Date Night in the Big Apple

Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

First images here. More to follow!

This evening, the President and First Lady are enjoying a date night in New York City, where they'll see the  Broadway show 'Joe Turner's Come and Gone' at the Belasco.

Mrs. O wears a square neck black dress, with horizontal bands of ruffles through the skirt. To accessorize, the First Lady adds a stack of diamond bangle bracelets, a blue clutch and Jimmy Choo Lantern heels.

Update: "Another Mrs. A" reports spotting a doppelganger Alaia dress in white at Barneys. Several people have suggested Alaia and we agree - the body hugging fit and detailed ruffle work seem to fit the bill.

A Proclamation of Personal Style

Photo by Joel Ryan/WPA Pool/Getty Images

As part of a day of events scheduled around London, First Lady Mrs. O joined the spouses of world leaders attending the G-20 conference at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this morning. Per Politico, Mrs. O wears a Jason Wu dress and an asymmetrical Junya Watanabe cardigan. We recognize the green Jimmy Choo "Glacier" pumps from the Inauguration.

To our knowledge, this is one of the first times the First Lady has publicly worn Junya Watanabe (unless he's also responsible for that tiered black ruched number? Hmm...). Watanabe is a Japanese fashion designer who began his career at Comme des Garcons. We're excited to have a new name in the First Lady's wardrobe, and more importantly - to see Mrs. O making one of her boldest fashion statements yet! Mrs. O's remarks at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London are a must see (thanks to those who linked to the video):

Behind the Scenes of the Inaugural Balls

Photo credit: Pete Souza / The White House

We are enamoured with this newly discovered photo from behind the scenes of the Inaugural Balls, taken by White House photographer Pete Souza. Beyond capturing a spontaneous, touching moment between our President and First Lady, it also helps to answer two lingering style questions. Did Mrs. O have a coat that coordinated with her Inaugural ball gown? And, what shoes was Mrs. O wearing underneath those flowing layers of ivory chiffon? I

n a thoughtful, gentlemanly gesture, President Mr. O lent his black tuxedo jacket to warm Mrs. O's shoulders. If there was a coat or cape or cashmere wrap to match her dress, the jacket wouldn't have been necessary. But for the sake of this photograph alone, we're happy it was. And to the best of our knowledge, it was the only coat that Mrs. O wore on Tuesday night. On the subject of shoes, we get just a glimpse of Mrs. O's ivory satin, open-toed heels. The designer? WWD reports, like much of Mrs. O's footwear throughout the Inauguration, they were also Jimmy Choo. For more behind the scenes photos, click here.

A Beacon of Style and Optimism

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Mrs. O, our First Lady. You are truly remarkable in every sense. Through that sea of black wool, you shined bright - in a yellow lemongrass suit that made you a beacon of both style and optimism. With more time to take this in, we are loving the subtleties of Mrs. O's ensemble. Her grass green J. Crew leather gloves and coordinating Jimmy Choo "Glacier" pumps offer something unexpected, her signature "twist"; while Mrs. O's diamond pin (or is it a necklace?) brings light to her face. 

For those wondering about Sasha and Malia's coats, the AP reports: "Their daughters were style icons in their own right, with 10-year-old Malia in a double-breasted periwinkle-blue coat with a blue-ribbon bow at the waist, and Sasha, 7, in a pink coat with orange scarf and satin belt, a coral-colored dress peeking out at the hem. Their coats were from Crewcuts by J. Crew." In a new report from WWD, Ruben Toledo (Isabel's husband and an accomplished illustrator) elaborates on the design team's excitement this morning:

"We're levitating - we really are," Ruben Toledo said minutes after watching Michelle Obama on CNN in an ensemble by his wife Isabel. The husband-wife team tuned in surrounded by their staff in their Broadway showroom. The soon-to-be First Lady did not tip her hand in any way. "We had no idea. We hoped she would wear something because she has bought Isabel's clothes before. We never know what's going to happen," he said.

Post from earlier this morning follows:

Image via bobster1985 / Creative Commons

The AP reports that Mrs. O is wearing Isabel Toledo, the Cuban-American designer who famously dressed Mrs. O for the Vogue / Calvin Klein fundraiser in June 2008. In an October interview with the New York Daily News, Toledo revealed that she had designed several more ensembles for Mrs. O. We find it interesting that both last night and this morning Mrs. O has chosen yellow, a color which until now we haven't frequently seen in Mrs. O's wardrobe (save for her appearance in head to toe J.Crew on The Tonight Show).

In December 2008 Pantone named Mimosa the color of 2009, a color that "embodies hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change". Is Mrs. O's favor for the color, perhaps, her way of projecting optimism? Cathy Horyn to the rescue. In a New York Times blog post, the journalist reports that not until this morning did designer Isabel Toledo know Mrs. O would wear the lemongrass-yellow coat and matching dress. "We're all up here watching the T.V.," the designer said in a photo interview from her New York studio. "It's great. We're so happy." Horyn writes that the coat and dress are made of Swiss wool lace, backed with netting for warmth and lined in French silk. "I wanted to pick a very optimistic color, that had sunshine," Toledo said. "I wanted her to feel charmed, and in that way would charm everybody."