On Aug. 20, just over two months before the U.S. presidential election, former First Lady Michelle Obama took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, drawing attention not only for her speech but also for her outfit designed by a Korean American designer. The New York Times (NYT) noted in its analysis, “As she wrote in her memoir Becoming, she came to understand that if the spotlight was going to be thrust upon her, she might as well use every photon available to her own ends — including those focused on what she wore.”
Obama wore a deep navy sleeveless jacket paired with cropped pants that revealed her ankles. The outfit was a custom suit by Monse, an American luxury brand founded by Laura Kim, an Asian American, and Fernando Garcia, a Dominican-raised New York designer.
NYT fashion critic Vanessa Friedman remarked that choosing “the smaller fashion house over the establishment name was fully in line with Mrs. Obama’s practice, developed as first lady, of using her platform to highlight lesser-known businesses (especially fashion businesses) and designers who represent the stories she is telling: about entrepreneurship, the melting pot, the American dream. The election.”
According to Friedman, Kim is also one of the founders of Slaysians, a group of fashion insiders formed to combat anti-Asian hate.
The outfit itself also drew attention. Friedman described the design: “The lapels of the top were deconstructed and reconstructed to cross over the throat in an almost militaristic way, and the shoulders jutted out to frame the biceps.” She added, “It was both understated and edgy, kind of armorial. This was going to be a fight, her tunic and her speech suggested, and everyone should gear themselves up to get out the vote.”
Obama’s accessories were carefully chosen as well, Friedman noted. “Her most striking accessories were her exposed arms, which had, during her time in the White House, become a symbol of her personal strength and thus a lightning rod for both criticism and praise, and her waist-length power braids, her hair having functioned as a sort of declaration of independence after leaving the East Wing.”
During her husband’s tenure from 2009 to 2017, Obama maintained straightened hair instead of her natural afro, a symbol in the Black community, as it was virtually taboo among high-ranking government officials at the time. On her book tour in 2022, Obama shared that when her husband became the first Black president, she intentionally waited until she left the White House to wear her hair in braids, suggesting that the country was “just getting adjusted” to a Black woman as first lady. It wasn’t until November 2018, after her husband’s presidency, that Obama first appeared with her natural curly hair on the cover of Essence magazine.
Friedman noted, “But as a former first lady, she is free to make her own choices. Just as she felt free on Tuesday to remind the world that the presidency could be one of those ‘Black jobs’ Donald Trump had talked about.”
The Washington Post observed, “The deconstructed suiting of this Monse look calls to mind the avant-garde work of Margiela more than the pantsuits Obama has embraced after her stint in the White House.” In an interview with the Post, Kim said that Obama “provided a perfect encapsulation of their approach to deconstructed menswear for women.” She added, “I feel like last night, she really embodied our philosophy behind the brand better than we could ever have planned.”
