Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion and Style [Paperback]

Susan Swimmer (Author)

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Product Description
First Lady Michelle Obama's fashion sense--with its intuitive mix of high-end designers and off-the-rack selections--has captivated onlookers around the world and is now the subject of this gorgeous tribute, written by a veteran fashion journalist.

In April 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Michelle Obama topped the President's favorability rating--no small feat, considering his rock-star approvals numbers. That appeal is thanks in part to her athletic grace and in part to her seemingly effortless, and singular, sense of style.

For one TV appearance, Mrs. Obama wore an off-the-rack dress, proving you can look fabulous in ready-to-wear designs. To meet the Prime Minister of England, she wore a sparkling cardigan from J. Crew, and the sweater sold out across America that afternoon. And on the night her husband was inaugurated, she wore a young, unproven designer--a fashion risk that had the national media (and veteran designers!) buzzing for weeks.

Written by fashion editor and writer Susan Swimmer and filled with more than 200 stunning photographs, this elegant chronicle paints a compelling fashion portrait of America's beloved first lady.

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Excerpts from Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion and Style
Click on each image below to see a larger view

Michelle had already established a taste for bold colors in the early days of Barack’s political career

Michelle’s penchant for sleeveless silhouettes

Michelle stands tall with other accomplished women

Michelle masters the art of layering

Michelle’s ability to mix colors is a trademark of her fashion flair

Everything about Michelle’s look is just right: casual attire and little makeup

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About the Author

Susan Swimmer is the fashion features editor at More Magazine.  A 20 year veteran of the magazine industry, she has previously been a writer or editor at Marie Claire, Self, Seventeen, YM, and Ladies' Home Journal.  Considered an expert on women's lifestyles, Susan has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (June 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579128262
• ISBN-13: 978-1579128265
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.4 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Swimmer is a 15-year veteran of the magazine industry. She's been a writer or editor at Marie Claire, Self, Seventeen, YM, and Ladies' Home Journal. Considered an expert on teenagers and women's lifestyles, Susan has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice photographs October 8, 2009

By Michelle Entezari

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I got both this book and "Michelle Style" by Norwood. About 70% of the material seems like overlap, but they chose pictures of her in slightly different poses. This book has larger photos, but I felt like slightly less information on where to buy the outfits than Norwood's book. That said, I am very glad that I bought both of them, as I have managed to assemble a wardrobe that largely copies this fashion icon.

3 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book about a hard subject June 16, 2009

By Faith healer

Format:Paperback

For anyone truly interested in finding and reading a definitive biography of Michelle Obama, this is the book. This work is at once carefully documented and scholarly yet is also eminently readable and entertaining. Although there is no single volume that adequately explains the mysterious truth of Obama, the phenomenon, author Susan Swimmer delivers a most informative and exhaustively researched manuscript that does help us to understand Michelle Obama, the first lady. Swimmer spent several months researching this book with intensive interviews by surviving principals, and had access to a wide range of archival data and previously unpublished data and facts. The result is this magisterial work.

This is a book much like Swimmer's previous efforts in that it concentrates heavily on interviews with a literal torrent of people who had significant contact and knowledge of the Obamas, from those who surrounded him in his rise to power, and who followed him into the ash and ruins of the embattled and besieged presidential campaign. From thier early days in Chicago, to her school girl experiences and the discouraging failures of her early adulthood, through the heady but painful days as a volunteer in the front lines during college, Swimmer faithfully traces the rise and growth of this strange young woman as she falls prey to a variety of venomous and unfortunate ideas and prejudices that mark her for life, and set the path to the kind of pathological aberrances that characterized her beliefs and behaviors from that point on.

Yet Swimmer makes a painful effort to be non-judgmental, and carefully presents all the facts as he can best determine them. This sometimes makes him err on the side of presenting personal and perhaps subjective opinions of others as fact, and this is typical of the Swimmer approach. While recognizing the dangers in presenting a lot of information into the record that might be inaccurate, twisted, or fanciful, she also wants us to hear the whole story from all of the participant's viewpoints so we can make our own informed judgment. In this sense Swimmer has a somewhat archaic belief in the historical reader's critical skills and to be well-enough formed as thinkers that she lets us judge for ourselves based on our interpretation of the `facts' she presents rather than pre-digesting and coming to her own conclusions for us.

Enjoy!