Michelle Obama and the Shorts Heard Round the World


By BELINDA LUSCOMBE Belinda Luscombe – 1 hr 51 mins ago
There's been a big fuss this week because Michelle Obama wore shorts. She's worn shorts before - to walk the dog, do stuff around the White House. But the photos of her wearing them in that iconic descending-from-Air-Force-One-onto-the-tarmac setting proved too much for the media. Obamas? Check. Summer news doldrums? Check. Controversy? Close enough. It was a story.


And people reacted. The Today Show's poll on whether she should have shown that much thigh got one of the show's biggest responses ever, with 83% pro-shorts. Local papers found "experts" to discuss the implications of the shorts for the Obama White House, international papers analyzed what it said about American culture, the blogosphere took up every angle from what this said about the objectification of women to the taxonomy of the shorts: Hot pants? Cutoffs? Booty Shorts? (See pictures of Michelle Obama's style evolution.)


Then, just as vehemently, there was a big fuss over the big fuss. Many people were given to observe that there were more important things to talk about. Several commentators pointed out that, in fact, the conflict was fake; nobody had come out, on the record, as being against the shorts.


But the truth is there was a conflict. It is within each of us. While nobody would make Mrs. O wear couture in Arizona in August, the truth is, she just didn't look particularly good in shorts. Her arms are much admired. Her legs are just, you know, legs. Nobody immediately stepped forward, as J. Crew did with her cardigans, to announce "Hey, we made those! You can buy them too at unflatteringshorts.com." (See pictures behind the scenes with Michelle Obama.)


Mrs. Obama was elevated to fashion-icon status way before last November. She has gone along with it, appearing on the cover of magazines and dressing up for big occasions. But it's not in her personal or political interest to hew too closely to that image. It's too limiting. It's exhausting. And, most of all, it separates her from the bulk of American womanhood, who do not have the wherewithal or energy to put it together perfectly every day. It's contraindicated with the just-folks charm that is the core of the Obamas appeal.


If we needed any more proof that looking good has its limits, it comes later this month - Aug. 28, to be exact - from an unlikely source: Vogue. In a new documentary, The September Issue, about the creation of the magazine's bumper September issue, the biggest revelation is that the women who have the most important jobs there, apart from editor Anna Wintour, do not look all that glamorous.

They don't wear much makeup. Their outfits are unremarkable. They work really hard and get pretty scruffy doing it; the magazine's chief creative genius, 70-year-old Grace Coddington, spends most of the movie whipping up images that drip with luxury and beauty while her own hair looks like it was groomed with a rake. (Read TIME's cover story, "The Meaning of Michelle.")


For women, Michelle's shorts were long on significance. They give accomplished, glamorous people license to do what the power brokers at Vogue do, and that is to wear whatever the hell they like sometimes. So, ladies, get out your least flattering outfits - your terry shorts, your oversize T-shirt, those extra comfortable arch-supporting shoes - and wear them with pride. All the fashionable women are doing it.

Oh dear gods no, Shorts in the summer, whats this world coming to!?!

I don't see what the big deal is about the shorts... oh, no wait the big deal is about there not being a big deal about the shorts, or... Ow my brain just cramped

It's sick and sad that people are so accustomed to fetishizing public figures that a regular human being can't wear a pair of shorts without it inspiring dissertations.

Michelle Obama is the most relatable First Lady we've seen in years. Let her do her thing, for Pete's sake!

(edit: Cyn, that's a rant at the general public, not at you. )

They're hardly SHORT shorts are they and lets face it, the lady has the pins to wear them

Why must the media be so fecking shallow?

ATTENTION MEDIA: Leave people's fashion choices alone!

LEt the woman show some thigh. Come on now people.
THey wasted space to type up that story. How about they right a story about the violence in the world.

are people really complaining about this. I dont even think her shorts were that short

When you have multiple 24-7 news stations, you have to fill that time with something.