Know Everything About Michelle Obama is a Star in Paris
Added: June 17, 2009
Michelle
Obama, whom French fashionistas regard as the best-dressed American
first lady since Jackie Kennedy, lived up to her sartorial reputation
during her trip to Paris, sporting a wardrobe of fashion-forward
classics by top American designers.
But the woman
who put unstuffy retailers like J. Crew on the fashion map also
showed a weakness for high-end fashion "a la francaise,"
taking her two daughters on a private shopping trip to the exclusive
children's couture house Bonpoint.
Mrs. Obama's
visit to the City of Light was widely billed as a rematch of the
"duel of charm" that pitted her in a glamour contest
against France's first lady, the former supermodel-turned-singer
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The two faced
off before the cameras only once during Mrs. Obama's latest visit,
from Friday through Monday. For D-Day commemorations in Normandy, the
first ladies chose strikingly similar looks, both in creamy white,
knee-length dresses
with contrasting belts
and kitten
heels.
The heels were
a departure for Bruni-Sarkozy, a leggy Italian-born heiress who
leaped to fame in the early 1990s as a top model. Since she married
France's diminutive leader Nicolas Sarkozy last year, the 5'9"
(175 centimeter) -tall first lady has largely stuck to flats
for her public appearances.
Bruni-Sarkozy's
outfit, which also included a swingy black cashmere
coat, was signed Christian Dior - her favorite label. Also true
to form, Mrs. Obama's dress was by Narciso Rodriguez, one of the
stable of American designers she champions.
Britain's
Daily Telegraph said photos of the two striding side-by-side on the
red carpet at Saturday's commemorations were "surreally
interchangeable with shots from a catwalk show. ... They could almost
have been modeling some designers' collection named 'First Lady
Spring 2009.'"
French fashion
weekly Elle said the two looked like "twin sisters" and
hailed their "sophisticated, feminine" 1950s-era looks as
"a success: We want more!"
A similar
thing happened at their last meeting, at a G-8 summit in the French
border city of Strasbourg in April, when both showed up in stylish
but proper coats embellished with flowing bows at the neckline and
coordinated with matching dresses.
Then, the
European fashion press generally concurred that Mrs. Obama's Thakoon
ensemble, in black silk with fuchsia flowers, stole the show from
Bruni-Sarkozy's Dior outfit in
putty gray.
But it
appeared that Bruni-Sarkozy's sophisticated Parisian style might be
winning Mrs. Obama over. |
