I hated it.
I know this sounds trivial (and unfeminist) but some at our election night party were fixated on how bad it was. It was so unflattering and red doesn’t work well on television. This morning, a friend said she liked it. And we analyzed the symbolism of wearing red and black.
But I am sure that Michele must be cringing at the TV images of herself in it.
I have a feeling it looks much better in person. It just doesn’t photograph well. Something about the cumberbund.
Turns out it was designed by Narcisco Rodriquez, the designer who designed Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress. Here’s the dish from The Dish by Elizabeth Snead:
"Such a historic night! Such an inspiring speech!
And — sorry, but we have to say it — such a disasterous dress.
The fashion community is almost speechless about our soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama‘s strange red and black dress.
Blame it on Narciso Rodriquez, a New York fashion designer, who made the bizarre dress that looked more like a Halloween costume than an election night frock.
It’s from his spring ’09 collection (check out the whole collection here) and is described as a red and black sleeveless sheath with a criss-crossed black satin cummerbund.
So that’s what that thing is called? Good to know. Now we will avoid dresses with cummerbunds at all cost."
I agree with absolutely everything she writes. Actually, it doesn’t look that bad in this picture. But on TV. Baaaaad.
She usually looks so gorgeous in everything.
Sadly, I must agree. When I saw her on TV, I couldn’t even quite figure out what was going on with it..was it a dress? a dress and a jacket? and what is that thing in the front? When I saw it in stills the next day, it wasn’t much better. I must also agree about the eyebrows…some people just have naturally “angry” eyebrows, and Mrs. Obama is one of them. She really should revisit the styling of them. She seems like a lovely warm person, and those eyebrows could give one the wrong impression.
It looked awful. She looked awful. She’s enormous!! Like Chewbacka from Star Wars…she’s hideous and ugly.
I didn’t like her dress at all. Michelle usually looks great, but not this special night.
Yes, I agree about that strange dress worn on Election night. But I keep saying, and my friends agree, that Michele Obama needs to have her eyebrows softened. Her eyebrows give her a angry look, frowning look. They slide downward too harshly towards the nose. The inside lines should be drawn in a curvier shape not ending so sharply in a downward angle.
Didn’t like it all… I thought it was a bad choice, especially since she seems to look good in everything!!
The dress made Mrs. Obama look flat & wide. In my opinion, it wasn’t flattering at all. The satin sash at the waist seemed like it didn’t go with the rest of the dress. I applaud Mrs. Obama for choosing American designers, but this dress was not the right choice.
I agree, the dress was terrible. And Michelle is usually really well dressed, in my opinion.
that dress was a really bad choice for election night! and the whole family was wearing black and red…….were they all trying to look coordinated??
I took one look and said, “oh my god, what IS she wearing!” It was hideous and anyone who says differently is blind to the fact that the emperor has no clothes. It was totally unflattering, no matter what it looked like on the runway, or the hanger for that matter. The shiny sides and crisscross looked cheap and the pattern was awful. Definitely the Lava Girl look. It was unfortunate as it took my eyes completely off Obama and all I could do was zero in on The Dress! But, that said, everyone has an off fashion moment or two or three. Look how celebs are critiqued. So, no matter. Someone just gave the gal bad advice. Or, maybe I just don’t know what’s “in” these days.