"Now, 16 years since Michelle Obama appeared in hers wearing a black sleeveless shift dress from the American designer Michael Kors, the former first lady has spoken about the particular outrage caused by her bare arms. Writing in The Look, a new photo book released on Tuesday that documents her style throughout her time in the White House, Obama describes how the media and public's fascination with her bare arms was used as a tool to otherize her."
"The American academic Farah Jasmine Griffin writes in a foreword that Obama's choice of skirts and slacks, and her support of emerging Black, Asian and Latina designers, lent style to her substance, for always she was a woman of substancea highly educated woman of ideas and opinions, a woman who reads, listens to music, dances, and has a sense of what our country could be and how to help it get there."
"Michelle Obama's preference for a sleeveless silhouette had been well documented. Michelle Obama goes sleeveless again read a story in the New York Times as it highlighted how four out of seven of her looks in a single week had been without sleeves, including a pink dress on the cover of Vogue and a blue one as she was pictured chatting to chefs in the White House kitchen."
Michelle Obama's first official portrait featured a black sleeveless Michael Kors shift dress, marking identity and style at the start of her time in the White House. Public and media focus on her bare arms generated particular outrage and became a means to otherize her. Fashion functioned as a tool for visibility and representation through deliberate choices, including sleeveless silhouettes and support for emerging Black, Asian, and Latina designers. Stylist Meredith Koop and several designers shaped looks for major events. Farah Jasmine Griffin emphasized that clothing lent style to substance, portraying a highly educated, culturally engaged woman with ideas about the country's future.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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