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" June 3, 2008  Michelle Obama has potential to bring a more fashion-forward aesthetic into the White House than we&amp;#039;ve seen in recent years. Just the bold magenta dress she donned last night as her husband claimed the Democratic nomination tells a very different tale about her approach in general. Subconsciously, (or consciously for some), many leading ladies in politics tend to dress in dark and conservative colors to blend into the male-dominated white collar world. The colors black, gray and navy are associated with words like &amp;quot;serious&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;business&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;power&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;conservative&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;work&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;career&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;organized&amp;quot;...while the same poll taken on a brighter color (red, fuchsia or yellow) draws words like, &amp;quot;happy&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;carefree&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;open-minded&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;confident&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;free-spirited&amp;quot;. Somehow our vision of the latter has become tainted. Since when is being a care-free, confident, open-minded woman a bad thing? Why would those otherwise note-worthy characteristics not make her suitable to run a company or make powerful decisions? Because she wear a lot of color and smiles?  I have friends who scoff at fashion, writing it off as unimportant to the world landscape. To a point I see their argument. However, in the grand scheme of things, it&amp;#039;s interesting to take a look at the role that fashion plays in situations like these. Don&amp;#039;t think that Michelle&amp;#039;s outfit wasn&amp;#039;t carefully crafted by the Obama consultants last night (not to say that she didn&amp;#039;t have input, as her style throughout the campaign has been quite forward). But, what else says, &amp;quot;we stand for change&amp;quot; more than wearing a color that all other political wives and figureheads have stayed so far away from? I am far from being a feminist but I love to see a strong, powerful woman who can play on the same caliber as her male constituents without having to de-feminize her look to be considered a major player. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a701/obama-fever-potential-to-change-more-than-politics-in-the-white-house-3870/?click=smart&kw=ist&src=smart&mag=ELM&link=-SMT-ELM>