Michelle Obama Challenge

The super adorable Cat from the cleverly stylish blog, Thrifty Muse, put forth a unique challenge: create an outfit inspired by our new First Lady, Michelle Obama. I love challenges, so immediately said, "I'm in!"

Now, when it comes to Michelle Obama I'm totally an admirer, although I'm probably more interested in how she might redefine the role of "First Lady". I'm also not much of a label devotee; I'm fairly clueless regarding which particular designers are in the forefront of high fashion at a given moment. I do know what I like, so I just sort of go from there :)

Yet like so many women I can't help but find myself utterly fascinated by Ms. Obama's sense of style and continue to find her particularly striking and totally relatable. Specifically, Michelle Obama has what I perceive to be a restrained flourish with accessories, strong attention to detail, and keen eye for the marriage of simple lines, textures & vibrant colors. The bottom line is this is a smart, savvy, down to earth woman in a lofty place, seemingly keeping true to herself and what she likes, what she feels is appropriate. She has her own style and seems at ease with it all. I say more power to her :)

But back to the challenge -- could I put together an outfit that looked anything remotely like what she wears? I mean, I admire her style, and yes, share a love of brooches, but I don't think our tastes are really that similar over all. Certainly our lifestyles aren't at the moment, lol. This was harder than I thought

After looking thru some pix of her I found a REALLY simple outfit that I thought I could imitate at least somewhat. Of course, I've no idea what she wore on the bottom half so that made it even easier, lol, I admit. But for what it's worth, here is my version along side the actual photo of Ms. Obama...and then how I changed the details of the ensemble to fit my own, personal "real life" style.

My cardigan is Daisy Fuentes from Kohls, the satin blouse is from NY&Co and the brooch was an Etsy find. In the full length photo on the left you can see the black, wide-leg BandolinoBlu trousers from Macy's, the black Merona short boots from Target and a necklace gifted from my mother (I've also moved the pin down to close the cardi, my preference).

This was absolutely fun & a total blast. It made me think about what defines style and what interest I have in others' interpretations of fashion trends. Thanks so much to Cat for coming up with this truly exceptional challenge -- great idea!