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Michelle Obama "loves young designers of color" according to this site. I'm not sure if that's what's going on with the First Lady's sartorial decisions. She's recently promoting (by wearing) the designs of Comme des Garçons, whose designer is not "young" but certainly attempts at youth in her odd and style-bereft designs (she is also close enough to the hue that Michelle is looking for).
Here is what this site has to say about the designer at Comme de Garçons, labeling her as an "anti-fashion designer":
Rei Kawakubo has refused to accept stereotypes in fashion.I wonder if this is Michelle's attempt at trying to look young and trendy herself?
AMONG the plethora of international labels that biannually produce fashion according to what’s written in the stars, Comme des Garcons stands out simply because it doesn't give a glossy toss about fitting into the conventional world of style.
To understand why this is, one just has to look beyond the clothes to the label’s designer, Rei Kawakubo, the mastermind behind the label's non-conformist clothes. Although she has been designing collections for over 20 years, Kawakubo happily remains a nemesis to the system and, as a result, has often been labelled “anti-fashion” and her work, unprecedented and difficult to categorise.
Here’s a quick run-through of some of her work: When she first showed her range in Paris in 1982, her austere, almost monastic, clothes were so different from the colourful creations of the time that her style was dubbed “Hiroshima chic”. She also introduced the now familiar and much imitated “unfinished” look with ripped clothes and exposed seams on wool suits and squarely declared that “what’s inside is more important than the outside”.
A real, young designer, twelve year-old (non-colored) Grant Mower, is actually designing dresses for the First Lady. Here is one of his finished products, which looks like a better version of her inaugural gown. The gown was also designed by an up and coming Jason Wu (a little older than Mower, and closer to the "colored" that Michelle seems to seek).
Yet, one cannot blame these inexperienced (and perhaps not so talented) designers for the clothes Michelle puts together for these important occasions. And she is the one that has her scouts scouting around looking for "young designers of color," not necessarily to promote excellence in design, but to fulfill her "affirmative action" quotas for dresses at the White House.
Back to the above collage. Notice how almost all the other women are wearing some kind of suit, or formal attire. Even Oprah attempts at formality when she joined Michelle to bid for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. Michelle opts for casual, if not dowdy.
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Whether in a dress (long or short), a skirt or a pant suit, there is something stubbornly gauche about Michelle's clothing choices. Notice how Carla Bruni may be wearing pants, but she softens them with a long, colorful coat and a handbag. Queen Elizabeth's soft pink stands out against Michelle's dreary dark. A little girl skirt, pink and with a bow at the back, is overshadowed by the subdued sophistication of Princess Letizia's dress. And who can forget that "gladiator" gown, aggressive and shiny, next to the ornate dress of Mexico's First Lady, who covers hers arms modestly with a shawl.
Michelle can have all the Comme des Garçons she wants. Style and beauty are not going to die off just because she wears a Jason Wu inaugural gown.