Kate Betts: Everyday Icon — Michelle Obama and the Power of Style

By Mad Dog
Published: Feb 08, 2011

Remember Inauguration Day, 2009? Michelle Obama stunned the fashion world — and a lot of Americans — by skipping the traditional First Lady uniform and wearing an Isabel Toledo dress with J. Crew gloves. Now, in Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style, Kate Betts looks through Mrs. Obama’s closet, bridging the gap between silly fashionspeak and serious style analysis. As she writes: “Perhaps more than any First Lady before her, with the exception of Jackie Kennedy, Michelle Obama understands that style is much more than an aesthetic choice or political tool; it is the expression of one’s life, one’s way of being.” Smart. With a concise history of First Lady fashion. And lots of Chicago/New York fashion dish. And scads of photographs. Definitely brain candy.