Inauguration Fashions

[Gen]

Re: BAA chides Michelle Obama

well, she is 40 something right ?

and she pretty much has to balance a thin line between looking like a presentable <span style="font-weight: bold">modern</span> first lady and ummm well just looking

mi notice she went bare legged in church yessideh

[Suesumba]

Re: BAA chides Michelle Obama

she's got a severe underbite/overbite (only god and genetics know) ... i propose we smash her jaws (performed by a cosmetic surgeon of course) and re-make her jawline.

the president of the toronto ball club (paul godfrey) had a god awful jutted jaw. he now looks human. we have to write him a letter and find out who did his face.

we can also petition the white house to have her shave her eyebrows and have her pencil in one of those &quot;o my god i can't believed someone just goosed me&quot; surprised look ones.

really good stockings can make one look stockingless BTW.

[Seveen]

so they need dance lessons

Barack in the Ballroom

Dance critics assess the Obamas’ ballroom dancing skills

By Michelle Vellucci

Watching coverage of the inaugural balls Tuesday night was at times like eavesdropping on a table of gushing bridesmaids at a wedding. “I was struck when they did something that I remember from high school, which is the two arms around the neck and two arms around the waist and sort of swaying side to side,” former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “And I think that’s a sign that it’s a very happy marriage. They are literally behaving like teenagers in love.”

To which Maddow responded, “I know this not the most momentous news of the day, but our new president is a good dancer.”

Other starry-eyed news accounts echoed the sentiment: The couple “glided confidently through their first dance last night at the Neighborhood Ball, showing the world that they’re as light on their feet as they are eloquent with words,” declared the New York Daily News (via Factiva). “If this White House endeavor hadn’t worked out so well, the Obamas could have been shoo-ins for ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’”

Hang on a second. That might be taking it a step too far. Surely Nigel Lithgoe wouldn’t have been impressed with the monotonous swaying back and forth—which, after all, did have more in common with an awkward first dance at a wedding. In spite of our years of dance training, we began to doubt our assessment: Were the commentators simply watching through the rose-colored glasses of Obamamania, or were the President and First Lady actually dancing well?

To find out, we consulted three dance experts to get their take on the performance. While everyone seems to agree that the Obamas were charming to behold as they swayed their way through ten inaugural balls, the dance experts wouldn’t exactly go along with Keith Olbermann’s characterization of the forty-fourth president’s dancing as “precise.” Indeed, if one were to seriously judge the first couple’s dance prowess, they would have lost major points for technique.

<span style="font-weight: bold">“They were both on time and they make a good dance couple, but he could use a little more variety, and he could’ve dipped her a little bit,</span>” said U.S. Latin Dance champion Melanie LaPatin, who appeared with her partner, Tony Meredith, as a guest choreographer on season three of So You Think You Can Dance.” “<span style="font-weight: bold">And their hand-hold position, although very sweet and loving, was not exactly correct.” (The couple had their fingers intertwined—a big no-no.) “Once they have some time, they should definitely take some lessons,</span>” added LaPatin, who also runs the Dance Times Square studio in Manhattan.

Even the most adoring newscasters commented on the President’s habit of treading on the first lady’s gown. “There is an element of upper body-lower body coordination required in the first lady’s dress,” Maddow said. “She’s having to move it around to avoid walking on it, and several times he stepped on her dress when he was dancing, and then she is teasing him about it.”

Dance Magazine editor-in-chief Wendy Perron said Mrs. Obama would have benefitted from a dress rehearsal. “She didn’t realize that this was a dress where she had to pick up her train,” she says.

In spite of the gaffes, the critics were forgiving in their assessments; after all, the Obamas danced at ten balls in three hours—after a very big day. “I think he has a natural grace and … a fine rhythmic acuity,” says Village Voice dance critic Deborah Jowitt. “Rhythmically they were sharp. The swingouts with Michelle were rather clumsy, but endearingly so.”

What Obamas lacked in technique they made up for in charisma. Indeed, the couple’s little trip-ups only made them more lovable. “That’s an incredible scene to behold,” Today correspondent Natalie Morales told the MSNBC crew. “When the … President twirled Michelle onstage and did a little dip … everybody here couldn’t believe their good fortune to see a more personal side of this couple. Clearly they share so much love.”

Or, as the Daily News’s fairytale account so colorfully put it: “The vision of the First Couple dancing joyously was a romantic, storybook moment. They embraced, gazed into each other’s eyes and whispered words while millions watched.”

When it comes down to it, the world’s greatest dancers become so not only for their technique but for their ability to project emotion and to connect with audiences. So maybe the media wasn’t entirely off the mark. “I think what was endearing was that they love being close to each other, and I think that’s what a lot of people were seeing,” says Perron. “They just love being near each other. It’s not like they’re just posing, and I think that’s what makes them look like they’re good dancers—like Fred and Ginger.”

[mountaingal]

Re: Inauguration Fashions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i saw her brother at the inaugural - he had the same eyebrows - might not be a cure for crook'd eyebrows </div></div>

[Yvonne N.]

Re: so they need dance lessons

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Barack in the Ballroom

Dance critics assess the Obamas’ ballroom dancing skills

By Michelle Vellucci

...What Obamas lacked in technique they made up for in charisma. Indeed, the couple’s little trip-ups only made them more lovable. “That’s an incredible scene to behold,” Today correspondent Natalie Morales told the MSNBC crew. “When the … President twirled Michelle onstage and did a little dip … everybody here couldn’t believe their good fortune to see a more personal side of this couple. <span style="font-weight: bold">Clearly they share so much love</span>.”

Or, as the Daily News’s fairytale account so colorfully put it: “The vision of the First Couple dancing joyously was a romantic, storybook moment. They embraced, gazed into each other’s eyes and whispered words while millions watched.”
...
</div></div>

It was a joy to behold... mi was juss <span style="font-style: italic">chrill-up</span> fi witness dat...

[Bizzy]

Re: so they need dance lessons

chrill up is bahamian speak for what?

*run gaan*

[Seveen]

Re: so they need dance lessons

when started to do that &quot;stay in my corner&quot; slow dance

i was like - come on bwoy - you know better than that

[Seveen]

Re: so they need dance lessons

i know babies were conceived on this song

it lasted forever

oh - the blue lights were awesome

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[Nunya]

Re: Inauguration Fashions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

Did not like this dress at all. She should've done something with her hair...

[Seveen]

Re: Inauguration Fashions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nunya</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

Did not like this dress at all. She should've done something with her hair... </div></div>

hehehe - don't talk about michelle

but that dressed reminded me of big bird . . .

and why the waist cinch in - bulky

oh well jason wu made the charts ...

[RichD]

Re: Inauguration Fashions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Michelle Obama Under Fire for Not Wearing Black Designers
1/22/09 at 11:10 AM
Comment 92Comment 92Comments
Michelle Obama Under Fire for Not Wearing Black Designers

Photo: Getty Images

The Black Artists Association is upset with our new First Lady for not wearing clothes by African-American designers. BAA Cofounder Amnau Eele, who was a runway model for Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, and Bill Blass, told WWD, “It’s fine and good if you want to be all ‘Kumbaya’ and ‘We Are the World’ by representing all different countries. But if you are going to have Isabel Toledo do the inauguration dress, and Jason Wu do the evening gown, why not have Kevan Hall, B Michael, Stephen Burrows or any of the other black designers do something too?” Eele plans to make a formal appeal to Michelle's office. WWD adds:

Asked if perhaps the First Lady isn’t looking at the world colorlessly, Eele said, “It’s one thing to look at the world without color but she had seven slots to wear designer clothes. Why wasn’t she wearing the clothes of a black designer? That was our moment.”


The striking thing about Michelle Obama's fashion sense is not that she chooses to wear pieces by an Asian American (Jason Wu) and a Cuban American (Isabel Toledo) in the same day, but that her choice of lesser-known labels demonstrates her sophisticated taste. Few outside of the fashion industry knew who Wu or Toledo were before Tuesday, but now the whole world knows. We think it's amazing that Michelle is giving these designers exposure they would never otherwise have, whether that's a factor in her decision-making process or not. Besides, by sticking to American designers she supports the industry — severely flagging in the economic downturn — as a whole. The designers she wears make clothes that suit her and look good on her. It seems unfair to put her under any more pressure.</div></div>

[Nunya]

Re: Inauguration Fashions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

hehehe - don't talk about michelle

but that dressed reminded me of big bird . . .

and why the waist cinch in - bulky

oh well jason wu made the charts ...

</div></div>

Whoa! The same things I thought about the dress

[Yvonne N.]

Re: so they need dance lessons

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bizi_Q</div><div class="ubbcode-body">chrill up is bahamian speak for what?

*run gaan* </div></div>


You're really not Jamaican...

Missis...dats Jamaican teen-speak (l960's) for feeling good about something...lol