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Thanks, Michelle, for 'Grown-Up' Dresses

Hopefully, 'streamlined' silhouette spells doom for 'childish' frocks

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 9, 2009 1:18 PM CDT

(Newser) – In a clothing market deluged by “a sea of baby dolls, goddesses, empire waists, and wide A-lines,” Jackie Cooperman is adrift. “Why must it be so difficult to locate dresses cut for women neither childish nor with child?” she writes on DoubleX. Though the advent and popularity of free-flowing women’s clothing is understandable, Cooperman pines for grown-up silhouette. Luckily, trends—and the trendy first lady—appear to have conspired in Cooperman’s favor.

“Michelle Obama’s proclivity for dressing in sheaths, wearing belts, and revealing her toned, bare arms is providing a template for comfortable, authoritative dressing,” Cooperman writes, and designers—and even mainstream stores like Banana Republic, with its Mad Men-inspired fashions—are following suit. “So this fall and winter, we may, finally, have dress options that both accommodate and delineate, making us look, at long last, like women with grown-up lives.”

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.   (AP Photo)
FILE-This July 7, 2009 file photo shows President Barack Obama, left, and first lady Michelle Obama, right, arriving for a graduation at the New Economic School, in Moscow. The Obamas are edging out Hollywood stars on Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List. The president makes the list for the first time...
FILE-This July 7, 2009 file photo shows President Barack Obama, left, and first lady Michelle Obama, right, arriving for a graduation at the New Economic School, in Moscow. The Obamas are edging out Hollywood...   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari,File)
First Lady Michelle Obama.
First Lady Michelle Obama.   (AP Photo)
First lady Michelle Obama.
First lady Michelle Obama.   (AP Photo)
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Sartorially, feminism freed women from girdles, encouraging us to embrace the natural shapes of our bodies, but that freedom has led to a kind of fashion chaos.
- Jackie Cooperman

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
Shannonals
Sep 10, 2009 5:53 AM CDT
Your not a racist MrsK, ignorant and a hater, but not a racist
Snarfeh
Sep 10, 2009 1:53 AM CDT
Let's see now...I've never seen her drool....I've not noticed ketchup stains or other food stains on her clothes...her clothes are not torn or ragged....no mis-matched socks....how is it that she looks like a slob? Slobs must be pretty and nicely dressed where you live. If you don't like her look or her looks, that's fine, but there's nothin' slobby about her. She's sizzlin' hot to me...
justapirate
Sep 9, 2009 8:06 AM CDT
Her style of clothing, while not as showy and revealing as most of the attire for sale today, is very appropriate. I envy her style. You go girl!

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