The Good Wives
Left: Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick as the wronged wife, in the television show The Good Wife
Right: Michele Obama at the 2015 State of the Union
It had been a while since I've "reviewed" Michelle Obama's attire (here is one example from about a year and a half ago).
Above is Michelle Obama at the State of the union address on January 20th. I glanced at her ensemble, and all I could think was that it looked like a cheap tweed suit which one could get at Walmart - not that I'm knocking Walmart, but I wouldn't buy it even there.
The New York Post asked:
"Who wore it best, the Good Wife, or the President's wife?"First, I would say "neither." What a dull, lusterless, cheap-looking dress (look at the zipper against the black strip at the front).
It is perhaps understandable in the television series The Good Wife, which is about an woman attorney. But for the wife of a President?
Obama was at one point intent on supporting "American Designers," which is a noble effort. But, I would rather she wore a smart Christian Dior than this dull Michael Kors.
I don't blame Kors. He does what he does (and gets very rich doing so). It was ultimately Obama's decision.
The suit's jacket (now out of stock, which I presume is due to all those First Lady Followers who bought the suit after the SOTU) was $1595 at Nordstrom. And the ensemble probably more than doubles with the skirt.
And, to show the blind adulation that goes on, here is the black magazine, Essence, showering praises on this outfit:
Mrs. Obama was stunning in a tweed Michael Kors skirt suit with a wide collar and zipper details, channeling her inner Gladiator and giving all of us life.The "inner gladiator" reference is to the suit that Obama wore on a previous occasion. I don't know how it got into the fashion vernacular of Michelle Obama. I wonder if it came from here ("she reminds me of the muscle-bound Victor Mature in a 1950s gladiator pic")!
How could it have been better?
Perhaps making it in a tweed green rather than this dreary grey.
[I Photoshopped the green color, and all the rest
Better than that grey (Michael Kors should hire me!)]
But the real question is, why is Michelle Obama channeling a television program replete with adultery, marital discord, and a single ("separated") woman aggressively pursuing a career?
Could it be the "presidential" connection?
But, even that is a negative reflection on politicians:
When a very public sex and political-corruption scandal lands her husband, Peter, in prison, Alicia Florrick must get past the humiliation and betrayal and assume responsibility for her family. She resumes her career as a defense attorney, shedding her persona as the embarrassed wife of a politician, and takes charge of her destiny. Four years later, Alicia decides to leave Lockhart/Gardner and start a new law firm with a colleague, Cary Agos. Now that Peter has won the gubernatorial election, Alicia must balance her evolving career and family responsibilities with her new position as first lady of Illinois. [Source]This is supposedly a reference to the New York governor Eliot Spitzer who resigned from his position after his trysts with prostitutes became public.
But, Michelle's channeling is more convoluted than that. It is to showcase the "bravery" of this politician's wife (in the T.V. show that is), who started a career as an attorney to provide for her two sons after her husband was jailed. She "decides" to not divorce her husband. Yet, she has an affair with a partner at her law firm. Then she decides to run for politics, and uses the same rough strategies her husband used to win his political battles.
It is a strange mixture of victimhood (the good wife), feminism (women can be tough attorneys and even tougher politicians), marital loyalty (the Good Wife doesn't divorce her husband, merely separates form him), motherhood (she goes to work for her two kids), femininity (she always dresses prettily), equality (women can have affairs too), and so on.
What an odd show to emulate.
But not really. It is all about the "strength of the woman" after all. And she can have it all, or rather, do it all: adultery, motherhood, high powered careers - even in politics, and of course wifehood.
And any woman who stays married despite the humiliations this TV Good Wife faced is, well, a good wife. Look at Hillary!
I wonder how President Obama feels about all this?
The President and his Good Wife
Arriving at the State of the Union, January 20th 2015
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat