Fashioning a new role
MICHELLE OBAMA CAN WEAR WHATEVER SHE WANTS NOW, INCLUDING SPARKLY THIGH-HIGH BOOTS
Former first lady Michelle Obama can wear whatever she wants now, including sparkly boots.
Michelle Obama wore Balenciaga on Dec. 19. Boy, oh boy, did she ever.
Not an understated, vintage Balenciaga sack dress. Not a molded blazer and sleek trousers from the current fall collection. No, the former first lady wore a full-length, draped, shimmery yellow shirtdress with a pair of gold, holographic thigh-high boots. It wasn’t just an eye-catching ensemble. It was fashion. Fashion. Faaaashion! It was direct from the runway, albeit from two different seasons. It was a look that would be unsurprising on a showbiz professional — on stage, on the red carpet — but for a civilian, a former first lady, well, it was quite something. Heck, it would be quite something on a fashion professional.
Obama pulled out the Balenciaga for her appearance at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the final stop of part one of her book tour for “Becoming.” She was interviewed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker who, alongside the statuesque Mrs. Obama in her head-to-toe gilding, looked like an elfin wallflower in an eggplant-colored sequined dress.
To get a few stats out of the way: Obama’s dress is from the brand’s spring 2019 collection. The boots are from spring 2018. Both are very, very expensive. Together, they represent the transformation of Balenciaga, a storied Paris-based fashion house, under creative director Demna Gvasalia, who has used the runway to upend traditional notions of beauty, luxury and gender in the 21st century. Gvasalia arrived at Balenciaga in 2016 and subsequently put bags inspired by IKEA’s nylon totes on his runway. He gave us giant-soled sneakers and oversized parkas. His catwalk models are typically unglamorous, plain, even a bit homely. He asked his audience to rethink who and what we value as important, influential and precious.