Liberal> Susan Estrich> Michelle S Purse

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Michelle's Purse

Was that a $5,000 VBH alligator clutch that Michelle Obama was carrying in Italy? So the company bragged, absolutely certain it was theirs, until the White House responded that it was not the alligator but the patent, an $875 VBH clutch and not the more expensive model.

To be honest, I didn't even know what VBH was until I saw the headlines about the $5,000 one Michelle wasn't carrying. I love handbags as much as the next girl, but I could never get my head around the idea of spending that kind of money on something that is bound to end up with ink stains. But if Michelle wants to spend hers, more power to her. If she wants to wear $540 sneakers (Lanvin, a "cult" item that is bound to end up in one of my local resale stores), I say go for it.

She is not going to solve the recession by wearing Keds. She wears enough clothes from Gap and J.Crew to make the point that looking great doesn't have to be uber-expensive (although the things she manages to find at those places never seem to be there when I am), and that half the fun of fashion is figuring out how to copy high-style for less.

What Michelle Obama projects, with her bright colors, body-conscious clothes and keen sense of style, is a woman at her best, looking great, feeling great, being great, full of life, celebrating her country and her family and, yes, herself. The White House was quick to say the bag didn't cost $5,000, but it was still what my mother would have called a very, very good bag, and the first lady didn't apologize for that.

Why should she?

She's not 22. She's a grown woman who hasn't faded to beige or placed herself in the background, who isn't embarrassed that she doesn't look 17, who (by all reports) doesn't hate her hips or hide her rear or ask whether the dress makes her look fat before she lets herself like it.

If that isn't a role model, what is?

The other day, I ran into a woman I know who has done very well professionally. I hadn't seen her in a while, and somehow I was taken aback. She looked the way she always had, only worse. I laugh when I see young women trying so (too) hard, because the truth is that when you're young, it's easy. The woman I ran into got to where she is, at least in part, by not getting trapped by the beauty thing.

On the other hand, she was long past the point where she needed to use or hide her sexuality. Now middle-aged, she's become one of those women that other women can't look at for five minutes without wanting to do a makeover and wondering why she hasn't. Is she really happy this way? More power to her, but I want younger women to know it doesn't have to be that way.

Michelle is middle-aged, too. You can be powerful and beautiful. You can be passionate about politics and clutch bags; you can do your best for your country and look your best while you do. You deserve the sneakers — if not the Lanvin ones, then ones that make you feel just as good. And we should all ditch black for yellow. Especially in a recession. Go Michelle.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Comments

6 Comments | Post Comment

Yes Susan...that is what we need from our fashionable first lady who as I recall has been proud of our great country only once or was it twice? And for sure she is entitled to go on trips with her husband; you remember the guy who made it possible for her to get that over $300,000 hospital job for which there was no need to replace her when she left; or remember that college paper where she noted she was not accepted by the "White School" being black and all, and how she did not follow her husband on those official gigs but commandeered a government jet out of Paris to go to England and disrupt those peoples lives while site-seeing with the girls. Yes Susan that is what we need in a first lady, and just think of all those lovely gifts she gives to dignitaries. You go girls.

Comment: #1
Posted by: Ronald Thomas
Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:41 PM

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What would be interesting is how much money she carries in her money belt. Must be at least a million in loose $100 bills.

Comment: #2
Posted by: Howard G Walker
Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:33 PM

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Enough with this guff about what michelle obama wears. The columnist have been gushing over her clothes since inauguration night. The first night ball gown looked like something stitched together from a bedspread stolen from an old cottage motel in Altoona Pa. I was aghast at that dress, but true to form, the media gushed over that fashion dud that no other woman in her right mind would have gone out and purchased the following day or week.
Lets face it. You can throw a silk horseblanket over a horse and it is still a horse. Frankly, I don't care how the first lady spends her pocket money. It is none of my business. And frankly, it is no one else's business either.
This is much much ado about nothing. One thing Michelle Obama will never be is a trend setter of fashion. She just does not have the body for it nor the taste in elegant clothes to do that.

Comment: #3
Posted by: robert lipka
Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:58 PM

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I really have to laugh at all this gushing over this current inhabitant of our beautiful White House. I am absolutely no fan of either her or the vice presidential republican running mate, Sarah Palin, but it is comical that this very radical left-wing columnist would be so sympathetic towards the clutch purse, no matter the cost, and actually say "go for it" when this very same columnist was villifying the candidate for accepting a very expensive wardrobe from the republican national committee during the campaign! How hypocritical can you get! Of these two people, one is very well-dressed and the other looks like a klutz, no matter what she puts on. Come on Susan, get with it and be fair for once in your left-wing radical life.

Comment: #4
Posted by: c. o. wells
Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:46 PM

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So - if Sarah Palin would win the white house, or any other public office, I am looking forward to the same attitude in an article on her, thank you very much. Let's just substitute it now .... it works perfectly!!

"What Sarah Palin projects, with her bright colors, body-conscious clothes and keen sense of style, is a woman at her best, looking great, feeling great, being great, full of life, celebrating her country and her family and, yes, herself. The White House was quick to say the bag didn't cost $5,000, but it was still what my mother would have called a very, very good bag, and the president didn't apologize for that."

Comment: #5
Posted by: Sherri
Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:00 PM

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You have got to be kidding! Role model? Not in any way! Dress? Behavior? With millions out of work, it was totally insensitive to flaunt an outrageously expensive purse. Yes, even at ONLY $875, it was out of line. Her clothing taste is, without a doubt, tasteless. Oh, yes, she is trim but her "sleeveless" arms are very unattractive.As for the sneakers, you can buy the BEST for around $200/250. I think it might be inappropriate to mention the brand. I am sick of people like you in the media who continually "suck up". You need to be a little more honest. Total honesty might be asking a bit much.

Comment: #6
Posted by: E. A. Wey
Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:00 PM

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