The Look

Michelle Obama's first book, Becoming, told the story of her interior life, her journey from the young girl growing up on Chicago's South Side to becoming the First Lady of the United States. This second book centres her exterior life, the way she looked as First Lady. When the clothes she wore, the way she styled her hair, even the tone of her upper arms, all gained monumental importance for both her most ardent fans and her most cruellest detractors. Noone else has ever had a sartorial experience like hers. This book unpacks it all. 

In this celebration of style, from the moment she entered the public eye during her husband's U.S. Senate campaign through her time as the first Black First Lady of the United States and today as one of the country's most influential figures, Michelle Obama shares how she uses the beauty and intrigue of fashion to draw attention to her message. Featuring the voices of Meredith Koop, Obama's trusted stylist, as well as her makeup artist Carl Ray, hairstylists Yene Damtew and Njeri Radway, and many of the designers who have dressed Obama for notable events, The Look brings readers behind the scenes not only to reveal how her most memorable looks came together but also to tell a powerful story about how we present ourselves.

Obama's intimate and candid stories illuminate how her approach to dressing has evolved throughout her life - from the colourful sheath dresses, cardigans, and brooches she wore during her time as First Lady to the bold suits, denim, and braids of her post-White House life and all the active looks and beautiful gowns in between. In The Look, Michelle Obama explores the joy and the purpose of fashion and beauty and how - when wielded with grace and care - they can uplift and affirm the values one holds most dear. Confidence, she concludes, cannot be put on.