Michelle Obama has made a stunning transformationfrom lawyer to first lady to style icon.
She quickly became an icon for her impeccable wardrobe, which was a reflection of her vibrant personality.
But Obama is proof that even the most chic style queens can have their off days.
Here’s a rundown of 12 Michelle Obama looks that completely missed the mark.
She wore a black Narciso Rodriguez frock with a splattering of red that looked more foreboding than fashionable.
and felt out of place on the momentous, history-making occasion.
Others compared the dress to a lava lamp.
However, designer Rodriguez defended Michelle for going against the grain.
“It was so controversial,” he told theHuffington Post.
By wearing a retro fit, Michelle appeared to be referencing an America of yesteryear.
asked Grazia style director Paula Reed, per theBBC.
Some matte hosiery would have been preferable to elevate the ensemble out of granny chic territory.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with Michelle’s get-up on its own, but context is key.
But something was amiss about her choice of attire.
Surely the first lady was feeling more than a tad chilly in her summery number?
“One reader summed it up better than most of them.
But Michelle decided to keep things super casual during her 2009 visit to Buckingham Palace.
The queen hardly seemed to care, however.
It’s been said that the Obamas were among her favorite presidential couples.
“‘These shoes are unpleasant, are they not?’
she said,” Michelle wrote in her memoir, “Becoming.”
“She gestured with some frustration at her own black pumps.
I confessed then to the Queen that my feet were hurting.
She confessed that hers hurt, too.”
The prime minister’s wife was decidedly understated in a plain navy outfit and gray tights.
Evidently, Obama and Sarah didn’t discuss their outfits in a group chat prior to their meeting.
However, some defended the pair’s mismatched ensembles.
“They were never going to turn up in similar things.
Their personalities are obviously so different,” Vogue’s Calgary Avansino toldThe Guardian.
Others compared the look unfavorably to a golfing get-up.
But perhaps Obama’s decision to dress down was deliberate, a way of appealing to the younger generation.
But upon closer inspection, Obama fell just short with this look.
The point of the meeting was to bolster trade between the U.S. and China.
Instead, she sported a dress by British designer Alexander McQueen, a rather baffling decision given the occasion.
She was widely criticized for her stylistic choice.
Notably, Oscar de la Renta argued that wearing a European brand was incongruous with the event.
Why do you wear European clothes?”
But the first lady seriously missed the mark with her choice of attire or lack thereof.
Michelle wore a colorful blue outfit for the occasion, but she chose not to wear a headscarf.
Accordingly, she challenged the host to take part in #GimmeFive.
While Obama nailed the choreography, her outfit wasn’t exactly ideal for the task at hand.
What’s more, her microphone came undone as she danced energetically in the less than sporty attire.
But she probably should have worn an outfit more suitable for a rigorous dance routine.
In 2021, Kamala Harris inadvertently channeled Lisa Simpson’s purple presidential ensemble during Joe Biden’s inauguration.
But she wasn’t the first political figure to unwittingly take fashion inspo from a fictional character.
But Dan Lawson, costume designer for “The Good Wife,” welcomed Obama’s surreal sartorial choice.
“Then I realized, ‘Oh, that’s a Michael Kors suit.
Wait a minute, I really know that Michael Kors suit.
We used it on the show!'”
But not all of her post-FLOTUS looks have slayed.
But her outfit was mighty distracting.
Obama donned a double denim ensemble, paired with a white vest and tan pumps.
Was it a slay?
Did it make us nostalgic for flip phones and extremely low-rise jeans?
The convention was all about hope in the face of hate.
As Michelle herself said (via theBBC), “Hope is making a comeback.”
But it’s for this very reason that Michelle’s outfit felt like a misfire to say the least.
At a trendy luncheon, Michelle would have slayed in this fit.
