When you’re married to a president or a prince, jetting around the world to shake hands with international power players, your wardrobe has to be appropriate at all times — and it also can send some serious political messages.
The Duchess of Cambridge, for example, appears to be taking the Crown into a much more approachable place in the public consciousness, having worn J. Crew jeans and a girl-next-door Tory Burch coat, and even re-wearing a Jenny Packham gown for the third time, on her trip to America. Her husband’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, once bumped an embarrassing interview with her ex-husband Prince Charles from every front page just by being photographed in an off-the-shoulder black dress. And Hilary Clinton, of course, has broken out of the “wife of” mold thanks to an enduring love of matchy power-pantsuits.
And with Michelle Obama’s longstanding love of Cuban-American designers Narciso Rodriguez and Isabel Toledo, the First Lady has telegraphed her support of Cuban-influenced aesthetics since day one, when she wore a dress by Mr. Rodriguez on Election Night in 2008.
She has favored these two designers consistently throughout her husband’s presidency. This has not only injected some much-needed vibrancy into a diplomatic wardrobe, but also functioned as a sartorial refrain of, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Now that Cuba and America are resuming normal diplomatic relations, perhaps Ms. Obama has been rooting for more cultural melding between the two countries since the beginning. Click through our slideshow to see her best Rodriguez and Toledo looks, and get excited for the sundresses she’ll wear on an inevitable diplomatic jaunt to Cuba.