Michelle Obama is famous for mixing high and low fashion to craft her, “I’m just another American mom, my husband just happens to have a lot of fancy dinners for me to go to,” look. But, her version of, “low end” is usually J Crew or Banana Republic, and often paired with Jimmy Choo or other similarly out of reach pieces. That’s why her appearance on the Today Show on Tuesday in a thirty five dollar dress from the retailer H&M has caught the imagination of the fashion press.
This isn’t the first time Mrs. Obama has worn H&M… it’s the second. It’s easy to understand why its not a brand that’s prevalent in her always in the public eye wardrobe. Anyone whose tried to shop the inexpensive, youth oriented retailer knows that its hard to find things there that are suitable for grown ups. Fashion forward, mature lines tend to assume that if you’re old enough to want to shop there, you’ve got money to spend, an assumption that isn’t always true in this only sort of post recession world.
In fact, Mrs. Obama even admitted that her stylist re-tooled the sweet, polka-dotted H&M frock she was sporting on the Today Show, adding three quarter length sleeves. So does this really count as a populous dressing choice? Most working mom’s don’t have a stylist on hand to alter their clothes. But, on the other hand, most working mom’s don’t get called out by the fashion police for wearing sleeveless dresses in the White House (an issue Mrs. Obama has faced before). Perhaps, rather than worrying about the exact price tag of her outfits, we should give the First Lady credit for juggling her family’s responsibilities with raising girls who still seem very much like normal kids and continuing to look like herself.
Plus, it’s a really cute dress.
