Bold Blue Barbara Tfank

Photo by Mandel Ngan / Getty Images

For tonight's State of the Union address, the First Lady wears a stunning sapphire blue twill dress by designer Barbara Tfank. The dress hails from the designer's Resort 2012 collection. On the accessories front: an elongated marquis pin from Alexis Bittar.

The radiant blue dress is somewhat of a departure from Mrs. O's more subdued dresses of SOTU past: plum Isaac Mizrahi in 2010 and grey Rachel Roy in 2011. It also represents a shining moment for Barbara Tfank, an artisanal, Los Angeles-based designer, who created standout dresses for the First Lady in 2010 and 2011.

Update: Directly following the State of the Union address, the president made a phone call from the Capitol to inform John Buchanan that his daughter Jessica was rescued by U.S. Special Operations Forces in Somalia. The moment is captured in an official photo released by the White House.

A Royal Affair

Photos by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters, Charles Dharapak / Getty Images

Well, if reuniting First Lady Mrs. O and the Queen weren't exciting enough, let's throw Kate Middleton (make that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge) into the mix! Oh my goodness!

For this historic occasion, Mrs. O has chosen a delightful dress. The mint hued floral frock is the gorgeous work of Barbara Tfank, from the designer's Resort 2011 collection, seen here. A pink cropped swing jacket also by Barbara Tfank and jeweled brooch complete the look.

A note on Catherine: Grazia UK reports that the Duchess wears the Shola Bandage Dress from high street retailer Reiss. More on the dress, here.

Update: On the jewelry front, Mrs. O wore Phillips Frankel amazonite and ruby earrings available at Fragments in New York. The pin is a 1940s Hobe brooch from House of Lavande.

Must Read: Barbara Tfank

Official White House Photos by Pete Souza and Samantha Appleton

In this circle, few designers have received quite the reception that Barbara Tfank has enjoyed. The First Lady has worn two of Ms. Tfank's ladylike, vibrantly printed dresses, and on each occasion, they've sent the collective us into something of a splendorous fashion tizzy. 

I've been eager to learn more about Ms. Tfank's work, as I'm sure you have been too. Lucky for us, Forbes has published a new interview in which she elaborates on her experience creating dresses for Mrs. Obama (and reading the Mrs. O blog!). Enjoy! 

"What It Takes to Dress Michelle Obama" [Forbes]

The World's Most Powerful Woman

White House Photo by Pete Souza

Mrs. O has been named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes magazine, topping even Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton, who round out the top five. The basic methodology for the list factors a dollar component and a "buzz factor," so almost certainly, the first lady's fashion prowess, along with its mass media following, were of some impact. More qualitatively, Forbes offers up this concise but quite astute rationale for the first lady's top seat on the list:

She has made the office of First Lady her own. A forceful advocate of school nutrition standards and military families' affairs, she's more involved in policy than Laura Bush was. But unlike Hillary Clinton, who championed a secretive (and ultimately unsuccessful) health care reform, Obama has stayed away from hard policy. A fashion icon and an athletic mother of two, she's Jackie Kennedy with a law degree from Harvard and street sense from Chicago's South Side. She's also effective: In response to her Let's Move! campaign against childhood obesity, companies like Coca-Cola, Kellogg and General Mills have pledged to reduce the calorie content of their foods by 2012. The first lady remains popular: 54% of Americans view her favorably.

The first lady's power ranking is also a good excuse to share the photo above, in which Mrs. O wears a wonderfully feminine dress by Barbara Tfank. Thank you to meta, who pointed out fabulous new photos on the White House Flickr stream.

First Ladylike

Image by Larry Downing / Reuters Pictures

Earlier this evening, Mrs. O joined the president in presenting the Medal of Honor posthumously to the sons of U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger for bravery in March of 1968 in Laos. To read more about the honoree, click here.

For the White House event, Mrs. O wore a blue and green first ladylike dress by designer Barbara Tfank, accessorized with a double strand of pearls. To see the dress in the designer's Fall 2010 collection, click here.