First Family: Life in the White House

The first family this week: 15 headlines you may have missed

They're role models

• The first post-modern first couple? (New American Media)
• The Obamas are "black swans" (Huffington Post)
• "The first lady of the United States is brown like me" (Austin American-Statesman)
• The price of "faux-familiarity" (The New York Times)
• Ebony editor: "They are the president and first lady of the people" (NewsBusters/NBC)

They're cool

• Sasha, Malia may increase attention paid to tween set (USA Today)

They're fashionable

• First family wears wool (Weekly Times)
• Sasha's inaugural ball dress helps raise money for children (MyCentralJersey.com)
• The importance of letting their hair down (KNX)
• Book to chronicle Michelle Obama's style (Washington Times)
  

They eat well

• Eating locally stimulates the economy (Marie Claire)
• What may be on the first family's menu (Caymanmama.com)

They're entertaining

• Jonas brothers want to fly on Air Force One (OK!)
• First family could bring diversity to TV shows (Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier)

And they're friendly to animals

• National Park Service removing raccoons from West Wing (The Herald)

Sasha, Malia could make 'age appropriate' clothes fashionable

Some parents and store owners are grateful the first daughters have adopted a style that is more classic than the "the 7-going-on-17 look so popular of late," the Palm Beach Post says.

The boutique owners agree that a tastefully dressed young lady wears tailored clothing -- in either traditional or contemporary styling -- and is dressed with consideration given to her age, the degree of formality of the event and the season.

That is not the most popular approach to dressing little girls, says (Diane) Inderlin, of Sweet Pea & Me. "We see some funky stuff out there right now. A lot of girls are looking up to the Hannah Montana image, and I think that's where everything is going wrong. Girls have the rest of their life to be funky." ...

"It would be great," she says, "if girls begin to look to the Obamas."

Related:

• NJ designer's "Peacock" dress in high demand since Sasha wore it (MyCentralJersey.com)
• Mother of young model who looks like Sasha says she hopes daughter will get more work (CNN)
• How the girls stayed warm during the inauguration (Newsday)
• J.Crew to sell Obama inauguration outfits (Chicago Tribune)
• Obama's favorite suit company files for bankruptcy (Philly.com)

Smithsonian will display Michelle Obama's inaugural gown

Politico says the Washington, D.C., museum will be home to Michelle Obama's inaugural gown:

The Smithsonian will unveil the white Jason Wu gown this summer and perhaps the Isabel Toledo daytime get-up as well. The museum already has Laura Bush's first inaugural gown (red lace and silk,) as well as gowns worn by Jackie Kennedy (yellow silk), and Helen Taft (white silk chiffon).

The Smithsonian planned 10 exhibits to celebrate Obama's inauguration. Its Web site includes invitations and photographs from previous inaugurations.

Related: J.Crew to release cardigan called "Michelle" (Telegraph)

Legoland updates first family's inauguration outfits

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the inauguration exhibit at California's Legoland has been updated so that the miniature outfits now match the ones really worn by the first family:

Legoland actually swore in Obama's plastic counterpart on Jan. 15, for which it had to predict the first family's wardrobe. While it accurately outfitted Mr. President in his staple red tie, Michelle was originally dressed in what Legoland refers to as "red satin." But who was to guess that she'd show up in lemongrass yellow?

Legoland's since made the appropriate changes, swapping the first lady's crimson number for something more akin to her Isabel Toledo wool lace shift dress (Big Bird yellow is the closest Lego comes to lemongrass) and Sasha's white and red dress for her pink overcoat and tangerine scarf.

My friend Les Rose of CBS News was the photojournalist for this story about the Legoland inauguration exhibit. 

Times of London: Is Michelle Obama America's Lady Diana?

The Sunday Times says:

On the face of it, Diana and Michelle –- the one a blue-blooded English rose, the other a self-made African-American woman with slave ancestry -– have little in common. Diana described herself as "thick as two short planks" while Michelle is an Ivy League-educated lawyer who was, until recently, earning considerably more than her husband working as a community adviser for the University of Chicago Hospitals.

So why the comparison? The Times says "The first lady has excited the fashion world, but like Diana she would rather champion the less fortunate than be a mere clotheshorse." And both women are devoted to children (their own and the world's):

Angela Kennedy Acree, Michelle's roommate at Princeton University, predicted that the White House "will be much more accessible" now that Michelle is first lady.

"She said to me before the election and since that she's going to open up the White House to the community and particularly to children." Malia and Sasha will have "friends in and out" and "there'll be many, many more regular D.C. kids saying, 'I went to the White House' ... Kids whose parents don't have connections or money."

Related:

• Current first lady may place first in fashion history (The Independent)
• Hail to the first Granny: My love affair with the divine, demure & undeniably sexy Marian Robinson (Daily Beast)

J. Crew designed exclusive inauguration outfits for Malia, Sasha

ParentDish reported that the "custom chic" creations by J.Crew were consistent with previous fashion choices. "The Obama women are known fans of J.Crew. First Lady Michelle Obama wore their gloves on Tuesday."

Jenna Lyons, creative director of the company, told the New York Post the designs won't be available retail because "I don't want them to go to school next fall and see all the girls in their school in the same coats they're wearing. It was a momentous occasion and they need it to be uniquely theirs." The company had only two weeks to do the secret work. (See this Wall Street Journal story for more on the girls' fashion sense).

Inauguration night they were surprised in the White House by the Jonas Brothers, who had also appeared at the Kids Inaugural concert the night before. Sasha and Malia also received some settling-in advice from the Bush twins.