MICHELLE: FASHION ICON

First Ladies are dressed by designers.  Above, their inaugural gowns.  Michelle Obama has become the fashion trendsetter for the Nation, and, possibly World.  It is reported that a designer will make $14 million if she picks an important dress for a special function and Michelle has generated $3 billion for her various designers.  Oh, they all donate these items in hopes of becoming richer.

For the 2009 inaugural balls, Michelle wore a white chiffon one-shoulder dress created by Jason Wu, who was then a nobody 26-year old born in Taiwan, not be be confused with Malaysian Chinese Jimmy Choo, who does Michelle's shoes.   Fox News reported that she wore $594 sneakers to feed the poor, but not Jimmy's.  Today, Jason is in the top tier of designers.  Who is this Wu?  Well, his family moved to Vancouver when he was nine.  In his mid-teens he studied sculpture in Tokyo, and by the age of 16 was designing doll clothes for Integrity Toys.  By his senior year of high school he studied in Rennes, then on to The Loomis Chaffee School, Parsons The New School of Design and as an intern for Narciso Rodriguez.  Surely, these must mean something to someone reading this.  By 24 he was designing for Ivana Trump and RuPaul (drag queen).  His cheap line debuted in Target a year ago with accessories selling for under $60.  Michelle's Vogue cover?  A Wu:

Michelle wore Wu's chartreuse in London to meet with  Queen Elizabeth II:

Leading to Wu's chartreuse line priced just under $2,000 each:

What happens to these gowns?  They go to the Smithsonian.  It is said that Helen Taft in 1909 started this tradition:

There are now around 1000 objects of wear exhibited there.  Something for you to visit when next in D.C.

So what will Michelle wear tomorrow?  It's a state secret.  One prediction is nothing new.  Christina Binkley says Naeem Kahn (he designed this one for Michelle).  Mamie Eisenhower wore 2,000 rhinestones, while Pat Nixon was adorned with Austrian crystals, and Michelle at the top glistened with Swarovski crystals.  Watch the video from the Wall Street Journal Live.

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