- 12 hours ago
Director: Bety Dereje Director of Photography: Dane BrownEditor: Michael SuyedaProducer: Rahel GebreyesAssociate Producer: Lea DonenbergAssistant Camera: Josh CatubigGaffer: Eddie Harold Jr.Grip/Swing: George HaleyAudio: Andrew Kim, Tony CharlesProduction Assistant: Quinton JohnsonProduction Coordinator: Tanía JonesProduction Manager: Kristen HelmickLine Producer: Natasha Soto-AlborsAssistant Editor: Justin SymondsPost Production Coordinator: Holly FrewSupervising Editor: Kameron KeyPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschTalent Manager: Phoebe DishnerExecutive Producer: Rahel GebreyesSenior Director, Video: Romy van den BroekeSenior Director, Programming: Linda GittlesonVP, Video Programming: Thespena GuatieriImages Courtesy of: Obama Robinson Family Archive, Annie Leibovitz, Meredith Koop, Carl Ray and Melissa WinterSketches Courtesy of: Jason Wu, Versace
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Hi everyone, I'm Michelle Obama. I'm here with my glam team and this is my life in looks.
00:09This is my sophomore year at Princeton. Going to the library and I'm in what appears to be
00:17a basic Levi denim jacket with a red vest. This LeSport sack, this was the happening bag. I think
00:26it was one of those rare purchases that I bought with my own money and I had my hair in braids.
00:32Now, would you have dressed me like this? What do you think, Mary? I think you're a cutie patootie.
00:38I love your little bag and your little watch, your little rolled up sleeve. You know why I had to roll
00:43up a sleeve, right? No. Oh, because the watch? No, it was too short. It was too short. Okay, tall girl
00:49problems. Tall girl problems. Hashtag tall girl problems. The roll up sleeve was a tactic. Yes.
00:53That I had to employ with almost every outfit. And I'm sure the watch was Timex because that's all I
01:00could afford. Aww. Who is that? Me. You. When I decide to get married, I was like, let me go look
01:09at some gowns real quick because I got to get this done. So I think I went on my lunch hour. How many
01:14dresses did you try on? You know, this is so me, right? I went by myself. I was, of course you did.
01:21I wasn't thinking like, now they make such a big deal out of bringing everybody. Did you have an idea
01:25of like what kind of dress you wanted? I wanted the hourglass silhouette. I knew I wanted to
01:31emphasize my décolletage. Okay. And this dress had sleeves that detach. Our first dance was
01:39unforgettable, Nat King Cole. I get the feels when I look at this photo every time. Look, I had no jitters.
01:45I had no doubt. I knew that I was marrying my friend and somebody that I could trust.
01:52The first election night, this is Barack's U.S. Senate win. I did get the suit at Barney's. It was
01:59all about efficiency because it was one of those things I'm rushing in between work and doing my
02:03thing. And it was like, oh man, election night is coming. I don't have anything to wear. And it fit
02:08perfectly, which is a rare thing for somebody my height. And it was a quarter length sleeve. So I didn't
02:14have to worry about the pushup concept. On nights like this, I am not thinking about me. I'm thinking
02:19about my kids. Sasha looks like she was scared. She enjoyed the limelight. Always did. It was just
02:26that there was a big boom that happened, a big pop, and that scared her. All right, next is...
02:33I thought this was South Carolina, but I read somewhere that... Sorry. What? No, I read somewhere.
02:40I did. I read somewhere where it was another state primary night. St. Paul, Minnesota. I saw that.
02:47This was like my uniform. This was Maria Pinto sheath dress with an Aliyah belt. And those sheath
02:54dresses were beautiful. It was practical for campaigning because while we were there doing
03:00that rally that night, I was probably at a farm festival and then at a school. It's never just
03:06one event on the campaign trail. It's usually five, six, the day's worth of activities. And then you
03:12have to be ready for TV. So I had to get ready in the day and just keep myself ready throughout the
03:17entire day. So no glam. Could have used you all back then. You look good. It was all me. You look good, girl.
03:25I remember when you were on The View and a black and white dress on. It just stood out to me. And I
03:30was like, you raised the bar so high. And I was thinking if they ever be getting in the White House,
03:36I would love to work with Mrs. Obama. Did you really think that? I really did. Wow. So what did it feel
03:40like when we called you? I thought it was a hoax. I'm like, someone's really playing with me good.
03:46But then when I've kept corresponding with the White House, and then when I ended up in the salon,
03:51it was real. This was the presidential election in Grant Park. Do you remember? I remember exactly
03:57where I was. Where were you? I remember on election night being home and watching. And I was like, wow,
04:03are we really going to do it the next day after you guys won? I picked up my newspaper. Everybody wanted
04:08a copy of my New York Times. And I was like, nope. And I still have it till this day. Gotta get that
04:12signed. I should. I should, girl. I remember like going to sleep. I'm like, I'm just going to go to bed
04:19because this ain't it. And then some of them was like, girl, get up. History is about to happen.
04:24The process of finding a dress for election night probably started a week or so before. I just
04:30didn't have time to think about what this dress was saying. I wanted it to feel vibrant. I wanted
04:36it to feel alive. But I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about what it would mean. You know,
04:42I didn't think about this being a historic moment in that regard. I was thinking, now we gotta live.
04:52What's next? It was a whirlwind. And you literally get from election night until
04:57inauguration day, which is the end of January, to completely change your entire life around.
05:04My first introduction to Jason Wu, big name designers tended to dress the first lady for
05:09inauguration. I was pretty clear that I wanted to change that up. Jason Wu's story meant a lot in
05:16this moment. Canadian, Taiwanese, gifted, young. He must have been in his 20s at the time. And I
05:24thought he's the designer that should be designing this dress for this family. The dress just happened
05:31to be ethereal in that way. There were 10 balls that we went to. We would dance, leave, get in a buggy,
05:38and go to the next ball in the convention center, do it again. We did this until two in the morning.
05:44So I knew this dress had to feel light and flowy. And once I put it on, I knew that this was the
05:51dress. No questions. Wasn't even close. Ooh, the first vote cover. Yes. It was actually internally,
06:00on the presidential side, a bit controversial. The team wondered whether being on a fashion magazine
06:09was the right signal. I don't think they understood Vogue. I don't think they fully understood the
06:15impact and power. I had to look primarily white people in the eye and say, you don't understand
06:22what this means. By then, I understood that I had to control my own image. Before I left it up to other
06:31people to protect my image, I thought this was an important opportunity. Shout out to Anna Wintour.
06:37We even said that I wouldn't show up in couture, that I would wear my own clothes and do my own styling,
06:43because this wasn't going to be a fashion shoot. This was about what we were doing. Being the first lady,
06:49you have to be aspirational and representational at the same time. Being too unattainable, you know,
06:57makes people feel like this, this place isn't for them. This is your house. This is not our house. If
07:04young people don't see themselves in places of power, they don't think it's for them. This was the
07:10state dinner at Buckingham Palace. I love this look because I love the gloves. I mean, this is such a,
07:17such a story of these stupid gloves. It was just so much back and forth. I'm like,
07:24With who? The State Department, the East Wing. I had already commissioned this dress from Tom Ford.
07:30So I set up a call with him because I really, I wanted to hear the fashion perspective. And he was
07:36like, Meredith, do the gloves. He's like, I'll send you two pairs. But you hear in that how much political
07:43pressure there is, how many voices, there's a different level of pressure when people are
07:50already in the back of their minds are wondering, do you belong? But there is protocol. There's all
07:56this protocol. The question is, well, at dinner, what do you do with the gloves? You know, I was like,
08:00do I take these gloves off? Let me tell you, those were leather gloves that it took three people to put
08:05on. Once they were on, I'm like, they're not coming off. I'm eating in the gloves. So I was sitting next to
08:10Her Majesty the Queen and we had a conversation. It's like, do you take your gloves off? And she's
08:15like, no, I don't take the gloves off. So I was like, whew. If I had talked to the State Department,
08:20there would have been three memos and eight edicts about what to do with the gloves. I kept those
08:25gloves on all night. Ooh, this is one of my favorites. Oh, the bangs. Yeah. That was about giving my edges
08:33a break. For all black girls out here, you know what an edge break means. Johnny Wright was my primary
08:42stylist in the White House. He cut the bangs. By this point, Mrs. Obama was doing a number of different
08:49things to her hair from extensions. And no longer had a relaxer. Yeah, no longer had a relaxer.
08:54How long did you have a relaxer? All my life. Uh, child. We had played with a number of different
09:04things from wigs to extensions and things of that nature. And it was a conversation about
09:09really just giving her hair a break. And I always tried to keep my look fairly consistent so that the
09:15story wouldn't be Michelle Obama has bangs, right? But it was, but it was expert page turning.
09:25This is the last day dinner. I know Meredith didn't think I would pick this dress.
09:30How were you thinking about Italy? I was thinking Italian designers. I was thinking,
09:36this is the last one we can really go out with a bang. Growing up a lot in the 90s and seeing Gianni
09:43Versace and that those collections, the craftsmanship, the way they approach design,
09:48the chainmail signature gowns. And you always look so beautiful in blushes and kind of really soft
09:55pinks. So I asked them if they could do rose gold. And it was just such a beautiful contrast of like
10:02strength and femininity and sorry, body T like you were sexy. Like it was just really sexy. Nothing
10:10wrong with that. I love the color. I love the way it draped her skin. I liked the flow. So when I
10:15chose the makeup, I went with a metallic rose gold eyeshadow, followed with a liquid black liner for a
10:22cat eye. This was like play for them too, because I understood that throughout these eight years,
10:29they wanted to like go ham, right? Usually I want to hear her not talk about the makeup first,
10:34but this was have fun, do your craft. And that's what we did. This was the last cover with Vogue
10:42with Annie Leibovitz. Annie had me in the garden. This was the result of us having a little more
10:48fun, a little more windblown, a little more chill. My comms team would always be like, nope,
10:54have her standing up, get her up from there. And you know, you could just see the wind coming out of
10:59the sails a little bit. So I had to tell my team, stay out of this, let everybody do their thing.
11:06And that was the freedom of not having to worry about what anybody said. I was proud to do this.
11:12I went with a monochromatic look. It was a bunch of shades of nude, nude eyeshadow, nude blush, nude
11:19lips, natural, pretty. And what? Like Carl would be answering the makeup question.
11:25He knows that. And I accented it with. Yeah. And you know, the shimmer on the shoulders,
11:32a little lotion moisturized her up. Carl loved the shimmer. And she looks like herself.
11:37The boots are on fire. Oh man. We don't need no water. This look was teetering on the brink of my
11:46comfort zone, but it was still beautiful. This was me telling my story. I wanted to be comfortable on
11:53what was a 35 city international tour. And it's like, we're doing pants. We're doing suits,
11:59with the exception of this look. This is a Balenciaga look. It came down the runway,
12:03I think in yellow and blue. And I thought the yellow was really different and cool and like
12:09a little bit too much, but in a good way. I showed you a picture of the boot and you were like, yeah,
12:14I'll try it. And then I don't think I said it like that. I mean, if you're going to wear a
12:21thigh high gold boots, it's in New York next to Sarah Jessica Parker.
12:29I was out of the White House. So it was a long trip. By then I was wearing my hair and natural curls
12:36much more often. A lot of times I'd do it when I wouldn't have hair and makeup.
12:40We had started wearing natural hair extensions at this point. We wanted to make it sure that it
12:45mimicked her natural texture. And she was like, this is easy. And she got really creative. And
12:50she would do twist outs on herself, especially because Mrs. Obama started going to the hair salon
12:56at such a young age. So it was kind of like reintroducing her back into her hair and her
13:01being in control. So she'd be like, I just put two twists in my hair and I took it out and I like this.
13:05And I'm like, yeah, that's a twist out. That's what that's called. A lot of people wear that style.
13:10So it just, it was one of those things where it allowed her to play and experiment in her own
13:14hair, which is extremely important. I wanted to be able to recreate anything
13:18that they did. I didn't want to be caught unaware. You know, it's like, what happened to Michelle
13:23Obama? Everybody was on vacation and she looks crazy, you know, and I'm still that practical
13:28woman. That's like, I got to be able to get up and spur the moment. I don't want to have to say no
13:33to a date night with my husband because Carl's not available.
13:36Oh yeah. Well this, you know, look, Sergio Hudson, amazing. I mean, we saw this look and I was like,
13:44that's that bad. That's, that's a beautiful suit. That signature belt look, which just topped it off.
13:51So we did a curl set. I know a lot of people think it was a silk press. It was not a silk press.
13:55It was just a curl and a round brush. And I don't know what that is.
13:59I didn't anticipate that the hair would go viral. This is the first time that they had seen them
14:03again. It was nostalgic after, you know, 2020. And it was just a powerful moment. And I think that
14:10everything together is what actually made the moment.
14:12This was Biden's inauguration. After January 6th, there was a feeling of unease and uncertainty.
14:21We were determined to go to the inauguration. But usually when I do big events like this,
14:27you guys come with me. I was very clear that I didn't want more people than necessary to be put
14:33in what could have been harm's way. Every decision was based on, let's just get through this day.
14:42This look is on the Light We Carry book tour. I would describe the Light We Carry book tour as a little
14:47bit more casual, a little bit more cool. Kind of, in my mind, elevated cool. Like it's something that
14:54still felt very much you in that sort of classic sense, but with edge.
15:01It was fun to be able to play in this space from a style perspective. And braids just,
15:08it just worked, it just went with it. There's so much versatility in it. So like, I just wanted to
15:14show everyone, like, it's kind of no different than having loose hair or having locks. Like,
15:20you can play with it in so many ways. So like, that was my own personal mission when we were on tour.
15:27I also understood the importance of making the statement that me as a Black woman, that we as Black
15:36women, women of all, there's so many versions of us. There isn't a political statement to it.
15:42This is just about how we wear our hair, what we want. And right now I want to play tennis. I want
15:47to swim. I want to run. I want to jump. I do not want to sit in the hair salon for hours on end.
15:54Except for one day.
15:55Except for one long day when we are together.
15:59For 24 hours.
16:00For 24 hours. Yes.
16:02And my husband is like, y'all done yet? And I was like, if you don't get out of here,
16:06asking about whether we're done. We're not done till we're done, Barack Obama. Younger generations
16:12have done a great job of owning what they want to do. And now hair, you can wear a bust down,
16:20as I learned from Marseille Martin. Thanks, Marseille. I hope I said it right.
16:25All right. This was the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. And this is a beautiful
16:35suit by Monsi. It just represented where I was at the time. You know, still in suits. This was my last
16:45political venture. I knew that I was going to do this because I believed in Kamala Harris. So I felt like
16:51I had to weigh in. So my focus was on what I was going to say. That's where I could leave the rest
16:59of the thinking to my team. Obviously, this is a big night. So many things happening. It's very
17:06important that the message comes across. But you did specifically request for a braided ponytail,
17:14right? I just thought it was a super powerful look. And the speech was one of the best speeches I've ever
17:21heard. But one thing I want to say about this night, just in general, fashion aside, outside of
17:27anything else, what anybody believes in, this speech, and speeches I've seen you give before,
17:33it was so, it was mind blowing. This is up to us, all of us, to be the solution that we seek.
17:42You were one of the greatest orders of our time. Well, I think you, Mayor. It was, it was truly amazing.
17:48We felt it. And people that were watching it felt it. This is at South by Southwest, 61 years old,
17:56starting a wonderful podcast with, with my brother. This time in our lives is more of a reflection of
18:04who I want to be moving forward. Meredith, you chose this look because we were at South by Southwest,
18:11and you were like, let's do a little. But being able to play in that way now is a part of that,
18:17that freedom. And writing this book, The Look, is about sharing that journey. I mean, it has been
18:23quite an arc from being that little girl on the south side of Chicago to today. So I hope that when
18:30people read through this book, that they, they understand that journey and hopefully
18:36they think about their own. Working with this team has truly been a privilege. It's just
18:46a blessing. It has been an experience of a lifetime and seeing all the looks that we created that are
18:54iconic just kind of blows me away. And I just want to tell everyone here, I love you.
18:58I love you too. I just want to thank you all publicly from the bottom of my heart for just
19:04being outstanding every minute of the day. I love you all. And to everyone out there, thank you.
19:13Thank you for listening. This was my life in looks.
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