Is It Just Me?

Why was snood's picture gallery voted down?

Set is never tongue tied!

Pants are the bane of my existence. I am 5' 3" which means I am in the petite clothing range. However, I have short legs and a long torso. Even petite pants are long on me. I wear the bottoms out long before the rest of the pants.

I was going more by the 'style' of the dress, especially the way the top is cut. Some time ago I stumbled upon a gallery of photos of Jackie's fashion through the years - there were hundreds of pics and I couldn't believe how elegant she was even in the most casual of outfits.

Jackie had a consistent style because she had a favorite designer while Michelle has concentrated on American designers in general, particularly young designers.

I loved the white gown she wore at the Inauguration and the picture of the First Couple dancing across the Presidential seal.

I think the bow on the blouse is too big . . . even for a woman as tall as Michelle. I can hear my mother's ghost yelling about the string of pearls over the bow and, for once, I agree with her.

I never realized just how tiny Jackie O was until I visited the Smithsonian where they have some of her outfits on display. She was a tiny wisp of a woman. I think women of the US tend to look at the First Lady as she is representing the rest of us when she presents herself in public. That may not be how we should view it, but I think we tend to. I think Michelle Obama is beautiful and some of those outfits make her look, old, dowdy and sloppy, which is not how I think we women want to be presented. The white dress she wore to the inaugural ball looked like it was covered in toilet paper. That is me though. We all have different tastes.

That gold strapless gown is the most elegant and stunning thing I have seen her in and she just glows. That is how I think we women of the US want to be represented.

I always thought that Jackie was tall, and, she was 5' 9 and 1/2", making her nearly as tall as Michelle.

As physical types, they are similar. Jackie was of a different era. Does any remember how controversial JFK's barehead at his inaugural was? Jack and Jackie brought elegance to the WH in a way no other couple has. (I'll argue that the Reagan style was more nouveau riche.) I regret the loss of elegance (even hippie chicks wore long dresses) in women's dress but I know that I am in the minority. (I also don't care.)

As for Michelle's high belts . . . might she be a bit short-waisted?

I had no idea Jackie was that tall! If you were to see those dresses in the Smithsonian you would understand what I mean by tiny wisp of a woman. I think she wore a size 3-4 and that's tiny. Wow, I guess maybe a camera does add weight. I was in first grade when JFK has his inauguration so I don't remember much but I'm going to look it up.

I think Michelle just might be short waisted but I think her wearing those big belts only emphasizes that and doesn't help it.

Controversial? JFKs uncovered head started a trend of male hatlessness that destroyed the men's hat business.

If you look at the movies of the fifties and earlier, men almost always wore hats, usually fedoras, unless he was a cowboy.

Would you look at how tiny her waist was! I read that wedding dress required 50 yards of material! It must have weighed a ton.



No matter where she was, she was always a classy lady.

Based on her physical characteristics, Ms. Obama is a woman, very difficult to outfit. As far as attractiveness, I've never thought of her as a beauty or being very attractive. The former head of Social Activities for the White House, who was fired by the Obamas, was an extremely attractive woman. I still wonder why she was fired...Perhaps she was too attractive!

In the 1950's women wore crinolines under full skirts to make the skirt stand out. They were called, "horsehair crinolines", but they were not made of horsehair, but stiff nylon mesh.

LOL! I was doing a bit of surfing for more pictures of Jackie's outfits. Scroll down on this page and there is a little video called The Jackie Look. It's cute!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Jackie-Kennedys-Fashion-Impact

Oh, there is no doubt that Jackie was --by today's standards -- skinny. I guess your estimate of her being a size 4 -- a 1960s size 4 which is smaller than today's 4 -- is right.

Oh isn't that the truth! I am a size four and trust me, I am nowhere near as thin as she was. I couldn't get one leg through the waist on her wedding dress.

My mother had negative ideas about her wedding dress. She could not understand how a woman who wore such simple dresses would have such an elaborate gown.

Ann(e) Lowe designed the dress.

Anne Lowe (born Anne Cole Lowe, 1898-1981) was an African American fashion designer who designed the wedding dress for Jacqueline Bouvier when she married John F. Kennedy.
She was born in Clayton, Alabama[1] the great granddaughter of a slave and plantation owner.
She married in 1912 at age 14 and enrolled in a fashion school in New York City in 1917. After graduation she opened a salon in Tampa, Florida before returning to New York in 1928 where she worked on commission for stores such as Chez Sonia. In 1946 she designed the dress that Olivia de Havilland wore to accept the Academy Award for Best Actress for To Each His Own (film) -- although the name on the dress was Sonia Rosenberg.
She designed for various upper crust New Yorkers including the ivory-silk-taffeta dress for Jackie in 1953.
She worked her later years at Saks Fifth Avenue where she was featured in a 1960 advertisement.
Felled by glaucoma she lost an eye but continued to design through 1960 for Madeline Couture and briefly operated Ann Lowe Originals on Madison Avenue in New York.

I kind of understand what she is saying about the gown. Now, this gown, I think, would have been a most stunning wedding gown.

Just speaking for myself, and speaking purely in terms of fashion (which is what you're talking about here), I feel much better represented by Michelle Obama than any other first lady since I've been old enough to pay attention. (Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush.)

I have to agree here. She's the first one in forever whose outfits don't scream 'stuff old grandma/possible bitch.'

I must say, however, that it's a little saddening to see so much discussion on her fashion choices and so little discussion on anything else she does. The outfits she wears are literally the least important thing about the lady. It's a little superficial that our society - and our political media - focus to such an extent on frivolous things like this.

Cycloptichorn

Not a fair criticism, Cyclo. She has been discussed in other contexts, and if she were more strident, or more actively sought the public limelight, i suspect there would be even more discussion of her. But the people here have the right to discuss this aspect of her public image--that fashion doesn't interest you does not mean either that it is a petty thing to discuss, or that the people who wish to discuss it are petty.