Michelle Obama: America's next fashion icon

By: Amanda Jean Boyle

Posted: 11/20/08

Rumor has it that Michelle Obama will be featured on the cover of Vogue this coming March. Some other recent announcements for upcoming cover girls have raised many a well-groomed eyebrow. Jennifer Aniston for December? Blake Lively for February? Are these women really that important to fashion?

I can see a sliver of an argument for Lively, whose character Serena on Gossip Girl asserts an influence on teenagers, but that would be more of a reason to put her on Teen Vogue. And Aniston? Does anyone even remember what she looks like?

I personally would love it if Vogue and other supposedly high-fashion magazines shot only models and other people that actually matter in the fashion world for their covers.

I dream of the day when designers are featured regularly on the covers of glossies - just imagine how gorgeous Diane von Furstenberg, Vivienne Westwood or Rei Kawakubo would look, all done up and photographed by Irving Penn for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

And if it has to be a celebrity, at least have it be someone still relevant, like Mary-Kate Olsen, who is both a designer (albeit a neophyte in comparison to the ladies listed above) and a highly influential figure on high fashion and street fashion.

Michelle Obama, though, is a cover girl (well, woman) worthy of Vogue. The fashion world fell in love with the Obamas these past few months, just like the majority of Americans. Several topnotch designers - Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez - produced Obama-themed clothing and accessories for the soon to be 44th President's official Web site, and then days before the election, Posen posted a video online encouraging people to "dress up and make history" while sporting the most fashionable assemble of political pins ever.

Now, I'll concede that a lot of this love is Barack-induced, but Michelle Obama will be the first First Lady to garner garment buzz since Jacqueline Kennedy.

Jackie Kennedy is a timeless American fashion icon. In 2008, the politician's wife tagged as "the next Jackie O." (at least according to Vanity Fair) was Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the First Lady of France.

Now, it's very interesting in the world of fashion to see a French woman being tentatively labeled as a predecessor to an American woman, but I definitely disagree. Bruni-Sarkozy is beautiful, and that is what she will be remembered for: her face, not her clothes. She dresses well, but nothing that I find worthy of history. The purple Dior dress suit was of note, but the shape of it was Jackie-inspired and it has been more noticed as Dior, not as something that Bruni-Sarkozy wore.

Obama will probably not be the next Jackie O. either. She has been applauded for wearing Thakoon and has brought the Chicago-based designer Maria Pinto into the fashion spotlight. I love that she wears flats. I love that she is showing hometown pride with Pinto. She has her own style. She certainly wears the traditional pearls of the President's wife, but she also wears bright colors and pieces with interesting tailoring, like flared sleeves on a black jacket.

Jackie O.'s icon status is safe, but Michelle O. will be significant too, and Vogue knows it. Times are hard, even for the fashion world (Harper's Bazaar featured two Banana Republic pieces in their December issue). Anna Wintour and her team at Vogue need to think about selling magazines, and popular actresses like Blake Lively will get the job done.

Michelle Obama is a popular figure who will sell magazines, but she is also fashionably relevant. There are a lot of important and exciting American designers that support her: Jacobs, Posen, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, the team behind Proenza Schouler and the sisters that make up Rodarte, for a short list.

There hasn't been one woman who wholly represents a fashionable American in years. Michelle Obama is shaping up to be such a woman.

The excitement and fervor that Barack Obama's run and subsequent win created in the country as a whole has already inspired American designers, and hopefully will continue to do so, honing collections of clothing that continue to bring American fashion in new and exciting directions, adding to the Americana fashion canon.