The Michelle Effect

BY JORDAN COUGHENOUR

In Obama's much examined first days of office, it isn't only the politics that are becoming more liberal. Pantsuited piano legs and stiff ankle length skirts are on their way out, and thigh high boots stepping their way into the Oval Office. And it isn't just the fashion blogs who are taking notice. While Laura Bush's starched conservative business attire and her husband's cowboy boots hardly ever made the dot coms and vlogs, the blog universe is uniting in full force in its scrutiny of the new Obama administration's wardrobe choices.

Where under the Bush administration, talk of brand names and fabrics were reserved for the likes of tmz or Perez Hilton, First Lady Michelle Obama is igniting a new consciousness amid the online community. Unlike Hilary Clinton, Mrs. Obama was not cursed with cankles. As the newest issue of Vogue clearly depicts, she can rock the slinkier attire and still keep the class., and even the "style" page of the Huff Post hardly sees a day where it isn't flanked with articles analyzing Mrs. Obama's every accessory and party plan. This welcome new front on the political blogosphere adds to the "hip-hop" and culture revolution currently sweeping over both parties, as leaders on the Republican front struggle to keep up with the brash new-ness of the Democratic administration. And when Mrs. Obama appeared on The View and revealed that her fashion was not only beautiful, but budget wary, we all went from merely admiring her choices from afar, to going out and trying to mimic them ourselves. Did you ever see anyone beyond Texas go out and try to imitate Laura Bush's taffeta?

Armed with her legion of followers, from twitter to the NYC runways, Michelle Obama is poised to use the blogosphere as a fashion awakening. As we struggle through a recession, it's hard to see any benefit in attempting to copy the red carpet wallet busters of Hollwood starlets, but with such a constantly trained eye on our intelligent (and well sculpted) First Lady, we may have a new icon to lead us in this administration.