the first lady’s fashion and talbots’ transformation

Along with Olivia Palermo, June Ambrose, and Zoe Saldana, I consider First Lady Michelle Obama one of my style crushes, so when I learned that Kate Betts, author of EVERYDAY ICON: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style would be making a personal appearance and signing copies of her book at Talbots at NorthPark Center yesterday, I dropped everything and headed to Talbots to get a glimpse of the fashion journalist. Kate is kind of a big deal in the fashion industry—she’s worked under the tutelage of Anna Wintour, was named one of the top 10 fashion editors by Forbes, and was the editor-in-chief at Harper’s Bazaar. Yep, she’s a bit of a big deal. But enough gushing. One of the most interesting moments of the evening was when Kate spoke briefly about what inspired her to pen a book about Michelle Obama’s style, read a passage from the book, and provided some interesting tidbits about Michelle Obama and EVERYDAY ICON:

• When it comes to style, one of Michelle Obama’s favorite words is ‘seamlessly.’
• Oftentimes women, especially women in Washington D.C., dress to fit in, but Michelle Obama dresses to stand out.
• Kate refers to the First Lady as “the shiny one,” stating that her charisma and effect on people outshines that of President Obama.
• Kate mentioned Eunice Johnson, the founder of the Ebony Fashion Fair, calling her ‘the Michelle Obama before Michelle Obama’ because Eunice brought high fashion to areas of America that had never been exposed to clothing of such high quality, and Michelle Obama is carrying on the tradition of bringing an awareness of style and why it matters to so many people around the world.
• Kate told an inspiring story about Naeem Kahn (who designed the dress the First Lady wore to the first official state dinner in 2010) and how she visited Naeem’s studio about a week after the event to interview him. He was still buzzing with excitement about the fact that Michelle Obama wore his dress and told Kate how the newspapers in India had dubbed him the “son of India” because she wore one of his designs. Naeem’s uncle was even able to come out of a ten-year recession because business had increased so much after his design was seen on the First Lady.
• Kate said she liked the dress I wore last night. Okay, so that has absolutely nothing to do with the book, but it’s still kind of cool, no? Especially since it was a cheapie dress that I bought from Ross years ago that actually fits kind of weird. Hm.













Before the start of the event, I walked around the store and checked out the clothes. I haven’t been to Talbots in ages, and last night made me regret that. The store design has been completely revamped and the clothes are to-die-for. These ain’t your granny’s duds, ladies. From the bright, spring-like colors to the look-at-me statement jewelry to the charming accessories, everything is fresh and fashionable. I left the event wishing I had an American Express Black Card (instead of a bank account with funds that have already been earmarked for this month’s bills). Plus, there was a ton of inspiration on the store mannequins and an awesome skirt made of scarves. It was a work of art. Seriously. The Talbots employees were unbelievably nice too. And not in a I’m-being-nice-to-you-because-I-want-you-to-buy-something kind of nice. It really made me wish I had applied for the Talbots Style Advisor position I mentioned in this post…instead of chickening out. Oh, well. At least I can still shop there.