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Fashionistas excited about Michelle Obama's style

BY ANNE BRATSKEIR | anne.bratskeir@newsday.com

8:48 PM EST, November 5, 2008

U.S. President elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, wave to their supporters after his victory speech on Election Night gathering in Grant Park. (Getty Images / November 4, 2008)

Barbara Bush did the grandma thing when it came to fashion. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a pantsuit kinda gal. Laura Bush depended on classics from Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera for her ladylike, if not particularly distinctive, flair.

And then - wham!

Along comes Michelle Obama, whose youth and elegance is causing a near seismic reaction in the fashion community not seen since Jacqueline Kennedy.

" The White House will now have a modern mom who understands the lifestyle-value equation when it comes to dressing, living and expressing herself," said trend expert Tom Julian, president of a Manhattan-based consulting firm.

But it isn't easy being a fashion plate. On Tuesday night the future first lady wore a red-and-black chiffon Narciso Rodriguez dress from the spring 2009 collection. "It was brave and bold of her, but I didn't like the dress. She looks like a human lava lamp," said stylist and fashion personality Robert Verdi. "Narciso is a talented designer, and that piece was pretty for a cocktail party socialite in New York, but totally wrong for this moment."

Fashion bloggers mostly agreed, though a few suggested the choice was an exciting prediction of what's to come. Virginia Smith, of Vogue magazine, gave a thumbs up. "I think she looked great. . . . It shows she has confidence and knows what she likes."

As Obama is finding out, for anyone on the world stage, fashion hits and misses come with the territory. But save for Tuesday night, she's done pretty well. Most agree that she's best in those smart, streamlined pieces by Chicago designer Maria Pinto, like the one she wore for her husband's acceptance speech - a sleeveless, purple sheath accessorized with large pearls (oh-so-Jackie).

But while Kennedy loved couture (often French), Obama mixes it up. The flowered sundress she wore on "The View" cost $148 at White House/Black Market - which then could barely keep the frock in stock.

On the heels of Sarah Palin's $150,000 wardrobe debacle, Obama styled herself in a bright yellow J. Crew ensemble, which cost less than $400, for " The Tonight Show," . "She's a perfect example of today's value in dressing high and low," said Julian. "It's real. Not couture crazy."

Smith, who hints that talks are in the works for Obama to be on Vogue's cover, think's she'll "be a great role model. She's wearing classic, tailored sportswear separates, adding jewelry, a belt, at different price points. It's a great mix and a great way for women to dress."

With all eyes on her, Obama now faces the next big fashion moment, the Inaugural Ball. "I want to see her in an important American designer: Michael Kors, Donna Karan or Monique Lhuillier," says Verdi, who is champing at the bit to style Obama. "I'd 100 percent do it," says Verdi. "I'm sitting by the phone."