Is it really okay to use one woman's looks to put down the other woman standing right next to her? Because there are lots of other ways to play that humor-writing game:
Let me make a neutral, moderate, non-humorous observation. This is a very striking case of comparative size. It's sort of mind boggling. Which one is making the other look much smaller/bigger than we remember her? Or are they both doing it to the other.
And those are some strange never-ending boots Michelle is wearing. I think the women coordinated their outfits and had an idea of dousing themselves in glitter for the holidays.
Obama’s dress is from the brand’s spring 2019 collection. The boots are from spring 2018. Both are very, very expensive. Together, they represent the transformation of Balenciaga, a storied Paris-based fashion house....Very, very expensive? I guess I have to look it up myself, but with the 2 "very"s, I'm expecting something like $50,000. Oh, they're only $4,000. Cheap! They're just some metallic stretch-fabric, right? It's flashy, but a less expensive material and easier to sew and fit than leather. And $4,000 is only slightly more than the highest-priced ticket to her show ($3,000).
Was the ensemble appropriate? Sure. Obama’s book tour is the equivalent of a literary rock concert....I'm trying to think what kind of rock star would wear boots like that. I thought of KISS.
Whether the ensemble is flattering is beside the point. Taste is subjective, and what might be one person’s glamazon coup is another’s ostentatious faux pas....And that's how you say something without saying it and really, really say it. I used 2 "really"s so you'll feel what I'm saying.
Remember when we talked about Hillary's shoes? That was in April 2017:
Was she like an elfin wallflower in an eggplant-colored sequined dress?
ADDED: I thought Tom and Lorenzo (my favorite fashion bloggers) would track Robin Givhan and say Michelle Obama can do anything she wants, but I was wrong:
[T]he boots are fierce.... But that horrible choir robe is quite frankly one of the worst things she has ever worn. The color is harsh and unflattering, the satin is unforgiving, and the shape and design of it completely distorts her body... Just look at her body language. Any time a non-pregnant woman spends that much time and energy touching and covering her mid-section, it’s a dead giveaway that she’s not feeling comfortable in her garment....They love SJP's look.
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We are not supposed to focus and comment on their looks and clothing choices, except when we are. I'm deploying the precautionary principle and withholding comment, always.
The boots look like Senkos. The bass love ‘em.
Statuesque women are hard to find.
I mean it’s almost like having a fashion model in the White House.
Michelle looked like those all-neon uniforms the Seattle Seahawks wore a few week ago. Statuesque? Nah, linebacker or fullback.
Michelle is simpatico with the French yellow vests.
That entire event - from the ticket prices to the clothes - just shows how out of touch the elites are from us Deplorables.
And who is reading her book? Why? What could she say? I won the diversity lottery and then married an employee I supervised.
Ghivan is trying to preempt the well deserved mocking.
I need to watch the Victorias Secret fashion show to reset my burnt retinas.
I kept waiting for her to remove her dressing gown and show us the dress underneath.
arabesque
burlesque
grotesque
Kafkaesque
picturesque
...in a 5lb bag, as it were.
Remember when we had a beautiful, fashionable, feminine first lady. They called her the most beautiful woman in the world. And they were right.
I miss her.
Statuesque. Dictator hailing a John.
At that price, you would think she could find a dress that fits.
She's a giantess. A yellow giantess. I'm scared.
There is an elephant in the room.
According to Google, Michelle Obama is 5'11" and Sarah Jessica Parker is 5'3".
There's also a striking difference in body mass.
Michelle Obama made me think of the Statue of Liberty in that outfit, looming so large as she did. She also seemed ungainly. It wasn't a good moment for her.
As for Hillary, she looks like a wooden marionette wearing a dirty oven mitt.
She looks like a heifer.
A giant yellow heifer.
Wow, that's an aggressive yellow
When you're the most beautiful woman in the world, you can get away with anything.
I saw a brief clip from the interview where Mrs. Obama referred to her husband (during his presidency) as "our commander in chief."
FUCK NO. The president is not (and is never) the commander in chief of any U.S. citizen. He is only the commander in chief of the armed forces, and only when they are deployed for military action, (which, granted, has been nearly more often than not in U.S. history).
The entire contents of my closets and bureaus does not amount to $4,000 worth of clothing.
"Remember when we had a beautiful, fashionable, feminine first lady. They called her the most beautiful woman in the world. And they were right.
"I miss her."
Who are you referring to? Jackie O? Certainly no one before or after her. What do you mean by "feminine?" In looks, in deportment, in dress?
I do not like this current practice of our national celebrities, whether "royals" or presidential family members of whatever nation, acting as fashion models. It is beneath the dignity of their nations.
Eggplant doesn't work for Hillary. She would look better in orange.
I consider $400 for a new suit to be a huge price tag.
What could justify the expenditure of $4,000 for an piece of clothing?
Isn't Michele constant lecturing us about our obligations to the poor? How do you justify blowing this kind of cash when you could be donating that money to charity?
Is it really okay to use one woman's looks to put down the other woman standing right next to her?
Nowadays one might get the idea that it's de rigueur for a black writer to put down white people, even white people of gender.
"Who are you referring to? Jackie O? Certainly no one before or after her. What do you mean by "feminine?" In looks, in deportment, in dress?"
I thought it was a wry comment about Melania Trump — with the surrealism of imagining being in the future.
Jackie O seems like the right answer.
But if you use the words generously, all the first ladies are beautiful, fashionable, and feminine. I think it's hard to be the most beautiful and fashionable if you are too far along toward feminine. But who's the most feminine first lady of the last 100 years? Rosalynn Carter?
During Barack Obama’s eight-year tenure, Michelle Obama graced a total of 12 magazine covers. In addition to appearing on the cover of famous fashion mag Vogue three times, she’s also advocated national interest issues in two Essence magazine features, twice for Time magazine and Glamour magazine, and once for Redbook, Instyle and Radar.
Since becoming First Lady, former fashion model Melania Trump has been on a total of....0.
Sorry, but Michelle has no class. Whatsoever.
"But who's the most feminine first lady of the last 100 years? Rosalynn Carter?"
Huh? This is very simple: the First Lady who was actually a, you know, fashion model, Melania Trump.
Obama carries herself like she is ashamed of her size. No idea about why she was grasping her belly. She needs to throw her shoulders back and keep her chin up. She could watch a few minutes of video of our current FLOTUS. She knows how to carry herself.
Looks like Michelle got tagged as a porch pirate.
"What could justify the expenditure of $4,000 for an piece of clothing?"
An income in excess of 10 times yours and mine.
Melania represents an internationally recognized form of feminine beauty. Just not by Cookie...
Let’s talk Flotus with fuckable days left while in office- the recent two hotties, then ya gotta go back far. Lucretia Garfield? Priscilla Tyler definitely, though that’s kind of a cheat..
Statuesque in the sense that she could stand in for a caryatid.
An income in excess of 10 times yours and mine.
My ex-girlfriend and her female family members were obsessed with buying incredibly expensive handbags with designer labels.
I guess it was worth it to them in terms of status signaling. The bags looked no different to me than the usual $50 piece of shit most women carry.
In this case, Ms. Obama has managed to make herself look many times less attractive by spending a fortune.
At least their contracts with the fashion houses should contain a standard clause of absolute right of prior view and refusal to wear any particular item!
That dress did not fit on Michelle and she was cowering like that because she was afraid it would come apart and reveal more of her than seemly - even in today's world.
Tom and Lorenzo are brave people!
I had to look up "caryatid". HA! Yes!
Tank knows zero about fashion. That being said, what an awful outfit. It looks like pajamas, or like she wrapped a curtain around herself. Is it possible she looked in the full lengthmirror and said to herself, "Ah, this is good." Shouldn't someone, her mother, assistant, makeup person, have said, wait a minute …? Or as your Mom/Wife might have said, "you're wearing that?"
Is Obama's chair higher/larger than Parker's or just appear that way dues to the camera angle?
New meaning to the term 'clothes horse'.
or like she wrapped a curtain around herself.
That gown? She saw it in the window and couldn’t resist.
I say this kindly-she's a horrid beast. A shaved Wookie, a pre-prosthetics Klingon. Lawrence Taylor's nightmare, a pig with untold myriads of dollars in lipstick.
That was kind. What is unkind, is to thrust her into the spotlight and play her up as a beauty and fashion icon. To make people look at her, and to make her be looked at. Who has been a LESS attractive FLOTUS, or even on a level with her, since Eleanor Roosevelt?
It's a grievous burden to place on her. Leave her alone. Don't these people realize how lucky they were? Haven't they the sense to crawl off into the darkness where they'll be safe?
HRC is of course a joke.
Can you imagine what Michelle would look like if she wore a Crooked Hillary jacket that looked like an oven mitt?
[Typo correction]
That must be what happens when Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, "recycles" an old dress from time to time. The fashion house came up with an outfit she did not like, so she reached into her own closet for something to wear for that occasion.
"I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."
Such as when you don't have to fret about spending $4000 on, just, a portion of that outfit.
$4000 Cheap?
For horribly fugly impractical one time wear glittery boot onsies?!?
$4000. Have some perspective. In my world: $4000 can buy me.
4 months mortgage payment (including property taxes and insurance)
Utility bills for a year and a half. More if I bundle up in the winter. NOT in boots like those :-D
Groceries for a year or MORE...
Gasoline in my personal car for non business use (gets 40mpg) for 3 to 4 years (until CalifornicateU raises the gas prices more...currently hovering at $4 a gallon for regular)
My entire clothing budget for 10 years! (yeah I don't buy much and when I do it is walking shoes and REAL boots)
Medical insurance, Medicine, CoPays piffle who needs those....get BOOTS!!!
Nice that Michelle can throw away money that many people would love to have to just be able to LIVE.
Also....That is a MAN, baby!
She isn't unattractive, she's just not the beauty that the left wants her to be. But they can't stop themselves from projecting perfection onto the Obamas, or from projecting deplorableosity onto all things right.
"$4000 Cheap?
For horribly fugly impractical one time wear glittery boot onsies?!?"
Maybe she scored 'em on Black Friday.
"She looks like a heifer."
"A giant yellow heifer."
Someone had to say it. I think that a lot of us thought it. Which you can't say in public, because you can't mention in public that she really probably is the ugliest FLOTUS that we have had since, maybe, FDR's wife. Political correctness says that we shouldn't look at women that way. Sorry. I am white and male. And, I don't think that she is much better inside, again, despite what our betters tell us.
Again, I keep bringing this up. They treat Michelle Obama as a stunning- stop the world- beauty. As someone who can wear anything and we'll just swoon upon seeing her and it. I've never understood that.
Melania is an actual world-class model with world class beauty and if they speak of her at all its in disgust about her hat, or her just not being acceptable in any manner. IF they speak of her at all.
I'm sure Michelle Obama is a fine person. But she walks like a linebacker, and has the stern look of a housemother just seconds from scolding someone. Only a few times have I seen a smile from her that seemed full, genuine. I'm sure she's smart. I'm sure she's nice. But this is not a fashion icon. WaPo, just stop it...stop it.
Those colors are so obviously coordinated between the dresses that anyone who couldn't see it should not be writing about fashion.
I love short chicks, it the great shoes they wear.
I think the women coordinated their outfits and had an idea of dousing themselves in glitter for the holidays.
In addition to being doused in glitter, did they smell like farts? If so, that might be a clue as to what the Obamas have been up to since leaving the Oval Office.
Former FLOTUS has no clothes.
$4000 is cheap when your boss doubles your salary after your Senator husband gets the place you work 7 figure earmark money.
For $4000, I can buy 100 Berne coveralls. I just bought 2 this morning. No sense in getting carried away. Women like the looks of a man in coveralls. They think you'll be able to fix their car.
"But if you use the words generously, all the first ladies are beautiful, fashionable, and feminine."
On the other hand, if you use the words precisely they're not all beautiful.
I thought this blog was into precision. I should have known: when "women's bodies" are at issue, higher standards prevail. My bad.
"I think it's hard to be the most beautiful and fashionable if you are too far along toward feminine."
Huh. Learn something every day.
"But who's the most feminine first lady of the last 100 years? Rosalynn Carter?"
Good one!
Anyway, I didn't realize we could still use "statuesque" without being accused of sexism. Or is it only the S-word, OK for black women to use when talking about other black women?
I was thinking the other day that I couldn't figure out what to do with a lot more money in my pocket. There are, of course, people with a lot more money in theirs. So, what do they do with it? Except, of course, try to destroy Trump. But other than that? I don't need any more clothes, probably for the rest of my life. And, if I did, I surely wouldn't pay that sort of money for it. I tried to talk my partner into a bigger house in MT, but then someone would have to clean it, and we wouldn't use the extra size, so why bother?
Blowing that much money on ugly clothes means that she just has more money than she really knows what to do with (or people still think that they can sell their horrid clothes by making her look like she has more money than she knows what to do with). Fashion like this is status signalling. Nothing more.
I was thinking this yesterday when I was in the jewelry store picking up a ring for Christmas. Just as a lark, I looked at their mens' watches. Interestingly, they had a lot more mens' watches out than womens'. And, they all seemed so stupid - most of them had a bunch of dials and features that I would never use. If I do replace this watch, it will be more on the line of a $300 Apple Watch. I could talk on it, or read the text messages for my security system. Which is a lot more pragmatic than instantly discerning the phases of the moon, etc. Again, it is status signalling. We are supposed to ooh and ahh about how much someone spent on their watch with a bunch of features and dials that they never use. Of course, women are the sex who insist on spending the most to status signal. It is, to some extent, how they compete. "Look! My mate can afford to clothe me in more expensive things than your mate can!!!" And, yes, if anyone ever saw Michelle out in public in an outfit like that, that is what they would think - this woman has a lot more money than fashion sense.
"If I do replace this watch, it will be more on the line of a $300 Apple Watch. I could talk on it, or read the text messages for my security system. Which is a lot more pragmatic than instantly discerning the phases of the moon, etc.'
I was wondering there why anyone would want that feature. Maybe a vampire? Probably more werewolves. Maybe that is how werewolves signal to each other their status.
That yellow dress looked like curtains.
This just proves the old adage that women don't dress for men. So what kind of woman looks admiringly at Michelle O's choices?
The Hunger Games.
"I was wondering there why anyone would want that feature."
Are you kidding? Amateur astronomers. Though I pretty much know what it is at any given time anyway.
AllenS
At that price they won't be insulated.
Choir robe. Spot on.
At some point, your money owns you if you're not extremely jealous of your time and freedom.
I love short chicks, [&] the great shoes they wear.
Even since I grew tallish, I can recall being envious of short chicks. They can wear cute clothes and really cute high heals. If I wear high heals, say anything over 2", I feel like Big Bird. I feel too conspicuous. I'm happy with my height at 5' 8 1/2" tall, but occasionally I still feel that pang of envy when I see a cute short chick in cute high heals.
Mrs. Obama looks like Big Bird. Not a good look, mmmkay?
I think Sarah is so short she's had to fuse Manolo Blahniks to her feet.
@Bruce
Some fishermen think that is important.
4000 is a lot of money for most people. I can think of a ton of ways to spend it.
Do the Obama's give to charity? or are they going down the Clinton Foundation path where money will be laundered to pay the "employees" of the foundation mega buck first?
It's the RuPaul look.
Maybe the press is like a colony of mole rats?
Imagine though, how you would feel if pretty much what you did was be married to someone and then you get all this adoration. I think that gives you the confidence to wear whatever you want, because people are coming to hear you talk about yourself and your thoughts for kind of no reason.
M.O. looked acutely uncomfortable in that video clip. And in that dress.
When did Michelle ever not wear exactly what she wanted? The gaudy, tasteless outfits she wore on State visits were cringe-inducing-- she looked like an Illinois hausfrau on her first trip to Disneyland (which, in a sense, she was).
Those gold boots make her look like a high-priced hooker.
Totally agree with AllenS on this. If she lacked the tan, and were married to a Republican, there would be no end to the mockery.
What weight is she fighting at?
Mrs. Obama’s dress looks like the time Christo put yellow fabric on the sidewalks of Loose Park in Kansas City. The difference is that he made the sidewalks look sleek and beautiful.
""Michelle Obama can wear whatever she wants now. What she wants is sparkly thigh-high boots" (WaPo)."
Yeah, as long as she's wearing a jock.
Can't she afford someone to be around her who will say, "No! Just no!"
There must be some kickback from the fashion house when she wears these godawful things...
rehajm said...
"That gown? She saw it in the window and couldn’t resist."
I see what you did there. One of the best comedy skit lines of all time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Went_with_the_Wind!
My God! Early morning post? What kind of cruel sadist are you Althouse?
It took balls to wear that.
Oh thank goodness T&L told the truth on that outfit. I can't believe anyone could think she looked good. Awful. Awful. Awful.
Melania's white glitter gown at one of the White House Christmas parties was truly stunning.....
More Melania, much, much less Michelle.
I agree with T&L’s assessment. In their photos, she is clutching in a way that made me think she was afraid the dress would fall open. Not a good look. It’s actually better in the video than still photos. And SJP looks great...less crazy than she often looks. Givhan is mean girl as usual - can’t approve one woman without tearing down the other.
Don’t kid yourselves. Michelle didn’t buy anything. Balenciaga likely either just gave her the clothes or paid her to wear them.
Never a good idea to let the outfit wear you.
Given the absurd, over-the-top audience reaction, despite the hideous get-up, does anyone doubt that she will be the 2020 Dem nominee?
No one has ever applied the term "elfin" to Hillary. If we are confined to Middle Earth populations, "Dwarvish" could fit.
Gnomish.
This is a perfect example of the Left/MSM gaslighting the nation. M.O. is not any kind of icon or style or fashion. She's ungainly, clumsy-looking and carries herself terribly. She also has terrible fashion sense.
Rory, she got out of the fight game years ago. It was right after she KO'ed her future husband in the first round.
Still trying to force us to think the big ugly beast is beautiful graceful and elegant.
Why does Michelle Obama look like she was dressed by her political opponents?
MMmmm. With her personality, Orkish.
Ladies if your not the most glamorous woman in the room don't try and compete with the most glamorous woman in the room even if she isn't there.
MO just looked silly.
DBQ > <
U
The adulation for everything Mobama is Trumpian
"Melania represents an internationally recognized form of feminine beauty. Just not by Cookie...."
True. I recognize that she fits a certain "glam" idea of beauty, but she is not attractive at all to me. For one, she's too squinty-eyed. For another, I've always hated the glam look, obvious make-up, high heels, etc.
Re the size difference between the 2 women - I think it was more noticeable bc SJP appeared first and we perceived her as 'normal.' When MO appeared the difference was shocking. Not sure if that would have happened if the roles were reversed.
But the yellow dress and boots were horrible. I can't imagine who thought it was a good look for her.
This has been a great comment thread. Brightens my day. Keep up the good work!
BTW, Mrs. Phidippus agrees with my appraisal.
Michelle's okay. It's the adulation that she receives which I find creepy.......She's a rich woman. Rich women get to indulge in exaggerated fashions. Rich men get gout, and rich women wear stupid clothes........I don't think the other First Ladies of this country and the world want to appear in pictures next to Melania. Melania photographs well and wears beautiful clothes. I bet the other First Ladies couldn't wait to be photographed greeting Mamie Eisenhower.
I thought Michelle Obama looked like a big yellow school bus. But what really bothers me is her continually attacking Melania Trump in public forums. So undignified.
Mrs. Obama should fire the person advising her on fashion. They aren't doing her any favors. The choices leave one wondering if her fashion advisors are being passive-aggressive.
Can you say "ridiculous"? She and her fans have become some kind of weird cult - but that's what Lady Gaga is for. At long last have you no dignity?
For one, she's too squinty-eyed.
Aha! Cookie airs his anti-Slavic bigotry. Hitler didn't like the Slavs, either. ;-)
Yuck. Just yuck.
I'd say she looks like a two-bit hooker, but those boots cost considerably more than two bits.
I'm sure Michelle Obama is a fine person.
I think she's a miserable scold and just as insufferable as her prick of a husband.
I'd say she looks like a two-bit hooker...
The kind of hooker that hangs out in certain parts of SF.
She's kinda small for a wookie, Lieutenant.
She's just horrible in every way, but she'd make a terrific opponent for Trump to defeat in 2020. I hope she gets beyond the money grubbing phase and becomes one of the dozen or so Dem candidates. She could use a little humility.
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