Michelle ups her style game

WHILE her husband’s approval ratings have sunk like an Amish hemline, first lady Michelle Obama is getting even higher marks for her recent uptick in elegance and style.

The change began that December day last year when President Obama was photographed at Nelson Mandela’s funeral laughing with flirty, blond Danish P.M.

Helle ThorningSchmidt as Michelle glowered nearby.

“All of sudden her hair is gorgeous, with a heavenly sheen,” said one fan. “Her clothes are suddenly fabulous. She has worn three noteworthy gowns since then — each more gorgeous than the last.”

The first lady — known for often wearing younger, lessestablished designers — looked particularly glamorous earlier this month at the state dinner for French President François Hollande, when she wore a $12,000 gown by fashion grande dame Carolina Herrera.

“She does look great,” a fashion expert told me. “It could simply be that they don’t need to worry about reelection and don’t really care about offending anyone anymore, so they are both going for it— he in his executive orders, she in her fashion.”

Perhaps some of the credit belongs to aide Meredith Koop, 29, who’s reportedly helped Michelle with her sartorial selections. She’s said to have been tasked with picking the hats Michelle and her daugh

ters will wear to the Kentucky Derby, and the dresses they will wear to meet with Queen Elizabeth II.

Michelle also got raves last week for a silky black jumpsuit she wore on the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” — before her silly “Ew!” skit, in which she tried to convince teens that exercise and kale chips are not “ew”worthy.

First lady Michelle Obama seems to be turning over a new fashion leaf: Donning a gorgeous Carolina Herrera dress for a recent state dinner.