Michelle Obama, who captivated the nation as first lady with her striking style and poise, is opening up about the complexities behind her fashion journey. In an interview with People magazine published Tuesday, the former first lady reflected on why she largely avoided discussing fashion and beauty during her eight years in the White House.
“I purposefully did not talk about fashion and beauty during the eight years in the White House,” Obama, 61, told the magazine. “I was afraid it was going to take over everything.”
Her reflections come ahead of the Nov. 4 release of her memoir, The Look, which features over 200 previously unpublished photos and personal writings detailing her evolution in style. In the book’s introduction, Obama frames the project as more than a fashion retrospective: “This book is a celebration of fashion, but more importantly, I hope it is a celebration of confidence, identity, and authenticity, and an inspiration to think deeply about how we choose to define style and beauty.” Penguin Random House Audio will simultaneously release an audiobook edition read by Obama herself.
While Obama often “understood the assignment” of being a high-profile fashion figure, she candidly acknowledges the pressures and criticisms that came with the role—many rooted in race. In 2022, she revealed she had wanted to wear braids during her tenure but refrained, believing the public wasn’t ready and preferring to keep attention on her husband’s administration rather than her hairstyle.
“It was a complicated assignment. The role of first lady is a kind of job, non-job,” Obama said. “You know that you’re supposed to be inspirational, yet accessible. You should be uniquely yourself, authentic, but representational at the same time.”
Obama, the first African American woman to serve as first lady, described the delicate balance she had to strike between femininity and authority. “I took the role as first lady very seriously. I was a famous person, but I wasn’t a starlet. And so that meant that the clothes could never speak louder than anything I had to say.”
Even today, she says, she continues to grow in confidence, embracing styles and freedoms she once hesitated to try publicly. “Fundamentally, I’m the same person,” she told People. “But with each decade, I’ve grown wiser… This version of Michelle probably cares less about what other people think.”
Obama also emphasized the ongoing work of self-love, particularly for women of color. “I don’t think that work ever stops,” she said. “We have to fight to remind ourselves that we matter, that we count.”
