary Clinton. But not only did Ms. Wu make her feel “out of this world,” she also influenced the administration’s message.
“What we were trying to do with the choices we made was to change lives and say something different about who is worthy and who is good enough,” President Obama said.
USA TODAY Nation Desk reporter Karissa Waddick can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.
