Over-the-top comments at that WaPo on the Robin Givhan piece "Diplomatic fashion crisis averted: Michelle Obama wears Vera Wang to China state dinner." The "crisis" was that Mrs. Obama got criticized, at the 2011 China state dinner, for wearing a dress from a British designer and at this state dinner she was wearing a dress from an American designer. The designer Vera Wang responded (as quoted in WaPo):
“It is such a privilege, as an American of Chinese heritage, to have dressed first lady Michelle Obama for this state dinner honoring President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan, of the People’s Rebublic of China,” tweeted Wang.The typo "Rebublic" may be funnier than the fawning Jackie-disrepecting in the comments. By they way, when everyone else just says "China" and you're operating within the 140-character limitation of Twitter, why would you even attempt to write "People’s Republic of"? I guess it's that theater of pompous dignity that people assume when accepting honors. I'm privileged at the honor and honored at the privilege... blah blah blah. If we were at the Oscars music would play to tell you that's enough, and I love that Twitter is right there from the very outset, saying, okay, you've said enough, now get out of here. Go rebubble elsewhere. Twitter is not a Rebabble-ic.
Unlike a blog.
It's not even 6 in the morning and I have 2 more things to say about that article.
1. Michelle Obama's 2011 dress was blazing, daring, almost wacky. The new dress was utterly sedate. As Givhan put it: "It exuded Hollywood glamour of the sort that has long defined the red carpet. And Obama’s hair, styled in gentle waves and cascading down her right cheek, underscored the dress’s mood of old-fashioned stardust." In other words, pointedly old-old-fashioned. Givhan swathes Mrs. Obama in praise. There's no commentary at all on what I would call the squelching of Michelle Obama's exuberance and modernity.
2. I enjoyed the picture — the 4th photo at the first link — of Michelle adjusting Obama's tie. He's got a very cute expression on his face. You could say he's affecting a little-kid attitude just as his wife is tending to him, causing her to look more like his mother than his wife. But I'm going to say: playful, adorable, charming. And it's true (Deal with it!): The man is the most charming person to arrive on the national stage since JFK. I won't say JFK had nothing on this President or While JFK was certainly charismatic, Barack Obama outshines him easily. That goes too far.
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Glad I haven't breakfasted yet.
Givhan is a democratic hack doing fashions.
The slide show at the link has a hundred things to comment about. I enjoyed it.
Caitlynjenneresque™ she is.
After looking at the slide show, I Googled: evening wear requires foundation garments. (I mean: for nearly all of the women and for any man who doesn't keep his jacket buttoned. But why would any man — e.g., Cass Sunstein, Lee Daniels — walk in front of the photographers with his jacket unbuttoned? The jacket performs the idealizing function that would otherwise require some girdle-like garment. Why wouldn't you use it?
As for Lee Daniels going without a tie... well, his mother looked great.
The most beautiful person there, to my eye, was Nikita Kahn. Who is she? I looked it up. She's Larry Ellison's girlfriend, a model from Ukraine. The old eastern-European-model approach ... that rich men like Donald Trump indulge in.
JFK. had Jackie, Marilyn and more to love him, while The Smiling Obama Boy has Valerie Jarrett and Michelle to mother him. Times they are a changing.
I suppose short shorts and tee shirts are out.
Who gives a shit about drooling over the Ruling Class and what they wear. We lesser sons and daughters, of greater mothers and fathers, are pissing away the American Republic - the greatest institution ever created by Man.
Obama is a disaster as President, and is an even worse human being. And Michelle is OK with being married to him. And, she sat in Reverend Wright's pew for decades, too.
God damn America? How about God damn the 19th Amendment.
Nothing these people do is cute or fun.
I do not find Obama at all charming.
Roughcoat said: "I do not find Obama at all charming."
Yep, there are plenty of words to describe Obama, however charming is not one of them. The most divisive president since Tricky Dick. It will take years/decades overcome Obama's "charm" offensive. Maybe never.
I always suspected, but finally here is complete proof that I have no common ground with Professor Althouse whatsoever. In a million years, I could never find Obungler or his wife "playful, adorable, or charming." They are a contamination of the White House and my first reaction is to vomit at the sight of either of them.
Michelle has made the big butt fashionable, I guess. We had a hilarious incident at the MEPS where I work part time. A woman physician who is a bit of a ditz, she's Iranian, mentioned a problem measuring black girls for lumbar lordosis because some of them have butts that stick out. The measurement is to have them stand against a wall and measure the curve. The problem was she said this in a meeting with two black women doctors who did not appreciate her dopiness.
Michelle makes that alright.
Remember the outrage at Ann Romney's $900 blouse or the price of her red convention speech dress?
Trashing Ann Romney
Fawning over Michelle
The left was born without an irony gene
Thanks for the photo of Jackie O. She was just the epitome of class and style. That is especially significant because her husband was such a dog in heat (I know it's females that go into heat) and she rose above it like she rose above everything. She even rose above Aristotle Onasis.
"The problem was she said this in a meeting with two black women doctors who did not appreciate her dopiness."
If something is a problem when black co-workers are in the room, it's a problem when they are not in the room. The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem.
And Obama, also, has an adoring media cheering section who are careful to maintain the script
I don't have a problem with Michelle. I suspect she may like Jackie O. have agreed to stick around and not make waves until her husband's presidency is over.
"Charming" is the last word I would use to describe Obama. How charming is it to have people in your audience whom you insult to their faces, and because of the situation, they are unable to answer? Supreme Court justices at the SOTU, etc? My former Governor, Rick Perry, dodged that bullet when he refused to meet Obama at the border in El Paso and sit in the first row while Obama did his nasty little speech about Republicans wanting a moat, with alligators in it, at the border. Everybody laughed! How funny! How charming! How does that match with the bullet pockmarks on buildings in El Paso, from guns fired in Mexico?
Events like that show the man has no charm. He is an asshole in a tuxedo.
Again, if they're going to go on and on about her beauty, they shouldn't be looking at a wookie when doing so.
Michael K said...
Thanks for the photo of Jackie O. She was just the epitome of class and style
All just a 'show' for the gullible, my friend.
Guess you aren't aware that she had affairs with both Bobby and Ted, and many others.
Not what I would call 'class'. How many girls you know fucked their way through their dead husband's family?
Sorry if I am shaking your world view, but jesus, wake up, man. These people are not to be admired.
"A woman physician who is a bit of a ditz, she's Iranian, mentioned a problem ... in a meeting with two black women doctors"
The clash of intersectionalities sounds delightful. I take it hilarity ensued.
If something is a problem when black co-workers are in the room, it's a problem when they are not in the room. The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem.
What about the guy who said niggardly.
Ah yes, a state dinner for China, the land of 1,000 Bernie Madoff’s.
Jackie Kennedy did have an innate sense of style that few women possess. Mrs. Obama does not.
She looked good in that black Vera Wang dress. In that red dress, she looked like she had been in a ghastly accident.......Jackie was very good at wearing expensive clothes. Michelle is far too robust for haute couture, but, as with the Wang dress, she can make an impression......I bet the other women hated Larry Ellison and his date. That's like inviting Alex Rodriguez to the company softball game......I suppose an invitation to a state dinner at the White House would to some degree validates your life. Personally, I would rather be water boarded, but I'm glad everyone had a good time.
"The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem."
The two black women docs did not say anything and probably just wrote it off to her dizzy thinking but it was pretty funny. I did not laugh out loud but it was a highlight in a pretty dull meeting. Black docs are usually just fine with white ones and one who seemed hostile when I began working there a couple of years ago, is now an ally because the DoD hired two rather dopey female doctors as full time people. Both are sort of Asian and she is looking for allies among the male docs. Funny to see how small group dynamics can work. There is almost no racism.
Michael K said...
That is especially significant because her husband was such a dog in heat (I know it's females that go into heat)
Try the "Tomcat" metaphor
"All just a 'show' for the gullible, my friend.
Guess you aren't aware that she had affairs with both Bobby and Ted, and many others."
I've read that and it is probably true. She may even have had something on with Aristotle but she did it with class.
Have you ever seen the movie. "The Bad and the Beautiful?" There is a great scene where Kirk Douglas is telling Lana Turner's character about her father who was a drunk but "He did it with class !"
Something about "not scaring the horses." Bill Clinton raped the horses.
Ann Althouse said...
If something is a problem when black co-workers are in the room, it's a problem when they are not in the room. The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem.
Presentation of an objective observation in a scientific environment is not racist. Avoiding reality to be politically correct is racist...
@Althouse "If something is a problem when black co-workers are in the room, it's a problem when they are not in the room. The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem."
This played on our loudspeakers this morning as well. After fifty repetitions it stopped and the anthem played again.
I am sorry that the Iranian doctor has not been successfully trained before being allowed to work.
Mrs. Obama does, indeed, have a gigantic ass but she dresses well and in a way that draws attention to her arms and shoulders and away from her gigantic ass.
I believe she is aware of this issue and thus is guilty of wearing sleeveless dresses at inappropriate times. Not in the evening gown, the Vera Wang evening gown, however since it is perfectly appropriate for the occasion.
Michelle Obama's dress and hairstyle would have fit in at any high school prom. She often confuses "sexy" with "classy". An evening out with Beyonce calls for "sexy". A state dinner calls for "classy". It's not that she doesn't look good in the black Vera Wang. It's just not the right choice for the event. From dressing inappropriately on many occasions to giving inappropriate gifts, the Obamas repeatedly show they lack top drawer social skills. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough self-awareness to hire someone to advise them in that arena. But then nobody knows more about anything than Obama does as he has told us many times.
I really struggle to decide when Smiley is most adorable and charming. Is it when he's creating strawmen? Is it when he closes the WWII Memorial to WWII vets? Bald faces lies can be very becoming, just ask all the women who love Bubba Bill. I'm sure that all the vets adore the hero status achieved by Bowe. Giving Iraq to ISIS and Syria to Putin is certainly on the list for charming achievements. The "Death to America" crowd find him irresistible, especially when Mama Michelle playfully adjusts his tie. How freaking cute is that?
Estrogen must be a bitch!
All this talk of The First Lady and her ass reeks of "white privilege."
Obama is everyone's head (everyone here) the way Sarah Palin was in liberals heads in '08.
There is no political or policy significance of a dress ( except for maybe a blue one.)
OK, I looked at the linked pictures of the guests. What is up with Tim Cook having a woman as his date? What the bloodly hell kind of homosexual CEO braveheart is that?
"the way Sarah Palin was in liberals heads in '08. "
Sarah was not president and destroying the country.
Slight difference.
The Obamas consciously copied the Kennedys from the beginning.
Michelle has what the black players on the basketball team I used to coach a big, "country butt"--a physical trait impossible to hide in any sort of attire. And her face and wiry hair? Just watch any hip-hop video and see if she'd fit in. Even by black standards of beauty she's a dog..
And why the fascination with Eastern European models? Because they don't feel compelled to apologize for their whiteness nor have any desire to ape the hip-hop crowds fashion sense..
Michelle looks good and Obama is the most fab president. You can hate him and all his policies but he is hot.
Deal with it pubes.
Vincent: "Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?"
Jules: "I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they're definitely dirty. But a dog has personality. Personality goes a long way."
Althouse was afraid to add the "Obama the boyfriend" tag to this.
A little makeup goes a long way; a make over makes others gasp you are beautiful.
And she has come a long way!
Why would someone feel the need to make a straw man comparison like that in the first place? It screams with insecurity.
"Even by black standards of beauty she's a dog.."
I was just in Europe and saw a lot of very attractive black women, many with white husbands or boyfriends.
I wonder if the part of Africa the ancestors came from has anything to do with it ?
Somali and Eritrean woman are beautiful.
I'm with Titus. The Obamas are both beautiful to look at. I don't like their attitudes, but history will smile on the way they looked.
Michelle has always been just a "tower of glower." That's her look; that's her demeanor. That's probably a majority opinion. Deal with it Althouse.
"What is up with Tim Cook having a woman as his date? What the bloodly hell kind of homosexual CEO braveheart is that?"
Maybe she was a trannie.
Remember the guy in "The Crying Game?"
She has come a long way
Michael K said...
Somali and Eritrean woman are beautiful.
The impact of 4,000 years of Arab DNA on those facial features.
Michelle Obama is the closest one can get to fucking Charles Barkley without actually fucking Charles Barkley.
I am Laslo.
I think most people react to the fake story made up by the media about her. She should have been left to her own devices instead of the media trying very hard to make her out to be some beautiful, classy woman (which she is not) or fashion expert (which she not) and on and on.
He is a hustler and hustlers are charming -- how else can an incompetent person without accomplishments who had trouble holding a real job in life could find himself in the WH?
Ok, I was hooked into viewing the slideshow to see who Tim Cook brought. Not an attractive crowd. The Obamas are def the best looking there, and I'm including Larry Ellison's *cough* "model" gf.
"The impact of 4,000 years of Arab DNA on those facial features."
I'm sure that is true although they are still black. I had an Eritrean medical student who was very pretty and she was lighter in complexion. Hirsi Ali is black and beautiful.
I've been reading her book, "Infidel."
There do seem to be Arab features there.
"And it's true (Deal with it!): The man is the most charming person to arrive on the national stage since JFK"
In connection with other post: Sure, O is the greatest liar to come around, but with enablers like this, he doesn't even have to be especially great. When the con has penetrated the mark, he can rest easy.
Jack Kennedy was very obviously an intelligent, cultured and witty man.
Obama is NONE of those.
Compare Jackie with the steatopygous Michelle. I dare you.
I could not care any less about the physical features of the Obamas, McConnell, Boehner or Trump. I do not care that FDR used a wheelchair.
I care how much any of that group would diminish my freedom and grow the government. But do go on with the fiddling. It makes the flames more tolerable.
Birkel, you are right to a large extent. For people like Althouse who are not adversely affected by their choice, it is all about vanity and branding. He has degrees from big schools, he is charming, he is black, ... on an on.
The dress is hip hugging and then flares out, sort of like a mermaid costume. Jackie’s style was elegent. This looks really cheap.
Mz. Obama is NOT a "Lady". She is a "kept woman" charging her imperial life-style to the citizens of the USA>
pm317,
I am not adversely affected either. But I care for freedom, the rule of law and the many wonderful things American society has made possible.
I am not so selfish as to narrowly focus on personal benefits. I leave it to the discerning reader to notice my implication(s).
Birkel, you are adversely affected from the get go because he was a Democrat, (I am assuming you are a R but if you are independent like me, my apologies). But I get what you are saying.
This is a link showing, not telling, how charming Obama is.
And of course Reagan had much more charm and charisma than Obama, just please taste the pudding I beg of you.
World stage.
National stage.
Reagan wins (49 states).
How many people who know Obama and Biden well would say Obama is more charming?
Freedom and the rule of law are Republican and not Democrat values? Who knew?
One of the most beautiful women I've ever seen was a middle-aged Ethiopian lady at a Safeway in Berkeley. She wore a white sari-like garment and a cross tattoo on her forehead. Had high cheekbones and an Audrey Hepburn neck.
Michelle Obama is no Jackie O in the looks department. Sorry.
But even if she were, this is yet more of the same double standard. When it was Ann Romney wearing expensive clothes, the libs were talking about how she wore expensive outfits.
Also, isn't this new pope essentially a Marxist? Why trot out a three thousand dollar dress to appeal to someone who has issues with income inequality and the modernity of air conditioning.
Did he call her out on her ostentation?
Dresses are very important to women. We should give them the vote someday.
Hey, that's not charming! At all!
"If something is a problem when black co-workers are in the room, it's a problem when they are not in the room. The idea that's it's not a problem when they are not in the room is a separate problem."
Maybe the problem is not the something in question but the black people in the room. Maybe they are the problem.
"Always let the wookie win".
-Han Solo
Jack Kennedy was very obviously an intelligent, cultured and witty man.
Where I come from we'd say that the Kennedy boys and their father (especially him) were shanty Irish trash, but with a lot of money.
But then, my family had lace curtain pretensions. As did the Kennedys.
And we'd also say that the only difference between shanty irish and lace curtain irish is that the lace curtain Irish take the dishes out of the sink before they piss in it.
Some women can pull off the State dinner pantsuit. Sonia Sotamayor is not one of them. Eww. Wendy Poulson too. I'm sure someone there was angry about her cultural appropriation.
I do like Lee Daniels' mother's dress.
Didn't care for Mark Zuckerberg's wife's dress. It just made her look fat, not pregnant.
Michelle does look good. But the Chinese First Lady looks better. What a fantastic dress!
"Mrs. Obama does, indeed, have a gigantic ass"..........
You mean Mr Obama.?
"Very classy lady" is one of those phrases that means the opposite of what the person saying it thinks that it means
MO's ass looked really large from the side. I don't find that personally appealing for a state dinner.
In the pictures from the welcoming ceremony from last China visit she is wearing those god awful red gloves. She looks like she belongs on the new show Scream Queens with those things. They are awful.
And oh, Obama is as charming as John Gotti was charming. If Obama could legitimately put out a hit on you when you disagreed with him, he'd do it.
We will see how charming he appears when the jihadi he created are waging internal war in Europe, soon.
That you disapprove of the Obama form of government does not make it proper to make disparaging remarks about his wife's appearance.
Pres Obama is more charming than Pres (Bill) Clinton? That's hard to swallow, if you'll excuse the phrase.
I though Mrs. Obama looked ok, but the dress itself is a little prom-ish for me. Certainly not iconic in a Jackie O. way, but you'd have to be delusional to even make that comparison.
Michelle is well dressed rather than stylish. I suppose you can make the same comment about Nancy Reagan. And Nancy was cursed with a skinny ass which, in many ways, is less attractive than a fat ass--although it's easier to wear couture clothes with a skinny ass. I also think it's difficult for a woman to turn down the chance to wear lots and lots of expensive clothes. Michelle is no worse than Nancy. ..Lots of catty comments here. It's hard to maintain balance and integrity when discussing the fashion choices of First Ladies.......The Obama kids could probably wear expensive clothes and stick the landing. So there, I said something nice about the Obama family.......Jackie was legimately stylish, but she was the one who started all this couture First Lady crap. You never saw Bess Truman or Mamie Eisenhower preening around, and, thank God, Eleanor Roosevelt kept herself completely covered......Laura Bush was the most attractive First Lady of my lifetime.
Misty Copeland looks great-very toned and her dress' proportions are perfect. It's a great print, too--sophisticated but not boring.
Nancy Kissinger's dress collar looked like Spock's from one of the Star Trek movies.
Alice Albright looks a lot like her mother.
Justice Sotomayor looks, in the picture like she's wearing some sort of formal jogging suit.
The length and waistline on Samantha Powers' dress are wrong (the waist bunching isn't great) but the color is nice.
Wasserman-Shultz's dress is good but her husband looks like he's wearing the tux I rented for prom in 1999.
Emily Corker's hair is nice and I like her dress' cut and color, but satin wrinkles quickly.
Larry Ellison's face looks waxen in the picture, but his date does look good (skinny, though).
Wendy Paulson's blouse is right up on the Chinese costume-y line, no?
Is Senator Feinstein's outfit crimson velvet??
Pres. Obama has a nice tux and it fits him well; his pants are a little wrinkly, but Jinping is wrinkly all over (long car ride, maybe).
Mrs. Jinping looks good, formal but comfortable. Mrs. Obama's hair is well done.
"Michelle Obama outshines her easily."
Surely you are talking about the glare on her nose!
"The man is the most charming person to arrive on the national stage since JFK."
Well..he got your vote. Also has those famously creased pants..and that pre-emptive Nobel.
Michelle looks great in black, although that flounce was a bit much. She certainly is huge around the hips, but the dress pretty effectively disguised that. The McQueen dress of 2011 was awful. It looked as though it was made out of the drapes, like Scarlett O'Hara's dress in "Gone With the Wind"--except that Tara obviously had better drapes than the White House.
The dresser who stole the show, though, was Barack Obama. That tux fits like a dream!
Every man should own a great tux.
The two Obama daughters always look nice. They always look like young ladies.
Barack charming? The most petulant, thin-skinned, hate-filled, mean-spirited president in decades is charming? Charming?! Talk about bleeding credibility. Wow.
Surely she meant harming and mistakenly struck the 'c' key.
One of the few benefits to hope for from a female president is a little sunshine on the ridiculous tradition of the "1st lady"..a dysfunctional hangover and abuse of power from the days of monarchy. Time to put it down.
The only positive thing about modern fashion is that they can put lipstick in sufficient quantities on a pig and make her semi-presentable.
Still you could set a whole table on her backside and no amount of couture can hide it. Then there's the infinite hostility she projects.
Hirsi Ali is black and beautiful.
I'll gladly take your medical advice, Doc....but please don't set me up with a blind date.
Hagar wrote:
That you disapprove of the Obama form of government does not make it proper to make disparaging remarks about his wife's appearance.
Oh come on. The post was about a fawning opinion about the First Lady's appearance from first class psycophant. Appearance and beauty are obviously subjective. Givhan can tell us a her opinion a thousand times -- it still doesn't make it true. Same with my opinion -- ignore it if you like. I happen to think I'm in a majority so there's that.
Let's Move
"Five years ago people looked at me like I was crazy because they said it wasn't an issue," she said. "That childhood obesity wasn't an issue in this country."
Really Michelle? You discovered this issue?
Michelle looks fabulous and I don't say that often. For one thing, the gown actually fits and flatters her. She should always let Vera Wang dress her. The first lady of China looks lovely, too. Her gown is exquisite. There were far too many ladies in the slide show who obviously have no clue what works/doesn't work for them. And aren't the Zuckerberg's a lovely couple. Gad.
The fawning over Michelle's looks and style is just embarrassing , and liberals don't realize it. The soft bigotry of low expectations. I think she looks awful, as always. her clothes are always inappropriate for a woman her age and size, and her hair looks awful here. Why would she be trying to look sexy, for a state dinner?
The man is the most charming person to arrive on the national stage since JFK.
WTH?
Have you actually met the man?
I work with someone who has. A person who was Bill Clinton's guest at an Obama fundraiser in Los Angeles during the 2008 run.
"He's a cold fish." Exact quote - and went on to elaborate.
This guy still thinks Bill Clinton is Mr. Charm himself, but Obama? He found the man unworthy of the Presidency in 08 and his whole family turned their back on King Barry in 12.
Try this Ann. Is she prettier than YOU? Does she dress better than YOU?
Would you wear what she wears?
The things you see when you don't have a grenade.
Someone has to invest a lot of their own delusions into Barack Obama to find him charming. Says a lot more about the observer than about Barack.
Well, Michelle has Bitchy Resting Face going for her, which Jackie O lacked.
Did Robin Givhan give a disclaimer where she states she was a classmate at Princeton with Mooch and that she's a democrat shill?
What if I'm a robot, should I still check the box that states that I'm not?
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