Why do we care about Michelle Obama’s dress?
Friday, November 14th, 2008Michelle Obama may very well be the smartest and most accomplished First Lady of all time.
Yet, few women are talking about those traits of hers. No, they just aren’t. When I hear Michelle Obama’s name mentioned, I hear it in close proximity to another word. It’s the word dress.
I can think of so many interesting conversations women could be having about Michelle. For instance, we could wonder what it must be like for a woman who once significantly out earned her husband to put her career on hold so he could focus on his. We might wonder what this might be like for this woman, one who is so brilliant and so career driven that she once served as her husband’s mentor (before the two became a couple).
I would find such a conversation quite intriguing. Yet, the conversations women seem to be having about Michelle Obama all tend to revolve around one central question, “What did you think of her dress?”
Really, her dress. This is a woman who graduated cum laude from Princeton and later from Harvard. I wonder: did she take a course in fashion and style while she was majoring in sociology or law? I only majored in journalism and I did it at a state school. I can tell you: I didn’t take one class in fashion. Even if I had been interested, I couldn’t have. Such a course did not exist.
I’m assuming the same is true at Ivy League schools.
Michelle Obama certainly dresses to the nines, but I wonder this: Why do I even notice? Why do I even know anything about her fashion sense? Why? I can’t tell you a lick about her husband’s choice in ties. Does he usually go with blue? I have no clue. Does he wear nice shoes? I’m at a loss.
Yet, I somehow know that Michelle wore a fantastic dress on election night. All of my female friends have been talking about it ever since. Vanity Fair and People have listed her as one of World’s Best Dressed People.
The woman is famous, mostly for having an impeccable sense of style.
Yet, I didn’t know, until this morning when I was doing some research for this blog, that Michelle is considered to be one of Harvard’s most influential alums of all time. I also didn’t know that she was once executive director for Public Allies, a nonprofit. While in that position, she raised an amazing amount of money for the organization, setting fundraising records that stood for 12 years. Are you wondering why her husband was able to raise so much money during his Presidential campaign? I’m not.
Did you know that this woman once served as an associate dean at the University of Chicago? She’s also been an executive director and a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospital.
She gives a good speech, too. We all know that.
Yet what is the legacy that we’d seemingly like this brilliant and accomplished woman to leave? We want her to wear a pretty dress.
This would not bother me if Michelle was your typical First Lady, the sort whose entire existence has revolved around supporting her husband. When the job of First Lady largely centered on choosing placemats and Christmas tree decorations, it made sense for all of us to fixate on the First Lady’s clothing.
Hillary Clinton changed that, though. She turned the job of First Lady into a political training ground for the Senate. Yet, if you asked most people what they remember about Hillary’s stint as First Lady, it’s probably not that she chaired the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. It’s also probably not that she wrote a newspaper column throughout her term, or that she also penned a book.
What do women remember about Hillary? They remember her various hairstyles. They remember the size of her ankles, and they remember the name of the woman her husband did not have intercourse with.
It’s sad, really.
Michelle Obama will be our first black First Lady. I hope she also goes down in history with another first to her credit, as the first First Lady who is remembered for what she did rather than for what she wore, for what she said rather than for how she looked, and for what she accomplished rather than for where she shopped.
