Our Tribute to Michelle Obama – Unforgettable…that’s what you are!
For eight years we have been wowed by and admired her fashion and beauty sense, but even more, her words of wisdom have fired up black women worldwide with infinite inspiration. Back in ????, on the election night of her husband, Barack Obama, as the first black American president, our Editor predicted: “Mrs O will be no ordinary American First Lady. The incoming leader of the world’s superpower surely did well in choosing this remarkable woman as his wife – she won’t disappoint.” The “Mom-in-Chief”, as she described herself on entering the White House, has surely lived up to that belief. Four years ago, this writer wrote that Michelle Obama had the ultimate SWAG (Style With A Goal). As the Obamas vacate the “house that black slaves built”, here she gives her (our) ode to the greatest FLOTUS of them all!
By Judith Amunga-Ndibo
Michelle Obama, you waltzed into our lives and the White House with beauty, grace, poise and brains! You were a breath of fresh air! We inhaled in curious anticipation! You leave taking the same with you.
Gone were the images of previous American First Ladies, who by and large were overshadowed by their husbands’ presence on every platform, and seemed overwhelmed, disconnected or devoid of personality. Gone were the muted, bland colours and shoulder pads or severe hair chignons and matronly looks that they embraced as if by prescription. You came in with your own style, in unabashed, yet posed manner.
You and your husband entered the White House walking in equal stride. You startled us with an unprecedented First Family, potent bond of love and a chemistry not often publicly displayed by first couples. We were intrigued! But we loved and welcomed the show of chivalry with which your other half publicly showers you.
We know you are definitely more than what you wear, but from the very beginning, as First Lady, your powerful fashion statements and sense of style took on its own political trail. You mesmerised everyone. Never before had a First Lady shopped from retail stores such as J-crew, buying items off the rack that other women could also access.
FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States), your feet were firmly on the ground and not floating on a cloud of privilege! We genuinely liked you from the very start.
Your first White House inauguration ball in 2009 saw you dazzle the world wearing a relatively unknown designer, Jason Wu’s gown! You opened ways not just for the then 26-year-old Jason Wu but ushered in a period of realised hope for young Americans who had overwhelmingly voted for your husband and the possibility of realised dreams.
You were a White House Original! No other First Lady had won the admiration of so many ordinary women! Both in the US and across the world, Africa (your hubby’s ancestral continent) included.
As Africans we were converted! You warmed our hearts with your humility and our words of wisdom. “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens”, you are on recording saying. You have told us this too: “You don’t want to be with a boy who is too stupid to appreciate a smart young woman.”
Lest we forget, you are a woman with two Ivy League degrees. A formidable lawyer, academic, beautiful, athletic yet connected, successful and influential. You became that sister, mother, friend, neighbour we would all like to bond with.
In issue 17 of NAW, we crowned you the First Lady of SWAG (Style With A Goal) through your tasteful style choices, your obvious comfort with your unconventional body, bold colours, cinched belted waistlines often making use of your right to bare arms, you injected weary women with shots of style esteem.
Your style choices encouraged us to accept the bodies, just as we are and to be less critical and more adventurous.
You totally shattered the myth of the older, middle-aged woman committing fashion genocide. Your style was fearless, fun, youthful and refreshingly attainable! It epitomised your vibrant personality.
You were that hurricane of hope that revitalised women’s style globally, while encouraging greater fitness amongst women with those coveted biceps!
Style helps project purpose and goal-oriented confidence, you taught us. Fitness and healthy lifestyles are critical, you reiterated over and over.
Although your elegant style made us pay attention, your values held our attention…Your style choices encouraged us to accept our bodies, just as we are.
Africa-inspired talented designer, Duro Oluwo, received an opportunity to decorate a room in the White house. You honoured other African designers – Mimi Plange and the young Maki Oh. And who can forget that Tracy Reese dress you wore at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. You celebrated diversity, creativity and helped many talents find flight!
Our favourite FLOTUS, although your elegant style made us pay attention, your values held our attention. You cared.
You often declared yourself “Mom-in-Chief”, even well before the genesis of your husband’s presidency. We had assumed you were simply referring to parenting your lovely daughters, Sasha and Malia. Yes, that was part of it, but a whole cause would unfold from this statement.
Tackling American childhood obesity was your issue of choice. Your visionary policies have seen school lunches transformed into healthy, nutritious foods with greatly reduced sodium and sugar.
That is a telling statement of a Mom-in-Chief’s heart. Personal visits across American schools, taking part in fun, fitness sessions to mentor healthy lifestyles among youth are bearing fruit. You have done jumping jacks around bureaucracy and fast food companies so that they contribute to healthier nutrition within school setups. Your Honorary Doctorate in Public health is well deserved.
Your uncharacteristic accessibility was touching. You have demystified the office of the First Lady, appearing on television programmes that make a difference among less fortunate families, such as Extreme Makeover Home Edition. With hammer in hand, you have been part of teams that built a house to support needy war veterans and their communities.
Of course, we would have loved to see you visit more African countries during your time as FLOTUS, but who knows what you have up your sleeve as you vacate the White House? But Africa is grateful. When you said during one of your visits to South Africa: “I know that as your generation looks back on that struggle (against apartheid), and on the many liberation movements of the past century, you may think that all of the great moral struggles have already been won? As you hear the stories of lions like Madiba (Nelson Mandela), [Walter] Sisulu and [Albert] Luthuli, you may think that you can never measure up to such greatness. But while today’s challenges might not always inspire the lofty rhetoric or the high drama of struggles past, the injustices at hand are no less glaring, the human suffering no less acute… So make no mistake about it. There are still so many causes worth sacrificing for. There is still so much history yet to be made… You can be the generation to ensure that women are no longer second-class citizens, that girls take their rightful places in our schools. You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place including the home – especially the home – that isn’t just a women’s rights violation, it’s a human rights violation. And it has no place in any society.” Thank you for speaking this truth to power.
Your uncharacteristic accessibility was touching. You have demystified the office of the First Lady and Thank you for speaking this truth to power.
We salute the determination, devotion and diligence of your cause towards uplifting girl children, through education as you demonstrated during your visit to a humble girl children’s centre in previously war-torn Liberia this year, to encourage girls to stay in school.
As the First Lady of SWAG, you correctly identified the important place that women occupy in the foundational development of family, community, country and the world! You have tirelessly taken time out to mentor girl children through support for projects and events that seek to do this.
Your global Let Girls Learn initiative has created meaningful opportunities for girls the world over to rise above their circumstances and break the so-called glass ceiling, shaping future generations.
Your recent campaigns in support of Hillary Clinton have seen you take on candidate Trump for deriding, demeaning and assaulting women, eloquently laying out what is at stake. Tears in your eyes rolled as you candidly condemned his disrespect for women and its effects on young boys and girls. You care deeply for women, girl children and their power to positively transform their destinies with practical opportunities. Your exemplary influence has inspired us to change our communities with the tools in our hands and style and brains as our weapon.
On behalf of every woman in huddled, forgotten corners of this world and NAW readers, we pay you special tribute for teaching us, influencing us and inspiring us through Style, Substance, Influence, Compassion, Determination, Optimism and Connectedness!
May you courageously continue to campaign for a better tomorrow for women globally. Long live Lady of SWAG!
We shall always soar to greater heights because you have taught us to go high when they go low!
