Simply Stunning
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 10:18 PM 
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Time Inc.
We are beside ourselves, our First Lady is so beautiful. Really, there are no words.
Mrs. O is in New York City this evening, to address Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" gala.
Update: Red Carpet Fashion Awards reports that Mrs. O wore a simple black sleeveless Azzedine Alaia gown, with a Peter Soronen corset, accessorized with multiple strands of necklaces by Loree Rodkin, and simple diamond stud earrings.
Correction: Mrs. O wears a Michael Kors square neck gown in stretch, double face wool crepe. 
Photo by The White House
A fantastic slideshow from Talking Points Memo follows here.
REMARKS OF FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE AWARDS New York, NY; May 5, 2009
Thank you Rick for that kind introduction and thank you for including me in tonight's festivities. It is a pleasure to join you all. There are few times in history when the saying 'we are all in this together' would be more applicable than now. Events like this one show how truly connected our world is; how one person's invention can create an entirely new economy; how one person can change how we see the world. The ability of one person to influence the outcome of someone else's life inspires me.
When I made the decision to leave my job to found Public Allies Chicago, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth for public service, I realized right away that I had made the right decision.There are few things more rewarding than watching young people recognize that they have the power to enrich not only their lives, but the lives of others as well. But careers in public service are not always encouraged. We push our young people to strive for things, an advanced degree, a job title, a big salary. Rarely do we urge them to stop and think about what their passion is, what kind of life they want to live, what kind of neighbors and colleagues and parents they want to be.
In doing so, we, as a society, often miss out on their creativity, their inventiveness, their resourcefulness- and some really good ideas! We also miss out on the opportunity to inspire a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs who will direct their energy and talent toward solving their community's - and our nation's - most serious social problems. Careers focused on lifting up our communities - whether helping transform troubled schools or training workers for green jobs or helping low-income families access health care - are not always obvious. But, at a time when our nation is facing unprecedented challenges, encouraging careers in public service and social innovation is more important than ever. Already, we are seeing young people leading the way with their entrepreneurial spirit, energy and commitment to serving their communities.
For example, Charles Best, a former Bronx public school teacher, started an online philanthropic marketplace called Donors Choose to help teachers who were spending up to $500 a year out of their own pockets for basic classroom materials. Through Donors Choose, ordinary citizens can directly fund projects initiated by enterprising public school teachers. Online donations have helped students in San Jose become avid readers through the Dr. Seuss series. An art class in the Bronx had no paint brushes. Now every student has a set.
Rebecca Onie is a social entrepreneur who founded "Project Health" to help break the link between poverty and poor health. I remember meeting Rebecca when I was at the University of Chicago and I was very impressed with her. Rebecca organizes college students to staff Help Desks in urban medical centers, universities and community centers. Students then connect low-income families to other critical community and government resources - such as housing vouchers, supplemental nutrition assistance, and educational support. This year, 600 college volunteers will dedicate 100,000 hours to connect over 15,000 low-income children and adults to the resources they need to be healthy."
And then there is John Alford who grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn, attended college in North Carolina and then Harvard Business School. John recently launched NOLA 180 a 'turn-around' organization for failing public schools in New Orleans. NOLA 180 transforms these public schools into high-functioning charter schools that prepare every student for college. Langston Hughes Academy is the first school to benefit. Students spend 50 percent more time in their classrooms. Parents are given teacher's cell phone numbers so they can call for help with homework. And, in honor of their namesake, Langston Hughes, students receive instruction in persuasive writing, public speaking, debate and poetry. In its first year, Langston Hughes students outperformed the city's public school average in reading, writing and math.
Charles, Rebecca and John. I know they are here somewhere. Congratulations and thanks for all of your hard work. This is exactly the kind of social innovation and entrepreneurship we should be encouraging all across this country.
And that is why tonight, I am pleased to announce that as part of the new Serve America Act, the Administration is creating a Social Innovation Fund to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs, like the ones I just mentioned, expand their successful approaches to tackling our most pressing national challenges. The idea is simple: find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country. By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented non-profits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.
In this room of Leaders and Revolutionaries, Builders and Titans, Artists and Entertainers, Scientists and Thinkers, Heroes and Pioneers, I think we can all agree, we did not get to where we are alone. Our success was made possible with the encouragement of a diligent parent or teacher, a grandparent who told us we had real talent, an older sibling who paved the way and set a good example, a scholarship or grant that created an unexpected opportunity, or a neighbor or community leader who told us to dream big. That's certainly been the case in my own life.
I stand here today because of people who loved me, and pushed me and believed in me. I stand here today because of scholarships and grants and experiences that gave me opportunities I was afraid to dream of. I never imagined that, as a result of all that support, I would be in a position to be a role model for girls around the globe. Girls who look at me and see something more for themselves, more than society expects of them. Girls who now think anything is possible. As global leaders, let's not underestimate the power each of us has to change the world for someone - and let us not be afraid to try.
Loree Rodkin, Michael Kors, Peter Soronen in Outfits
Reader Comments (332)
Check out this pic with no podium blocking the view.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/What-Is-the-Social-Innovation-Fund/
Dee, you made me CHEER! Well done. Beautiful post and expressively put. I agree with everything you have said and couldn't have put it better myself.
Mara, you can say what you like on here - and you do.
My request is, if people repeatedly are repeatedly asking you why you have to be so negative, instead of leaping on them and accusing them of being nasty, perhaps you could just take five minutes and go back over ten or twenty of your posts and ask yourself if maybe they have a point.
Because sometimes people are brave enough to say something because they hope you'll get it, not because they don't like you.
Is there, perhaps, a nicer way of saying "God this woman needs to look in a mirror - someone get her a stylist, she's a disgrace to the nation"???
Maybe... "I would have preferred that with a tailored jacket"???
Leah D, Bevi: Mrs T and I were on a bit of a hunt for that Jonathan Saunders dress last week! After I'd been through some Callie Shell photo's I realised that it was actually a sleeveless dress that had been worn with a black top underneath to make it warmer - something I've done myself in the past. Then Mrs T tracked the designer down. Mind you, she had a head start of some weeks on me!
Repeatedly repeatedly.....
Is this the longest a thread has gone? Wow! We are going to LOSE OUR MINDS Saturday with the White House Correspondents Dinner.
@B and Mara -- it's sounding like you're feeling victimized now. I'm sorry that you feel that way. To me, it's pretty simple: it's not the criticism that is the issue, it's the way that it is expressed.
I can name several pieces that I haven't really liked, I don't swoon over everything I see. I believe I referred to having those turquoise boots as being lined in "squirrel fur." I wasn't fond of wearing that that Moschino blouse under the Watanabe sweater. I said that the lavender argyle looked too "kindergarten teacher." I said something about that Tracy Feith dress but it ended up getting erased because it turned out I was responding to a troll (no big deal.)
But I feel like I try to make it clear that I'm just talking about my own tastes -- not that Mrs. O needs to change hers for me, not that she "can't dress," not that she "needs" a stylist (I am completely agnostic on that issue; I just don't care one way or the other); that she "doesn't know" how to wear a belt, etc.
Sometimes the critics, NOT ALL OF THEM, but on occasion, come across like Mrs. O is just plain ol' wrong and they're the ones who know all the answers, because they have the "Fashion Bible of When It's Appropriate to Go Sleeveless and How Many Strands Of Pearls to Wear" or whatever. I think that tone is what gets irritating. If you think that this outfit looks great, why preface it with "after several horrid outfits in a row..." And if you do, why be surprised that people are going to say something about it?
I completely agree that some people, including me, can get overly defensive. I am trying very hard to work on that, seriously. I get sarcastic sometimes, but I'm a smart-ass in real life too.
On the other hand, it is also possible that the critics could adjust the tone of their criticism. Communication is a two-way street. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to try and be a good board contributor.
I don't feel victimized in the least. I simply get weary of the negativity on both sides of the issues. There's a polite way to say that you don't like something, and there's a polite way to say that someone else was rude. Things like attacking others and the unbelievable amount of name calling I've seen are simply uncalled for and have sometimes turned a fun site into a not-so-fun site. That's my position. I'm not a victim in real life or online.
This is the nature of the wild-and-woolly Internet. Sometime online personas get out of hand.
All I can do is try to model the way I think others should be -- and you have helped me with that, by suggesting that I tame my sarcasm when it gets overbearing.
But I'm not perfect! (ha!) Sometimes I'll go off the reservation. I'm sure you or Mara or someone else will be there to smack me back into line. All I'm saying is that on occasion, there really is an unpleasant, attacking tone from Mrs. O's critics -- it's not just the defenders causing the "problem."
I think everybody needs to take the Meyers Briggs personality test. It is almost impossible to understand tone in written correspondence. People are prone to mistakenly get feelings hurt in written communication. Further if you are a feeler rather than a thinker, then how you respond to language is just different. For example, a thinnker would say,"oh those shoes are a different style on you." A feeler would say,"don't those shoes make your legs look great." Feelers need to affirm others more and thinkers do not. Feelers also need to themselves be personally affirmed a lot. A male feeler will tell a woman she looks great, and a male thinker might think it but rarely say it. So, feelers need the world and comments to be warm and fuzzy and thinkers are "just the facts, ma'am."
The recycling continues...Here is today's photo of First Lady Michelle Obama in the same floral cardigan she wore underneath the black blazer, while on a site-seeing tour in France with Carla Bruni.
http(colon)//news(dot)yahoo(dot)com/nphotos/Michelle-Obama/ss/events/pl/050108michelleobama
Parthenia, great suggestion, but I for one am not talking about anything so subtle as tone! I'm talking about language--on both sides--that is what it is and leaves no room for interpretation.
By the way, Christina, I'm not perfect either! I am the queen of sarcasm and have to work very hard to keep that little demon in its place because it just wants to speak up all the time! LOL. And I too am a self-confessed smart ass, but I try to control that tendency online, and I very much admire your new self-restraint!
Time for a new photo! This has to be the longest thread on record.
Mara, I hope you can take the latest comments as indicative of people wanting to include, rather than exclude, you from this blog community. I agree with moja31's comments, and Posh Tater, your rewording example is perfect! But then I always enjoy your posts.
*I* messages or statements are the best way to go, imho. "Her last seven outfits were horrid" is what a paid fashion writer might write. Not good writing, but not unexpected. "I didn't like her last seven outfits" is what you can get away with in a Net discussion without creating an unpleasant and unnecessary stir. Well usually. I agree, not always here, LOL!
That said, I hate for people not to feel comfortable having strong opinions and expressing them with spice. So I will jump in and take my chances on the chopping block. The Cinco de Mayo dress? Great idea for the occasion, the beading unexpected, yay Michelle! The color? Oh, the color. To me, the color of mucus during a bacterial infection. I can't imagine anyone looking good in it. But some people absolutely love it. I don't understand it, but people are different and diversity is wonderful.
Okay, I'll go hide under the desk for a while now (smile).
Stunning look. I think her hairstyle has a lot to do with it too - very flattering on her face.
daylife(dot)com/photo/02hBaiFeesfxD?q=Michelle+Obama
The first lady today. I abosutely love the top (without the belt).. The colors are great
thanks for the link to the TPM slideshow, it has the clearest photo of the corset that i've seen so far; it's gorgeous.
To Mara
You are certainly entitled to your opinions but it is the nastiness with which you express them that bothers me. This is a "happy" blog where we express our admiration and disappointment with whatever the First Lady is wearing at any given time. Yes, if you don't like an outfit you can say so but lighten up! you don't have to twist the needle and draw blood when you disagree.
Everyone, let Mara be, perhaps if we leave her alone she will disagree without being disagreeable.
And JoJo, yes, you should bite your tongue, your comment implies that sometimes you'd like to say something nasty. I come here for a constructive experience since there are so many, many blogs out there that thrive on aggressively tearing down our First Lady.
Elaine B - why hide under a desk? Your comment on the color of the Cinco de Mayo dress seemed expressive but not offensive - you did not say, for example, when will Michelle ever learn that the color of that dress looks like snot! I think it takes a bit more work to put an expressive spin on an opinion without being insulting or insensitive.
Of course, the perception of reception is owned by the reader in most cases, not the writer, if that makes any sense. So you just never how comments will be received by any one reader. I have beenguilty of overreacting to posts and of writing my own stupid posts, so I am no one to pass judgment, although sometimes I can't help myself.
Myers-Briggs inventories and the teaching of using *I* messages have been standards of character education curricula for decades. Again, it takes works to use these tools but they were good points to mention, IMO.
I think the greatest part of this outfit was the hair. the hair made the outfit. Seriously. anyone agree with me? I think the whole outfit wouldn't have been as wow without her hair like that.
I agree Mrs. A, her hair was on point!!!
but her hair and make up is always right! (i mean we all have our opinions on her various outfits, but she ALWAYS gets hair and make up right in my opinion)
ps: you can always tell when a majority of people like her outfit, the comment sections goes wayyyy over 200 comments....lol
@"Your comment on the color of the Cinco de Mayo dress seemed expressive but not offensive"
Good, thanks, Bevi. Just what I was going for.
Re *I* messages, I know that's been taught for a long time, but in my experience most people have never heard of it. If they had, we'd have happier blogs on the Internet and very few wars in the world!
Onward to choose my own fashion for the day...
Looking at the first photo in the TPM photos I see that the corset was attached in the front but in the other photos she has turned it to the back.
I like the bodice of the Cinco de Mayo dress and don't even mind the color, but I'm not thrilled with the skirt. I read somewhere (can't remember where) that she wears pleated skirts to camoflage her hips, but I think they (and all skirts with extra volume) have the opposite effect. I think the Michael Kors dress--solid color, soft fabric--does a much better job of slimming and proportioning.
I will of course be choosing a bright shade of mucus for the day, how about you Elaine??
I should be very clear - that part of your earlier posting made me laugh like a drain!
@Posh Tater - I will of course be choosing a bright shade of mucus for the day, how about you Elaine?? that part of your earlier posting made me laugh like a drain!
I thought I'd just wear a whole chicken pot pie myself. If that ain't mucousy I don't know what is!
As for draining, cleaning out one's sinuses is ALWAYS a good thing. (giggle)
I saw some interesting comments here a while ago by someone new named Sharon. I responded to her comment about Michelle's vulnerability, and my comment appeared right after I made it. But now that I've returned, it seems that not all the comments are showing up for me. The last comment I see is by Elaine B at 7:37 pm on May 7, 2009. I'm on the West Coast, but I believe it would be 12:57 EDT right now.
Have these comments permanently disappeared?
Is my computer failing in some way to show all the comments?
Thanks.
Sorry. My bad. The comments by Sharon and me are on the thread "Pretty O", not here.
She just looks flawless, gracegul, and stunning. What else can I say...she's redefined beauty and I'm glad for it.
Any one knows what size is Mrs.O? She is very tall and looks like a model without being razor thin.
Mrs. O is an inspiration to me, to not be afraid to wear what you like regardless of who doesn't. Ten thumbs up my First Lady.
i love michelle obama.i adore her.this is one of her best dress and looks so far.
First ladies don't get any better than this! A vision of simplistic elegance and class and a speech to match!
Show off those curves Michelle. Gotta love that she is every women, and not a size zero. I love her full torso and hips, and she's not afraid to show them off.
Her front side seems to be getting bigger, maybe there's a baby on the way. How wonderful would that be, a baby born in the White House.