Nearly a decade after leaving the White House, Michelle Obama is ready to talk about her fashion choices and the attention placed on her appearance during her eight years as first lady.
The former first lady sat down with "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts to discuss her new book, "The Look," an in-depth and personal look at her White House style.
In the book, Obama explains for the first time the level of intention she placed on her fashion choices as first lady, and the messages she wanted to send with those choices.
“I really thought about what I wanted to say with my fashion. I wanted to, you know, talk about inclusion, diversity, opening up opportunities, and fashion was one of those tools that allowed me to do that,” she said. “The designers that I chose -- there were young designers; there were women designers; there were also immigrant American designers.”
The former first lady said that when she chose the styles she wore, she wanted to showcase the best designers and the diversity that "makes America great."
"I was able to show the world the outstanding qualities of people who come from different places, with different backgrounds, with different skin colors, from different genders and sexual orientations," Obama said.
"Excellence is not measured that way, and it is true in fashion and in law and in journalism and in research. Let us not forget that," she continued. "And that was the point -- to find the best designers, to give them a stage to show the world how great they were. That's what makes America great."
For her first Inaugural Ball in 2009, the former first lady chose a gown by Jason Wu, a Taiwan-born, New York-based designer who, at the time, was in his early 20s and just starting his career.
“I thought about who was gonna do my inaugural gown, and someone like Jason Wu,” she said, adding, “He had just gotten started [and] is a fabulous designer with a beautiful story, an immigrant American.”
The former first lady said Wu’s story shows the importance of immigrant Americans to not only fashion but society as a whole.
Reflecting on current times, she said, “When folks are facing tough economic times, when jobs are scarce, when opportunities seem to be less, [when] it's harder to get ahead in this economy, it’s easy to have somebody make you think it's somebody else's fault, you know? So let's blame the other.”
“I think that's one of the things we struggle with, but when we look around at truly who has built this country, who keeps it moving, you know, it's all of us, and all of us is Black, brown, Puerto Rican, Mexican American, Italian, Irish, Haitian,” she said. “That's the story of America, right? And it is the most true in fashion.”
When Obama’s husband Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as president in 2013, the then-first lady chose Wu again to design her second inaugural gown.
While she used fashion to send a message during her time in the White House, Michelle Obama said she hesitated to talk about fashion as first lady for fear her choices would “become a distraction.”
"During my eight years in the White House, although there was a lot of attention given to my fashion, my physical appearance, all of that, I made it a point to shy away from that conversation, because I was worried that it would become a distraction," Obama told Roberts of why she chose now, nearly one decade later, to open up about her fashion in “The Look.”
With each very intentional fashion choice she made, the former first lady said she thought of the people whom she wanted to “make proud.”
“In the back of my mind were all the mothers and the grandmothers who I wanted to make proud,” she said. “I didn't want to show up just any kinda way. I wanted to show up with thought, and consideration, and energy, and light.”
After leaving the White House in 2017, Michelle Obama told Roberts she felt more freedom in her fashion choices.
During her tour for her post-White House bestselling memoir "Becoming," the former first lady's fashion continued to make headlines as she defined her personal style further. A pair of thigh-high Balenciaga boots she wore at a tour stop at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn quickly went viral.
“So that was another aspect of me,” she said. “Would I have worn gold thigh-high boots as first lady? No. No. I would not have done that.”
When the former first lady returned to the White House in September 2022 for her portrait unveiling, she said she intentionally wore braids, another sign of the freedom she now feels.
"That was intentional. I could've easily gotten braids out and done my hair," Obama told Roberts. "But it was, like, having me, the former first lady, a Black woman, show up in the world in her natural hair, even if I didn't do it for those eight years, I understood the importance of doing it at some point and signaling a message to young girls and to professionals out there. "
"The Look," on which Michelle Obama collaborated with her stylist, Meredith Koop, is a project that took two years to complete.
The book, available Nov. 4, features more than 200 photographs, including some never-before-seen images, according to its publisher, The Crown Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
When she first announced the book in June, the former first lady said she hoped to "reclaim" the narrative around her appearance by sharing her story in her own words.
In addition to "Becoming" and "The Look," Michelle Obama is also the author of "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times."
Watch "Michelle Obama: The Style, The Power, The Look: A Conversation With Robin Roberts" on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
