Everyday Icon

December 13, 2010
Betts, a Time style and design contributor has been an avid observer of first lady Michelle Obama’s style since she first stepped into the limelight. More than a fashion handbook, this book serves as an exploration of the societal and political implications of Mrs. Obama’s style, a pondering of why style matters, and an argument for the notion that “tyle is a part of the content of one’s character.” Betts parses the first lady’s choices of clothing (cardigans and floral dresses rather than navy blue pants suits) as well as her persona, from her warmth and openness to her decision to let cameras capture her hula-hooping on the White House lawn. Betts also takes a fascinating, well-researched look at first ladies throughout history (Mary Todd Lincoln was criticized for her fashionistaesque extravagance) and muses on the ways in which they were a reflection of women’s roles during their years in the White House. With its fine mix of deconstruction and designer interviews, well-sourced research and sumptuous photos, Betts has created a book that is eye and brain candy alike. Photos.

January 1, 2011

A scintillating fashion biography of Michelle Obama's inimitable style and its far-reaching influence.

Former Harper's Bazaar editor in chief and current Time contributor Betts focuses on how the First Lady's style has helped her achieve such iconic status. Brimming with more than 200 color photographs, the book demonstrates how Obama has repeatedly pushed the envelope of fashion and convention. Changing from couture by lesser-known designers to Chucks and a cardigan without batting an eye, Obama presents herself in a way that is at once both trendsetting and common. Beyond the analysis of her uncannily self-possessed style, Betts provides an intriguing contextualization of Obama within the historical framework of other groundbreaking First Ladies—Dolley Madison, Mary Todd Lincoln, Grace Coolidge, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie O, Hillary Clinton—as well as within the current postfeminist moment in American culture. In a country founded on the joint values of relative equality and freedom to celebrate individuality, the question of how one chooses to dress has always taken on a political charge. In the role of the president's wife, Betts argues, those comfortable with their own style have made the greatest impact. For Obama, who was thrust even more under the microscope as the first African-American First Lady, her conduct carries global influence but especially hits home with American women. "It's almost as if she is taking Hillary Clinton's intelligence but dressing it in Jackie Kennedy's clothes," writes Betts. "In many ways she is reshaping the feminist dream, correcting its oversights, compensating for its defects." Though her argument rests on a number of dichotomies—fashion vs. style, style vs. substance—and the author clearly champions her subject, her book should have widespread appeal.

A sharp, lavishly illustrated biography of one of the most influential figures in refashioning the roles of women.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011
Lots o buzz will accompany this fashion portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. As befits another buzz-maker, exeditor in chief of Harpers Bazaar and now author Betts, the book is filled with hyperbole, adjectives galore, comparisons across the century with other POTUS (Presidents of the United States) wives, and a bit too much of me, myself, and I. Despite the use of superlatives, and even though Betts is no objective third-party observer, she not only takes great care in following Obamas transition from power wife to power mom but also credibly examines the personal styles of Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Reagan, to mention three influential presidential companions. What is of prime importance is the recognition that style matters and that the careful expression of personal stylewhich all three women demonstratedis the highest manifestation of a woman secure in herself. Great photographs add power to the authors words; and sidebars, such as notes about couturiers (including Arnold Scaasi) and the 10 commandments of First Lady style, provide some additional intelligence. An easy read that is bound to be asked for by many readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)