Tuesday
Jun072011
Delightful Dots
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 1:00 PM 
Photo by Jewel Samad / Getty Images
The President and First Lady greeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a White House arrival ceremony earlier today. For the occasion, Mrs. O chose a mixed print dot dress paired with pink pumps. Lovely!
Any thoughts on the designer? Update: The dress is confirmed as custom DVF from Resort 2012. You can see a peek of the dotted fabric here. Thanks to fashion journalist extraordinaire Jim Shi and various style savvy readers for the help!
tagged DVF
DVF
Reader Comments (33)
I would never have chosen pink pumps for a black and blue polka dot dress! It works though -- Mrs. O has a great fashion sense.
Mrs. O's shoe choices are never boring. Somehow, they always stand out while fitting in perfectly with her look.
Do you know what designer this is?
I think the dots on the upper part of the dress are pale pink, thus the pink shoes. Anyway, I wish Ms. Merkel would have worn a pretty summer dress also. She looks so nice in the black gown above, that I think a daytime dress would look so nice on her, especially in the heat of summer.
@ Mrs 25 - The dots on the navy blue part of the dress appear to be pale pink in a closeup on theobamadiary.com
Simply magnificent!!
Huffington Post says the designer is Diane von Furstenberg.
On Obama Foodrama, she says that the east wing has said this is a DVF.
so nice. so chic. Love it.
What a cute summer dress. The color combination looks great, but then again, she so often manages that. I think this dress is a bit out of the ordinary and LOVELY.
Love it!
@ Babs: Just a thought....I 100% agreed with you regarding Chancellor Merkel's attire until I saw a replay of this afternoon's ceremonies...during which she had to "inspect the troops" alongside POTUS (i.e. take a lap around the South Lawn past the military formations) and then shake hands with a bunch of kids who were in attendance. Can you imagine what would have been said if she wore a nice suit and flats to maneuver (sp) in the grass? ;-) And I'm sure keeping up with BO stride for stride is extremely difficult for anyone shorter than he and would be even worse in a skirt/dress and heels.
I still haven't learned the proper technique of how to stand or walk in grass in heels and have ruined more than one pair of shoes after giving up and just sinking into the ground when standing. ;-) My calf muscles are not that strong to stand on my toes the entire time. Yay for wedges!
Yikes.
Don't like this concoction at all.
There is way too much going on and it's not flattering at all.
Somehow I knew Michelle would redeem herself at the state dinner lol
I think she got this look right - daytime chic. But I think it's sometimes difficult to form an accurate opinion of a particular outfit from one or two still photographs. Mrs. O's Mexico State Visit gown was a case in point there, I feel.
I think this a a darling dress in a great color. In my opinion, it fits Mrs. O. well and is a great length for her.
I'm not sure about this dress. I like it but I don't love it. I think it would have been nicer if the print on the top half of the dress carried right through to the bottom half. It's cute but I'm not wow'ed. I hope this picture will 'shush' Miss DVF especially after the comments she made when the first lady wore a British designer to the China state dinner. Michelle Obama is a bigger lady that I could ever be because I would make it my duty to NEVER wear any items by a designer who would berate me so publicly for making a decision about the clothes I put on my back. Just goes to show what a true class act Michelle Obama is.
Really love this look. It is a conservative nod to Dries Van Noten and his clashing prints. Reminds me of when Mrs O put the floral sweater with a striped one. I thought that was very cleverly done.
I love the design of this dress; I like the the dots. Overall, the outfit is very nice.
I love the look! The shoes gives it the usual pop of color that stands out.
Incredibly playful and beautiful. Never thought "cute" would be an appropriate and flattering way of referring to an mature woman's clothing. Mrs. O manages to teach me something every time!
Playful and still professional! The pink pumps finish the outfit and don’t take away from the fun dress. How does she do it?
Charell S. for Bien Abye by Dayanne Danier
I don't care for the dress but I love her smile.
This dress is kind of interesting and playful, with that joyful smile to match. Mrs. O can pull off so much more than most of us could ever hope to dream of -- fashionwise, careerwise, relationship-wise. And, I do mean WISE. God Bless Mrs. O's parents!
You make a good point, Jestina. Probably Mrs. O just ignored DVF's and de la Renta's criticisms about the gorgeous McQueen outfit she wore for the official China state dinner , and gave them not a second thought. She's cool that way -- keeping her attention only on the things that truly matter. She probably liked this dress, and it didn't exactly matter that it was by DVF. Has Mrs. O ever worn DVF before? And, has she ever worn O. de la Renta before?
Jestina, Diane didn't exactly berate her though, did she? She said of all the critcism about wearing a British designer to an American state dinner that she was disappointed. Unfortunately she didn't make a simple statement she said it in her capacity as president of the CFDA. The very next day when WWD and Cathy Horyn had made it into this big dramatic scandal she apologized profusely and said Mrs. O has been SUPER supportive of American designers and she's really embarrased she said that and she would write Mrs. O a note. Come on, it would be so childish and petty to hold a grudge and not support an amazing American designer who she clearly already liked very much by wearing NUMEROUS DVF pieces in the past.
ODLR....he has made scathing remarks about her fashion choices and I don't believe we will ever see her in his clothes.
What I truly love is seeing Mrs. O wearing this dress and speaking at the press preview for the State Dinner (see video on the Obama Diary, and on youtube), where the guests of honor were young ladies from the D.C. area. How fantastic and special. Mrs. O is a leader and an inspiration!
Such great significance and impact to include young people/ young women in this special event (something that is obviously an ongoing outreach effort that has great importance for the First Lady). I am certain that Mrs. O holds these young people from the local community in such high regard because she remembers feeling left out of the political, cultural and academic institutions that were right in her backyard when she was growing up on Chicago's South Side. Mrs. O has spoken of this before, and it has also been described in biographies.
That dress is way too busy (says: Look at me!) and gives her an unflattering horizontal line. Doesn't she own white shoes?
I love the color and pattern of this dress. I wish it were available in stores vs a custom designer dress. I would be checking to see how it looked on me! :)
I LOVE polka dots, almost any season is a good one to wear polka dots (IMO). So it's no wonder that this dress does it for me! The different colors and and the asymmetry of the black background makes this so very pleasing. There's a pic on gettyimages that shows the sash bIowning in the wind.
I think our Michelle has it going on in this with this playful frock.
To me, it's a happy dress!
Perfectly unexpected! A real winner!
I wonder what DVF put in the letter. It seems Mrs. O has no grudges. She has worn DVF old and new.
Fabulous dress! Love it. Conservative style in a fun fabric and perfect toning of shoes to pink dots. 10 out of 10. AGAIN!
<< "Doesn't she own white shoes?" >>
*slow blink* Really?!
How many people own white shoes? Not sandals. Shoes. Me and all of my girlfriends abhor white shoes. The only reason I own a pair is because a social organization to which I belong requires uninterrupted white (head to toe) for certain formal/ceremonial events. Just to have a decent pair, I had to spend $400+ on a pair of white patent leather open-toe wedges by Prada. From what I've seen over many years, 99% of white shoes are ugly. Her pink pumps look just fine to me!
What is she wearing on the wrist?
saks is selling the dress for $365
http://bit.ly/sd3ciM