"Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy"

"Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy"
by Mary Tomer

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars


I won "Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy" in a Goodreads.com First Reads contest. I really enjoyed reading this book for the gorgeous photos and fashion ideas. The book is a beautiful, classy homage to the First Lady, Michelle Obama. I think the theme of the book can be summed up with a phrase I found in one of the later chapters, "style and substance." The majority of the book, of course, focuses on Michelle Obama's style, but there is respect for who the woman really is who is wearing the clothes.

The high quality photos in the book are gorgeous and the quality of the book itself is fantastic. Yes, a lot of the information and photos could probably be found on the website that inspired the book, Mrs-O.org, but the presentation and qualilty of the book is impressive.

I learned some great facts about Mrs. Obama's fashion choices. She likes to mix high end pieces with affordable pieces from accessible stores and catalogs, and especially online stores. I had also heard that, like the rest of us, she has been known to repeat outfits from her wardrobe, but I had no idea how often she has done this. It's so refreshing to read that she doesn't just make a fashion statement once with an outfit and never wear it again.

I liked the timeline of the chapters and the photos of some of the wardrobe pieces are so detailed! I also enjoyed the interviews with the designers and stylists with whom Mrs. Obama has worked closely with. These interviews were relevant to the book as opposed to the times that the author would write paragraphs about a specific designer's career history. These excerpts seemed totally unrelated to the rest of the book and were out of place. It was great to read an interview with Micheal Kors about his reaction to Michelle Obama wearing his dress in the official First Lady portrait. But I don't need to know about the early career of a designer that she wore once or twice.

Overall, this is a beautiful book that would be a great gift to a fan or supporter of Michelle Obama and also a fantastic book for fashion enthusiasts.