Michelle Obama's fashion tour de force

She wore American designers (Jason Wu, Thakoon) and European (Azzedine Alaia, Moschino), Japanese (Junya Watanabe) and J. Crew. Watching her in Europe, it became clear that getting dressed is much more than an official duty for Michelle Obama.

This is a woman who loves clothes. 

When she met French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the NATO summit luncheon in Strasbourg, France, on Friday, it wasn't much of a fashion smackdown after all. Both women stuck to their pet designers -- Thakoon for Obama and Christian Dior for Bruni-Sarkozy. No surprises there.

G-20 fashion smackdown: Obama vs. Brown vs. Bruni-Sarkozy

First Lady Michelle Obama took off for the G-20 Summit in London today wearing an ivory tulle tweed coat with black grosgrain piping made especially for her by young New York designer Thakoon Panichgul. It’s her first trip to Europe as first lady, and fashion enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the chic smackdown between Obama and her European counterparts.

Obama has already met Sarah Brown, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s wife, who brought first daughters Sasha and Malia a TopShop care package when she visited Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Brown scores points for extending a stylish olive branch. (TopShop opens its first U.S. store in New York City on Thursday.) But she doesn't offer much competition in the wardrobe department.

Despite being a cheerleader for London Fashion Week, Brown hasn’t tapped into the British scene’s extraordinary rising talents such as Richard Nicoll, Erdem Moralioglu and Giles Deacon for her own wardrobe. It's a shame, too, because London designers are in desperate need of exposure from someone other than Kate Moss. And though they may have a reputation for being edgy, they could surely be tamed for a chance to dress the British first lady. You only have to look to British designer John Galliano to know that.

At Christian Dior for 12 years now, Galliano has gone from rockabilly transvestite and geisha girl looks to sober luncheon suits after embracing French first lady and former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as his muse over the last few seasons. And no doubt, when Bruni-Sarkozy meets Obama over the weekend, she will look impeccable, a tribute to her nation's haute couture heritage. But will she look interesting?

Even with the French first lady’s model pedigree and good looks, we’re still betting on Obama to steal the spousal wardrobe stage. Not one to wear watered-down versions of European fashions, a la Jacqueline Kennedy, Obama is likely to continue to take risks, choosing pieces from a roster of multi-cultural, up-and-coming American designers such as Panichgul, the Taiwan-born Jason Wu and the Cuban-born Isabel Toledo. By doing so, she’ll help put those new American names on the world fashion map, and no doubt give us all something to talk about in the process.

 

-- Booth Moore

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Photo: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama take off for the G-20 Summit in London. Credit: AP / Ron Edmonds

L.A. designers among fashion award nominees

L.A.’s own Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte have been nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Women's Wear Designer of the Year Award. The Pasadena sisters, whose collage dresses were a highlight of New York Fashion Week last month, are up against Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez. Another local designer, Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders, was nominated for the Best Men's Wear Designer of the Year Award alongside Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein and Michael Bastian. Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu and Alexander Wang are contenders for the Swarovski Award for up-and-coming women's wear designers. The board of directors Special Tribute Award will be given to First Lady Michelle Obama, who has boosted the American fashion industry by choosing clothes by emerging designers, including Rodriguez, Panichgul and Wu.

The awards, which are the fashion industry's Oscars, are scheduled for June 15 at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York.

--Booth Moore

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Photo: Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

NYFW review: Thakoon's fall 2009 collection

NEW YORK -- Thakoon Panichgul may be a favorite of First Lady Michelle Obama, but he doesn't only make ladylike clothes. What distinguishes his collections is the undercurrent of sex that runs through them. How else do you explain the wonderful rose buds-with-legs print dresses and eyelash print onesies from his spring collection in stores now?

For fall, he stuck to the formula, but with not quite as much wit as in the past. Michelle Obama-appropriate looks included a navy-and-white confetti print bow blouse and shirtdress, a red velvet sculpted bow-front shift, and the business suit alternative of a black velvet bomber jacket and skirt.

He loosened up a bit when playing with the idea of sheers on a blue wool shift with breakaway ruffles, a black chiffon and wool degrade bow-front shirtdress, and a peekaboo blouse with tiers of fox fur.

Then it was party time with bombers and capes in parrot-hued feathered fox fur. More palatable was a black doubleface wool dress with disco mirrors contouring the waist. So you can forget the bathroom and do your makeup in front of your dress!

-- Booth Moore

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Photo credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times

Strong brows and smoky eyes dominate the runway at Thakoon

Elements of the '80s are all over the fall '09 runways and in addition to the strong shoulders and day-glo colors, makeup is also taking cues from the heavily made up faces of the “me” generation.

NARS Cosmetics created the “face” for the Thakoon show. Lead artist Diane Kendal based the makeup on the collection, which was inspired by the 1940s surrealist images of photographer Lee Miller, combined with 1980s rock 'n' roll glam. This translates as smoky eyes, full brows and downplayed lips. And since buying clothes from the runway may not be in most budgets this year, the makeup might be the most affordable aspect to emulate. Here is Kendal’s step-by-step lesson on how to get the look:

Face:

• Use a minimal amount of NARS Sheer Glow Foundation (coming out for fall 2009).

• Lightly stroke NARS Blush in Gilda on the apples of the cheeks.

Eyes:

• Use NARS Eyeliner Pencil in Mambo to line upper lashes and crease.

• Blend over entire lid and up to brows, keeping dense color by lash line.

• With Mambo, line lower lashes and gently blend.

• Use NARS Single Eye shadow in Bali to fill in brows.

• Draw a very thin line on upper lashes with NARS Eyeliner Stylo in Black (coming out for fall 2009).

Lips:

• Apply NARS Lip Therapy Treatment in Rain to entire lip.

• Lightly pat a small amount of concealer over Rain to mute the color.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

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Photos: At left, Thakoon fall '09 runway. Credit: Getty. At right, the makeup at Thakoon fall '09 show. Credit: NARS

Michelle Obama's inauguration wardrobe reviewed

Just as President Barack Obama turned the page on American history Tuesday in Washington, First Lady Michelle Obama is turning the page on American design. The lemon-grass wool lace ensemble she chose for the swearing-in ceremony wasn’t designed by one of the aging custodians of the 7th Avenue Establishment Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan or Calvin Klein. It was by Isabel Toledo, a Cuban American whom nobody knows but everyone should.

By wearing clothes by up-and-coming designers such as Narciso Rodriguez, Thakoon Panichgul, Maria Pinto, Maria Cornejo and Toledo, Obama is helping to promote a new generation of talent, and write the next chapter in American fashion.

Toledo, who sells at Barneys New York, has been designing under her own name for 20 years in New York, and was briefly the creative director for Anne Klein. (Bet they wish they'd hung onto her now!) She is married to fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. “She’s never been about making clothes to make herself famous,” says Rosemary Brantley, founding chairwoman of the Fashion Department at L.A.’s Otis School of Art and Design, where Toledo has been teaching since the 1990s. “She’s about flattering the figure and she’s curvaceous herself. Everything she does is thoughtful. She would never bang out a dress with a normal side seam. One of her things is rethinking construction.”

With its retro “Mad Men” silhouette and trendy yellow hue, the dress and coat proved that Obama can strike a balance between being conservative and taking risks. She looks better wearing one color, rather than breaking up her tall frame as she did on election night with the black-and-red Rodriguez dress.

Some might think that the inauguration ensemble was a tad dressy with its beaded collar. But Obama likes to dress up, and she’s determined to play her part in promoting fashion as fantasy. She may also have raised a few eyebrows with the borrowed $17,000 Loree Rodkin diamond chandelier drop earrings she wore to the “We Are One” concert over the weekend. After all, Nancy Reagan was skewered for borrowing clothes from Bill Blass, James Galanos and others. But that was before the red carpet became the runway, and lending became a key form of advertising for designers.

Besides, Obama knows how to do the high-low thing, too. She wore J. Crew for the Kid’s Inaugural Ball on Monday night. And just hours after the inauguration, the e-mails were already flooding in from Dress Barn, Bluefly and other  retailers about how to get the look for less.

Because fashion is a business and Michelle Obama means business.

-- Booth Moore

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Photo: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama escort former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, to a helicopter at the U.S. Capitol after Obama's inauguration. Credit: Tannen Maury / Bloomberg News

Thakoon rips off Thakoon

Now that New York fashion designer Thakoon Panichgul’s star is rising, thanks in part to Michelle Obama wearing his flowery frocks, everyone is eagerly awaiting his Target line, which arrives in stores Dec. 28. I recently got my hands on a few of the samples and they are adorable, but shockingly similar to his Spring 2008 collection — the blue and white shibori shirtdress, the “cyber floral” print circle skirt that ties at the waist, the preppy navy-and-green striped dress, they are all there, albeit with higher, junior-ified hemlines.

Thakoon ripped off Thakoon.

Which isn’t such a big deal, except for those of us who spent money on the real thing. I bought two skirts from the runway collection. And for what I paid for them, well, I could have bought the whole Thakoon for Target collection, with pieces from $16.99 to $44.99. So I’m not so sure how I am going to feel when I see watered-down versions of my skirts walking down the street in a few months.

Of course, the shibori skirt that I bought at Neiman Marcus was hand-dyed, instead of being printed, is constructed of one piece of fabric instead of two, and is lined. But who knows the difference? Like my skirts, the Target versions are hefty cotton, nicely finished, and the buttons are virtually indistinguishable. I know the difference and I guess that should matter. But really, I feel rooked.

But it's a good lesson. Because I’ve realized that the skirts I bought were too expensive in the first place. A cotton skirt shouldn’t cost $800, it just shouldn’t. I was on a spending binge like the rest of the world, and that mind set is partly to blame for the sorry shape we’re in now.

Does that mean I won't be going to Target on Dec. 28? Not a chance. The $29.99 yellow pleated front blouse is going to look amazing with my shibori skirt. High-low dressing indeed.

-- Booth Moore

Photos: On left, $1,350 shibori shirtdress from Thakoon's Spring 2008 runway collection. Credit: Fernanda Calfat / Getty Images

On right, $39.99 shibori shirtdress from Thakoon for Target collection. Credit: Target