We’re just five days away from a very historic Inauguration Day and fashion watchers are anticipating what Michelle Obama will wear.
“She is a new style icon and she’s gonna be a little more risky,” predicts “What Not To Wear’s” Stacy London.
Michelle can certainly take her cue from the former First Lady she is often compared to – Jackie Kennedy. At JFK’s swearing in ceremony in 1961, Jackie was the epitome of chic in her pillbox hat and matching ice blue coat. She sealed her style icon status at the Inaugural Ball with her Oleg Cassini designed silk coat and column gown. (For a full Inaugural fashion photo gallery click here)
“It is classic. It is timeless. It’s not very ostentatious and it’s very, very clean in terms of the cut, ” says Stacy. “Michelle can pull something exactly like this off if she wanted to for the inauguration.”
Not all First Ladies have fared so well in Stacy’s book. At the 1977 Inaugural Ball, Rosalynn Carter wore an embroidered and beaded ensemble, while 9-year-old daughter Amy wore a velvet dress with matching cape and Harry Potter-esque glasses.
“This is incredibly unfortunate,” Stacy says. “Poor Jimmy Carter has Endora from “Bewitched” as his wife and Little Red Riding Hood as a daughter. I mean, you would not have thought this was January 20th for an inauguration, you would have thought this was October 31st.”
Ouch!
Nancy Reagan came from Hollywood, so she knew a lot about image and fashion. Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton, not so much.
As for Laura Bush, she didn’t take any major fashion risks in 2001, when she wore a sparkly, embellished red dress from Texas Designer Michael Faircloth, but four years later she dazzled in metallic Oscar de la Renta.
“I felt this was a much stronger choice for Laura,” Stacy says. “It’s gorgeous.”
For more on Inaugural style history, tune in to Access Hollywood tonight.
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