Friday
Oct302009
One Gorgeous Necklace
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 11:42 AM 
We've been a bit obsessed with the beyond breathtaking mystery necklace Mrs. O paired with her Jason Wu dress on the cover of Glamour. We are so delighted to learn the design is FENTON by Dana Lorenz. The necklace is constructed of brass, gunmetal, crystal and hand dyed silk and is part of the FENTON Fall Winter 2009 collection. It can be purchased at Ikram in Chicago or at danalorenz.com.
For those keeping tabs, this is not the first time the first lady has worn a statement piece from the designer. Back in July, Mrs. O dressed up a simple white twinset with a statement FENTON necklace while visiting Moscow, seen here.
tagged Fenton
Fenton
Reader Comments (28)
I love this necklace!
Just wow! Once again, I swear Mrs. O is living the life I dreamed about. LOL! This is O'fab!
The necklace is cute and pretty.
Beautiful accessory and very creative!
This is stunning and we really appreciate knowing the designer's name. I just had a thought...I wonder how long it will be before we see our Michelle's fashion sense influence Hollywood's red carpet? You know, when celebs walk the red carpet they delight in naming their borrowed jewels (which invariably are gold or platinum along with precious & semi precious stones ONLY) that the average person cannot relate to at all. It's seldom that their jewelry is even knocked-off or, shall we say, "inspired" for the masses. I bet that's not the case with this necklace...can't you see it coming to an Anthropologie store near you soon? If anyone thinks that our Michelle does not influence fashion, they are sooooo mistaken.
Am not a bow person. Like the necklaces sans-bows.
What a beautiful, festive necklace. So glad the designer could get some recognition.
I have to say I was kind of miffed by the fact that Mrs.O and her team purposely did not give the name of the designers of her clothes to the magazine. Glamour is a fashion and lifestyle magazine and the designer's of the clothing of every person that has graced it's cover is always noted. I guess it was in an effort to have the focus more on what she has to say, but I think they should learn to use the fact that her unconventional clothing choices communicate and interest people to their advantage. Her fans and supporters are not going to only focus on her outfit, but they will pick up the magazine because they really want to hear what she has to say. I understand she's trying to get away from the media portraying her as being more about style than substance (which is oddly the same criticism her husband has been getting lately), but I think purposely keeping that info. from the public only makes it more apparent that she and her team are uncomfortable with the way people who do like her have been embracing her.
I think for her to be taken more seriously as First Lady and bring about real change and results she should utilize the internet more like her husband did during his campaign. Just like how Hilary Clinton had her own office in the West Wing, Mrs.O should have her own blog or section on the white house website. I think this would be perfect because it's not as invasive and controversial as what Hilary did (which didn't have very good results) and she's not like Hilary in that she wants to affect legislation like the President. Her community outreach background and the fact that she left a major law firm with a Harvard Law degree to work in the community demonstrates that profoundly.
On her site she can list all of her platforms clearly (child hood obesity, military families, mentoring young women, etc.) and post comments, video's and pictures of events or behind the scenes things that she is doing with the American people just like the white house does on it's flickr page. She could also mirror the presidents use of the internet in the way he and his aides used it to help people organize mini town halls around the country to discuss and take action for health care legislation. In her own way she could organize info. sessions or classes in schools and community centers around the country to teach them about exercising, healthy eating and even have a live stream over the internet where she and a child nutritionist can talk to the groups as they organize. Or even in the context of her support of military families she can organize volunteer groups around the country to make care packages to send to our troops while also live streaming a message to be broadcast through the internet. She has great IT factor and a high approval rating that her aides are not utilizing to get her message out more clearly.
Wow. I know that was ALOT, but I just wanted to get that out. I just think her aides are acting like she's made of glass and I can tell from interviews that she wants to affect real change because she really does care about these issues.
About her fashion choices being reflected in Hollywood, I think it would be great if she did in fact have an impact. All of these starlets wear ridiculously expensive outfits that they did not purchase, but had their stylists borrow for them. It is so unrealistic that they have a different $5,000 outfit for every event. It would be awesome if they took a cue from Mrs.O and actually use their own clothing and mixed high and low the way she does. This would also force their stylists to be more creative by re-using and mixing different pieces and accessories to create new outfits like Mrs.O does. I'm so tired of seeing the same 10 starlets in the same new designer dress that they don't even own. 90% of the stars today have no real style, they just have stylists who borrow so they can appear to have style.
Look at this never before seen pic of the FLOTUS provided by the White House flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/4056241203/sizes/l/
Fabolous.
You make some very good points, Ari.
Michelle has been doing an awful lot since she stepped into her new role and it would be nice if some of us were able to read for ourselves just what an amazing woman she is rather than hunting around the internet for snippets of information, although this amazing for keeping me in the loop. I swear, I could never get tired of Michelle Obama. I check this site daily for news and updates.
What you say about Hollywood starlets is so true. Many of them have no personal style, they just throw together what their stylists gives them but Michelle has her own personal style and I love the fact that she often wears more affordable pieces and mixes up her palate.
I love the necklace but I would love to see a close up on the piece that she wore in Moscow.
Kudos to the First Lady !!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2009/oct/30/michelle-obama-classical-music
This necklace appears on the FALLON portion of the Fenton/Fallon webpage.....the..........shall we say "edgier" side of things......Spring/Summer 09 collection.
I happen to love this kind of edgy jewelry but for the more "delicate" readers of Mrs. O, I suggest you turn the volume off while perusing this portion of the site.
http://www.fallonjewelry.com/#/collections
Really beautiful piece.
You raised some interesting points, Ari. I agree with you Charlene. Living in Japan, I get to see alot of designs, that are just too much on the cutesie side, right from the hair accessories to the bags and shoes, you name it, it's all here.... I used to walk right past such things in the past. But because of Michelle Obama, I now tend to stop and take a good look! The girly stuff doesn't send me the other way like it used to. I guess I'm learning to embrace the fun in fashion. What a pretty and interesting necklace!
You raised some interesting points, Ari. I agree with you Charlene. Living in Japan, I get to see alot of designs, that are just too much on the cutesie side, right from the hair accessories to the bags and shoes, you name it, it's all here.... I used to walk right past such things in the past. But because of Michelle Obama, I now tend to stop and take a good look! The girly stuff doesn't send me the other way like it used to. I guess I'm learning to embrace the fun in fashion. What a pretty and interesting necklace!
I love this necklace. Who would've thunk to put satin ribbons on a necklace? I only wish Mrs. O would borrow some knockout jewels for State Dinners and the like from Harry Winston or Tiffany's, two great American high-end jewellers. I think that there are some occasions where costume jewelry is not appropriate and the real thing (even borrowed) would make a great fashion statement. I'm certain that any high-end jeweller would love to lend Mrs.O pieces for special occasions and perhaps even give her some fantastic jewelry!
I checked the Ikram and lorenze links that Mrs. T provided and couldn't find the necklace at either of them. If someone can find it and post a direct link, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!
Neither can I, marabout40. This is such a classic piece of jewellry. I love it.
@maraabout40 and jestina, you may need to contact Ikram or Dana Lorenz @ Fenton directly. Those sources were given to me by the designer firsthand. The necklace may not be available online.
http://www.fallonjewelry.com/#/collections
Give it time to download, move your cursor over the photo strip, and the strip of jewelry photos will begin to scroll upward. This necklace is down a bit so be patient. Tip: If you want scrolling to pause, move your cursor off the photo strip. Moving it back on will restart the scrolling.
If you get lost, it is in the SS 2009 collection.
There is a contact number and a listing for their New York boutique here:
http://www.fallonjewelry.com/#/contact
Sorry about the spamming, but that Fallon website is very chic but very challenging to navigate.
A list of stores that carry their jewelry is here. I was mystified about scrolling until I saw the little black dot in the green vertical splash. That's the scroll button - just drag it down the list.
http://www.fallonjewelry.com/#/stores
Thanks for the instructions, BeeGee. I now see the necklace on the site, although, I was hoping to see how much it costs and how to order it.
I believe it's between $600 - $700. I'm sure if you call Ikram or the contact # for Fenton, you would be able to order it via the phone.
Thanks for all of your posts and comments. We don't currently sell from our websites...but plan to soon. I like to credit the Ikram boutique because we believe The First Lady purchases Dana's pieces there...you may also see this style at www.charmandchain.com where prices on he collection are listed and pieces are sold. xo, FENTON-FALLON
A fantastic piece - A mix of hard and soft, feminine and hard. A surprising but wonderful mix of unusual elements. It really works for me. Must buy this piece - love it. And the way Mrs Obama paired it with the Jason Wu was awesome. This necklace turned what was a beautiful but simple dress into a dazzling and amazing look.
I agree Lota. In Mrs O a lot of designers make the point of saying that Michelle is cutting edge because she isn't scared to accessorise and make her own mark on her outfit.
To this day, the blue sheath dress that she wore to the DNC is my all time favourite but I wonder if I would feel the same if the brooch was not attached. Again, the pin that she wore with the inauguration outfit really put the wow on it. It actually brightened the whole suit especially as dusk was falling and you could see the twinkles on it,