Pretty in Plum
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 9:19 PM 
Image by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
Image by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
First Lady Mrs. O is wearing a gorgeous wintery plum ensemble by Isaac Mizrahi for the president's State of the Union address this evening. What a fantastic moment for the great American designer, and the perfect style note for the State of the Union. In the course of his address, the president referenced two initiatives that Mrs. O will lead this year: the fight against childhood obesity and a new program to support military families (the latter co-led with Jill Biden). It's an inspiration to see such an example of style and substance in our first lady.
Purple was certainly the color of the evening, also reflected in Vice President Joe Biden's choice of tie and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's lavender suit. Several of you have observed that purple is the coming together of red and blue. One can't help but wonder if indeed the choice of purple was a deliberate effort to symbolize political unity and bipartisanship. Are we reading too far into the clothes? Or might this be another occasion that Mrs. O and company have used fashion to convey a powerful message?
Update: You must watch Isaac Mizrahi's video blog about his reaction to seeing the first lady in his design last evening. Love this!
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Isaac Mizrahi
Reader Comments (87)
2 photos up on Yahoo. Hmm.....would like to see full length pictures. Love the color.
OMG!!...First Lady Michelle Obama looks wonderful...I love this color on her...and her hair is looking fabulous...
Mrs. T, please post one with her in the overcoat. She looked absolutely fabulous stepping out of the WH in that ensemble.
I just love the way Michelle Obama hair looks tonight...
THE ENTIRE OUTFIT IS ISAAC MIZRAHI! I JUST GOT THE MEDIA ALRT!
WITH SLEEVES!! Beautiful play - same color as last year, but with sleeves so NO ONE can criticize and detract from the president's speech and agenda. Love her hair tonight, too. She looks so young and hip in this style.
Here is a link of Michelle Obama wearing her SOTU dress....
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Top-Stories-Photos-US-first-lady-Michelle-Obama-hugs-US-President-Barack-Obama/ss/705/im:/100128/ids_photos_ts/r3912644966.jpg/#photoViewer=/100128/480/160792964a374393a5e58e703097390b
Can you find out where this ensemble is from? I would LOVE to have it! She is so beautiful!
The sweater and skirt are beautiful. I got to see the front, back and sides as the First Lady conversed with guests in her box.
Our beautiful Michelle looks kind of sad or wary or weary tonight. The President, however, is wonderfully energetic and fresh and not giving in on any of his good plans. Hope he can cheer her up and spur her on.
Beautiful color....and sleeves. Very appropriate for Winter in D.C.
@ marabout40...Yes Michelle looked GORGEOUS...N that purple overcoat...N her purple sweater n skirt...Was on point...Also 2 add her hair looks FAB ♥...Might I say my Boo Barack's speech...Is on point 2nite...N every 1 knew it...My FLOTUS looks absolutely GORGEOUS !!!...I had to say that again...Lol.
i'm watching the SOTU although i should be sleeping. Mrs:T did u find out the designer of the grey asymmetrical dress and the one she wears at the Red Cross?
thanks for all the work u do to ensure that this site remains a fun respite.
Mrs. O looked beauiful tonight.. The outfit the hair the makeup was flawless. She knows what to wear and when to wear it. I gave her 5 out of 5 stars. She rocked and her husband did to.
Speaker Pelosi and the FLOTUS are both wearing purple............perhaps it's a subliminal signal that we are a country that needs to come together unite??? (after all, red and blue make purple) Just an observation, please don't be reading something negative into this comment. It's not meant to say anything more than I think the FLOTUS puts a lot of thought into what she wears to any given event. And this is such an elegant yet simple ensemble, perhaps selected so that the attention would be on the POTUS for this important speech.
I wish you can find a photo with the coat that goes with this beautiful ensemble!!!! She really looked great tonight. Hair, make-up, it all worked very well.
Second time she's worn plum to a joint session of congress.
This Lady is bad. Michael Jackson BAD! I love that she is wearing purple and I think she looks beautiful. Her hair is on point and it had great shine on the TV. You better believe that the President is always going to shout out his beautiful First Lady.
LOL@ Jaylanie, Your Boo? I ain't mad at you ;-)
Real Talk, The President speech was great and I believe him when he says he won't quit.
I would also like to give a shout out to Jill Biden. She looked very nice in her blue.
BTW, now what will people talk about since FLOTUS wore sleeves.LMAO!!!!
Love the outfit. The pearls, not so much. The necklace screams Barbara Bush to me, not in a good way.
She looks absolutely lovely. I think she has found her signature look. Simple, understated and classy but truly Michelle. No grey boxxy blazers for our First Lady!
She looks sensational. Brava.
@ michellefan - I think she was very nervous for her hubby. When she walked in, she kind of seemed nervous to me, the way she was folding her hands. Then when he singled her out, she seemed embarrassed and the president caught that even and said something in a joking way.
@ Jaylanie - your comment made me laugh. "boo?" LOL.
@ Nyon - Yep, he won't quit. That should be the title of the speech.
Now - on to Mrs. O's outfit. Just.plain.gorgeous. This plum is her color! She looked absolutely gorgeous in HD. The dress fit like a glove. I'm sad I didn't see her in the coat.
What is old is new again. Mrs.O takes this adage and gleefully satifies my taste for retro style. Whether she is channeling Mad Men or her own stately mother, she is plucking strings from the past and singing a modern melody.
Our First Lady was just lovely tonight. Hair and makeup was flawless. I love the color of the dress. Purple is definitely Mrs. Obama color. And the matching coat was a great add as well. 5 Stars!!!! *****
HERES TO OUR FIRST LADY Michelle Obama..... Isn't she lovely?? So beautiful, such class. Outfit is a 10 . The plum is so right on her tonight and a dress with "sleeves".OMG what will the critics have to talk about tonight?
Mr President's speech was great and I think he re-established Himself tonight.......saying that he wont quit. GREAT JOB Mr. President.
When the TV broadcast started, Diane Sawyer & Stephenapolus said a couple attendees had already Twittered from the chamber, and one person said it was freezing cold in there. Good thing Michelle didn't go sleeveless this year!
FLOTUS looked beautiful tonight. I wish she would have worn a sleeveless dress, to say screw the haters. I just hope that Michelle continues to wear what she wants, I expect to see her in some khaki shorts this summer, and some more sleeveless dresses this winner. Go girl!!
She looked gorgreous as usual..all hits since the year started...no misses!
IVA, I sensed her nervousnes too...When she came in I saw that she let out a sigh/blow..like 'here goes'..I guess she worried about incidents or him making a mistake.
The shoutout was cute, I'd be emabrassed too if Everyone was looking at me..lol...im just shy like that
absolutely fantabulous....you rock FLOTUS
She looks like she has vision for our future--like the kindergarten teacher you loved or the fifth grade teacher you had a crush on.
Nothing is more attractive than a smart woman with plans and by shining light on childhood obesity, she will not only leave as her legacy a generation of healthy children, she will perhaps shine a light on self worth, too.
I can't say enough about the new program to support military families. This is a hard scary time for young mothers to hold up a baby to wave goodby to daddy, when in her heart, she has no idea if he'll come home. Young father's are doing their share of waving goodbye, too.. This is help that has been a long time coming. I am so impressed with the kind of care she is showing to our military.
And THAT is why she is so incandescent in this genius Mizrahi summer plum color. She LOOKS like a First Lady. Always has.
@IVA - I agree with you, that dress fitted Mrs. O like a glove. The whole bodice and sleeves fit as if they were painted on her; as for her sleeves, no ordinary pair of arms could wear those sleeves tonight...it had to be a well-toned and sculpted pair such as Mrs. O's. The dress was an all around "A", a "10 Plus"!
@Jaylanie - when I read your post on the POTUS being your "Boo", I laughed so hard, I almost fell out of my chair. Anyway, I agree with you, I just wished I had the nerve to say it first! One can only admire and day dream from afar.
@Mia Monte - girl, you're so on point, but wait, mark my words, within a day or so there'll be some cretin expounding why the dress wasn't "appropriate" or "missed the mark" or "should have been worn with a jacket" or some other nonsensical commentary.
If you saw the televised part of her leaving the Whitehouse with Barack, then you got to see that the dress has a matching full-length coat made of the same material as the skirt-part of that beautiful dress. Totally divine.
ms
Mrs. O looked simply beautiful! Plum is her color, I will call it O'Plum
Simply Stunning!
Michelle Obama is just beyond words! And kudos to Issac Mizrahi for designing such a lovely ensemble! What a pretty plum color! She managed to look fresh and classic tonight. Not an easy thing to pull off!
I cant find a pick of Mrs. O with her coat on, can somewhere tell me those pics are/
I think Mrs. Obama looked beautiful tonight. The outfit and color was lovely
I believe, however, that "shiny" fabric should be reserved for evening/cocktail/wedding wear. Tonight was a "business" event. A sleeveless sheath in a lightweight wool with matching coat or a stylist, young-style suit would have been perfect for the occasion.
I feel that while many of Mrs. Obama's outfits are great, the matching of the outfit, fabric and color to the occasion is often "off".
This whole look is just Fabulous, she nailed it
i think its one of her best looks in my books to date, i'm actually looking for the words to describe it but the words just fail me.
she looks just the part of a modern , fresh, approachable , down to earth , fun first lady that she is!
Flotus looked great and I knew she would wear sleeves. She didn't just wear sleeves. She wore almost long sleeves and the color is no coincidence that it is similar to the last one. I think she was making a point.
I've said it before. Not a fan of this particuar length of pearls that she wears. Grannyish to me. My own personal bias against them. Love the hair too.
What a beautiful and elegant lady our First Lady is; She looked very classic in a breathtakingly modern, simple and fresh way...
It was wonderful to see her 'blush' when the guy behind her kissed her hands and again when her husband, our wonderful President, in acknowledging her, gazed up at her and lingered a while...
It was lovely...
This is the BEST outfit she has worn this year !
Picture of elegance.
Absolutely magnificent First Lady - head to toe, inside and out. I could not be more proud of Mrs. O and all the good work she's doing. And WOW, how great does she always look doing it??!!
Brilliant SOTU all the way around. WE DON'T QUIT.
Mrs. O looked simply divine, wearing my favorite winter color! I liked the bob haircut when she first unveiled it, but I LOVE it now with the bangs.
@Audrey, the man seated behind Mrs. O at the SOTU was the Haiti Ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph. He's also the uncle to Wyclef Jean. I thought that was so wonderful when he kissed her hands. I also thought I heard the President call her "babe" in one of the two times he mentioned her.
I smile everytime I see our First Lady and hear from the President, and scream/cringe when I think of Congress (ugh)!!!
Mrs. T, are there any pictures around of her with the coat? I only caught a brief glance as she was getting out of the car.
I thought she looked absolutely beautiful, last night! Glad you're spotlighting this outfit. Also, how cute was it when Obama said, "She gets embarrassed"?? :) Dunno if Michelle thought it was cute (haha the irony of calling someone out for getting embarrassed) but I did.
While I appreciate all that the first lady is doing, I will have to disagree with the above article about a new program helping military families and the effort being co-led by Jill Biden. Jill Biden has been working with and leading the effort of military families for sometime now, so it should be noted that Michelle is joining Jill in that effort. Please give credit where credit is do, Jill Biden is an outstanding
second lady as well and I feel we do not hear enough about her causes.
There's a photo at this link of another look of the dress---it had pockets....very nice!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x157930
@Cap - I have to disagree with you on that. There are a lot of people doing great work with military families, but this is the First lady's program which Jill is co-leading. Just as Jill has her own programs military families which the first lady may have anything to do with it.
Beautiful. I am looking forward to the efforts the first lady will make to reduce childhood obeisity
Michelle was stunningly gorgeous last night. Her skin was just glowing and that color on her is fantastic. Great choice.
But I agree...she seemed really nervous and a little sad?? She barely smiled.