O-Mazing!
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 7:43 PM 
Photo by Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images
This is too much for us! Mrs. O made an appearance this evening at the American Ballet Opening Night Spring Gala, wearing a metallic black sleeveless dress. The corseted top and full, sculptural hip (what we can make out of it), appear to have an Elizabethan influence. We are dying to know who made this dress.
Update: The Associated Press reports that Mrs. O's dress is Azzedine Alaia.
An anonymous tipster reveals Mrs. O has owned this Alaia dress for two years, and decided to pull it out of her closet for last night's event. The First Lady accessorized with Loree Rodkin earrings and diamond bangle bracelets, the same worn on election night. We must say, Jill Biden looks equally O-mazing, in a Spring 2009 Reem Acra dress. These are seriously chic Americans.
Photo used with kind permission from our anonymous friend
Reader Comments (203)
OMG! SHE LOOKS FAB!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh My! I haven't seen the entire look, but goodness gracious the woman looks stunning!
I love the top of the dress, so distinctive and unique!
WOW! This is amazing!! She looks absolutely stunning! LOVE the dress - the pattern/texture of the fabric, the collar, the seaming.....beautiful. And her hair looks sensational! LOVE the photo with Caroline.
Outstanding. She is really coming into her own. Love this dress
More Pictures!
http://www.daylife.com/photo/030Yf2Ngvlgra
So lovely and unique! Even in a black ensemble she knows how to sparkle and stand out. Can't wait to find out who the designer is.
Simply STUNNING! She's is on a roll. I'm so amazed
I can't wait to see the full length. She looks absolutely stunning!!!
And even though this is Mrs. O's site, may I say how wonderful Caroline Kennedy looks. She has kept a fabulous figure into her fifties--even after three children.
Wow! She looks amazing! I just saw the pic on Day Life and it took my breath away.
Fab-uuuuu-LOUS!
Ooh, now that's fun. Can't wait to see some other views.
Sexy, stylish, and fun to the max! I can't wait to see a full look.
What a fantastic dress! And I love the diamond bangles on her arm!! Wow
the fabric looks lovely; not generally a fan of that style of collar but it looks good on her. can't wait to see the rest of it.
This is about the purple Mizrahi ensemble she wore to the ribbon cutting @ the Met earlier today. There are a bunch more photos now on Day Life showing her in different "poses," and I have to say I don't like the fit of the dress on her. The top of the outfit seems really big and swallowed her small frame up top while the width of the skirt portion of the jacket is too narrow for her hips so the jacket pockets seem to sit almost on her derriere instead of on her thighs (as shown in the photo on Mizrahi's website). I love Mrs. Obama. This is not a criticism of her. I just don't think the ensemble was suited for her lovely and unique figure. She's like me - very small up top and fuller around the hips. These high-end designers make clothes to fit stick figured models. No offense to stick figured models. :)
She looks so sexy and chic! I got a forward today with pics of her from the poetry jam. The subject line said "no first lady has ever looked this good." She continues to switch it up, and with a wow factor!
Black, metallic, sleeveless is great. I'm not sure the cut of the armhole of this pilgrim collar is as flattering to her arms as just a regular sleeveless cut. I'm looking forward to seeing better pictures of the fabric and the silhouette.
I'd like to see the back of Caroline's dress. Great hair, great color on her.
first time commenter here...what a great site :).
she looks gorgeous as always. i wonder what type of fabric her dress is made of.
I wish they had a full length pic..is the dress short?
I love the metallic fabric, and from what I can see of it, I like it a lot. But I haven't seen the full length of it to make a full opinion. The pilgrim collar would look terrible on me, but as usual, Mrs. O can pull it off. Her evening looks are just really fabulous. Is it just me, but with every event she seems more glowing and happy? She has really embraced the role of First Lady and doing it with gusto, as she said in that Oprah interview. She never looks like she's forced to be there or that any event is beneath her. She always seems genuinely happy to be supportive in any way she can. She carries herself like a woman who takes the time to care for herself inwardly and outwardly and that her husband and family love her too. I think that when you are filled within yourself with that love, you can easily then give it to others---hence the famous "Michelle hugs" that everyone stands in line for!
The First Lady looks so beautiful and charming. Caroline Kennedy looks beautiful aswell. She looks like JFK alo, much more than she favors Jackie.
Me likey a LOT, who is the designer is what I wanna know. I thought of TOLEDO right away, but I guess we have to wait and see.
Michelle is so beautiful, she looks awesome tonight... love, love this look, its perfection
I don't understand what Mrs. O is doing today. Art and culture events here in New York City --- this is a situation where she could employ her most self-conscious, even provocative and avant-garde ideas and they would work. Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Rei Kawakubo would actually be appropriate in this situation. Instead, she's chosen to do "First Lady demure."
I'm a bit disappointed. The lavender color at the Met was lovely, but used in such a conservative way, without contrast coloring, that it felt "matchy-matchy" and the cut could have dated from 40 years ago. Except for the self-belting, nothing really said "Mrs. O". This evening's Peter Pan collar for the ballet, well unless the full-length view makes it ironic, I'm still not sure what she means. I hope she's being witty and not trying to fit in.
I thinks she needs a stylist. She seems a lovely person, but this dress (in the photos posted so far) photographs oddly. She looks like a Star Trek extra.
I must say it again, that purple Isaac Miz dress is divine on her. The black looks really nice but i would love to see a better pic, the top half looks great.
Anyone found out who the designer is for the black metallic dress?
Alsace, I think she's just being herself. If she wants to be "first lady demure" as you put it, then that's what she's going to be for that moment and when she feels like being avante-garde she'll pull out the Martin Margiela and rock the hell out of it like we know she usually does. As women we have so many choices in terms of how we want to present and represent ourselves through clothing. She should be able to represent what ever mood she wants. Given her personal and sartorial history haven't we already learned that this woman is too confident and self-assured to "try to fit in" or conform to other peoples standards?
This dress looks like something from The Jetsons..lol..with the collar..kinda robotic like.
One thing for sure Mrs. O is definitely unique, different, and a risk-taker..gotta giver her credit.
I would like to see a full length shot though
I love both of today's outfits...BUT, the false eyelashes have to go. They make her look like a Kewpie doll. No thanks. Caroline Kennedy looks natural and lovely, so it can be done. In fact, Michelle always looks natural and lovely without the falsies.
Ari, I agree with you. But so many commenters had earlier posted their suspicions she might wear the Margiela tuxedo tonight, and secretly I may have hoped so, too --- I'd thought perhaps she may even have ordered a full-length dress from him. That would have been wonderful! I wanted her to pull the stops out in New York, so I'm disappointed. But she can do whatever she chooses, of course.
Ok, according to WWD first lady left her box and Desiree was with her wearing black balenciaga.
Someone give me full lengh picture.......GRRRAAA
I understand Alsace. I was one of the posters that talked about the Margiela tuxedo being a possibility too, but when she does wear it I'm sure it will be breath taking.
wow she looks AMAZING!!! as always!
Another Brit?
Hi..lol
I love the architectural elements of this dress (what I can see of it). The lines, angles and curves make it very modern and yet traditional at the same time. I'm looking forward to the full unveiling of the dress and designer.
The hair-in-the-face swoop is quite sexy. She looks like an intergalactic First Lady tonight, and Caroline looks like the saint next door, and I mean that in a good way. It's hard to look this good in pictures!
AHH! LOVE LOVE LOVE
www.fashion-for-love.blogspot.com
i hope we will be able to see the whole dress
Her hair looks fabulous; and the collar on that dress? Divine! :)
http://cafefashionista.blogspot.com
New York at night agrees with Mrs. O. She has looked amazing both times she has appeared there. I have not read the posts above (I did not want to be influenced), but the dress might be Thierry Mugler. His outfits have that distinctive corset shape and I remember a recent uproar about Beyonce wearing one of his creations which made her look "hippier" than usual. So far, the little bit that I've seen of Mrs. O indicates she looks lovely in the dress; that color is great on her, sort of reminds me of her Kennedy Center Black outfit.
Something CRAZY is happening with the bottom half of that dress, and by crazy I mean AMAZING.
Lilly O, the fabric and fitted top of this reminded me of the Kennedy Center dress too.
I'm seeing reports that this is an Alaia dress and that she also wore a Thakoon jacket.
Cafe Fashionista, I adore your site!
This design is so interesting with the Elizabethan influence, but because of that, I'm fully prepared to see Mrs. O's hips accentuated in a full length photo---the price paid for a creative design. That being said, I still like this design and absolutely love the fabric. To me, this outfit is different (yes modern and futuristic looking) and not typical First Lady attire. It's daring to say the least and anything but conservative. The collar and from the waist down make this outfit quite unique, and I also like that it is cocktail length and not a floor-length gown.
Mrs. T, are there any photos of the Thakoon jacket anywhere? That was so cool on the prior thread of the Mizrahi folks doing a video about monitoring this site and the comments today---I betcha a lot of designers are coming here daily! And also I have to say it as well....those darn pesky podiums must go!
I'm not a fan of this piece. I wish she would've picked a softer color and softer outfit. I agree with whoever said the false eyelashes need to go. It's not working and really goes in the face of natural.
I did really like the purple this afternoon though.
Side note, I thought it was funny how during the comments today she mentioned how she personally is doing her part to offer economic stimulus to the arts industries -- it seemed to me she was implying her fashion purchases. She's so down to earth.
this is the best fuller length view that i've seen so far:
cache(dot)daylife(dot)com/imageserve/08PS6awfH65Cd/610x(dot)jpg
To Ari and anyone else interested in video of Mrs.O at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Met:
www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=lR2B3rcyVF4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emetmuseum%2Eorg%2Fworks%5Fof%5Fart%2Famerican%5Fdecorative%5Farts%2Famerican%5Fwing%5F2009%2Easpx&feature=player_embedded
I have no idea why its so long.
To add to my previous post I wish the white house would aggregate her videos on its youtube channel as they do the presidents, its tiring to hunt down her videos all the time.
I like her outfit I thought it was edgy and daring, no other first lady would rock that, thats for sure.
Mrs. O. always looks fabulous! This dress is just awesome tho! Love it! Jackie