14 DAY TRIAL // Shortly after the Presidential elections, Michelle Obama was crowned by the fashion industry as the First Lady of Fashion, albeit major designers would still have liked to argue on whether she did not need more time to prove she really did deserve that title. Now, following her visit to the UK, where she also met the Queen, the same designers are saying Michelle’s style has taken a turn for the worse in what is labeled a “sweatergate 2009.”
Michelle Obama wore a black plain sweater, matched with a white top, white pearls and a black skirt, when meeting the Queen of England. While, on any other occasion, this choice of attire would have gone unnoticed, it has managed to cause quite a drama in the fashion world, with major designers saying it was about time the First Lady ditched the affordable look and went for something more classy and stylish as a couture piece.
What the First Lady of the US wears – and, most importantly, what she does not wear – is of vital importance for the fashion industry, since she literally has the power to take a certain brand and turn it into gold. This is why big names like Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and Donna Karan are all up in arms, asking Michelle to choose one of their creations as well, since they collectively employ thousands and their business would receive a much needed boost.
“Obama continues to show zero interest in the big guns of American fashion, those whose names resonate around the world, and who collectively employ thousands of people. […] Like the auto and financial industries, fashion is in crisis. Yet the person in the administration best positioned to support its major players – those whose collective vicissitudes play into the economy in a considerable way and whose individual swings of fortune impact the lives of countless working people up and down the supply chain and their families – is giving them the cold shoulder.” WWD Fashion tells about Michelle’s choice of ignoring big brands.
The sweater the First Lady wore when meeting the Queen thus becomes more than just a statement that she won’t have nothing to do with established names – it becomes a poor fashion choice, a genuine fashion disaster, if you will. Oscar de la Renta sure seems to think so, saying for the same publication that, “You don’t... go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater.” As it happens, he’s not the only one to believe that Obama needs a fashion makeover – and stat.