Some of the most heated conversations on the morning after election night centered on Michelle Obama's dress. The first lady-elect took to the stage at Grant Park in Chicago on Tuesday night wearing a red-and-black sheath by Narciso Rodriguez. A sleeveless, scoop-neck adaptation of a more revealing design for spring that Mr. Rodriguez showed on a runway in New York in September, it sparked instant debate among viewers, with some calling it an eye-catching statement and others, an eyesore.
"I voted for Obama, but I didn't vote for that dress," said Jessica Bettencourt, a homemaker and mother of three in Mequon, Wisc., who shared a widely held view that Mrs. Obama had exhibited a rare lapse in taste.
Karla Wright, a lawyer in Chicago, said, "I don't know what was worse, that stupid criss-cross band around the middle or that black sort of border coming up from the hem."
Narciso Rodriguez presented this dress during a fashion show in September. (Photo: Associated Press)
The dress, black with a splash of red from the bust through the hips, has two corset-like bands of black intersecting at the waist. It is a departure for Mr. Rodriguez, a proponent of low-key looks who is well remembered for Caroline Bessette Kennedy's sleekly minimalist ivory wedding dress.
Mrs. Obama's addition of a black cardigan sweater did nothing to subdue the look. The sweater seemed to throw off the dress's proportions and obliterate its lines, detractors said. Jeff Weinstein, a fine arts and culture critic who writes on the Web, was among many who found the speckled red pattern distracting.
"It was definitely a lava lamp look," he said, "with a volcanic nod to her hubby's Hawaii."
But more generous assessments came from insiders in the fashion world. Some critics applauded Mrs. Obama's decision to wear an American designer frock, and a cutting-edge label at that, one that asserted her individuality.
"That dress was unpretentious," said Julie Gilhart, the fashion director of Barneys New York. "It said, 'Be who you are - don't let someone else tell you how to be.' "
Mrs. Obama, whose staff has said she does not use a personal stylist, "is not sitting around going through fashion look books and having confabs," said Andre Leon Talley, the editor at large for Vogue.
"She is just going through her closet and picking out what's right for her."
The dress is not yet in stores and Mrs. Obama presumably got it directly from the designer; its price is unknown, though Mr. Rodriguez's typically cost from $1,000 to $8,000. Through a spokesman, Mr. Rodriguez declined to comment.
Based on her many public appearances of the past two years, Mrs. Obama's tastes run from J. Crew to adventurous American labels. She frequently accessorizes with ultra-wide belts and theatrical brooches. Certainly, her style is a departure from the starchy attire that first ladies historically favored.
At the least, it promises four lively years of fashion-watching at the White House.
