Comments on: My-Cherie: Michelle Obama is Black, Right?

By: Holly Rose

Holly Rose — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:31:48 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more! :afro:

By: luvmylocs

luvmylocs — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:21:40 +0000

some of those dresses are not cute! i love the moniquel huiller dress for michelle obama.

i do think the sketches could have looked like they were for her and not some random woman so a little color is a nice touch.

good article! yeah michelle obama, she looks great in her inauguration yellow. i expect nothing less for the balls.

By: boelvira

boelvira — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:52:16 +0000

i think this is a slight over reaction. i’ll admit that 2 of the drawings do make her look white but the others don’t look like anyone. alot of designers don’t draw faces or add skin color to any of their sketches. i’m not white myself but i’ve seen them around and i’ve never seen any that were truly white like the paper the sketches are drawn on. its just a sketch. when the designer meets the person they make adjustments for their body shape and skintone.

i LOVE the Monique Lhuillier dress.

By: L. E.

L. E. — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:24:42 +0000

Well actually, Michiko Bell, I don’t know what color you are, but I have dark skin, and if I mix in the wrong color, it is completely wrong. The idea is we want to look good. The lovely Michelle is already a beauty, and we want to enhance it not just slap any old color on her. I mean why would a pale caucasian person with blotchy red skin wear anything that would bring out those things, so why would we wear anything that makes us look flat out crazy?

Look at the sketches again. I could imagine her in the 2 that actually took her color into consideration, because, lets face it, they didn’t draw it for anybody else but HER. Why would you draw a stick-thin figure with no color for somebody that is completely opposite?

and yes, if you haven’t figured it out, I am black. ; )

By: Michiko Bell

Michiko Bell — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:24:19 +0000

“The clothes that you wear should be based on the color of your skin and your body type.”
I disagree…anyone can wear whatever colors they want. I understand that certain skin tones look better in certain colors but it shouldn’t “make or break” an outfit.
That’s the most retrded rule I’ve ever heard.

By: onethousandcurls

onethousandcurls — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:23:10 +0000

I don’t think that the sketches are sufficient evidence that the designers are ignoring her skin tone or neglecting it. The paper is white, if they pay no attention to the sketch of the actual model (not the dress)…then it stays white, doesn’t it? And they do pay little attention, the model is only embellished enough so that the dress isn’t floating in oblivion.

I agree with an earlier comment, if the designer or Michelle or SOMEONE in that circle saw that the cut/color of the dress wasn’t flattering, it would be fixed.

These designers haven’t become superstars or ridiculously rich because they don’t know what they’re doing.

By: Anna DellÂ´Era

Anna DellÂ´Era — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:22:20 +0000

Michele Obama, poised, eloquent, magestic, stunning, breathtaking and intelligent, will be wearing the dress on inauguration night, and not vice versa. Wouldn´t it be interesting if she donned African cloth? Thank you, Cherie, for the exposing designer branch´s subtle unpreparedness for the reality at hand. However, thank you Betsey Johnson and Christian Lacroix for offering justice. Black is beautiful!

By: linda jones

linda jones — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:54:27 +0000

Brava My Cherie for “going there.”
The designers knew they were designing specifically for a black woman so why not take her skin tone and her particular body shape into consideration?
Body shape and skin tone does make a difference in the types of designs and colors that would work for our future First Lady. So what was the point in sticking to a sketch of a model with white or “blank” skin?
Yes, it is that deep.
I’m only slightly removed from the generation of black women who looked almost cartoonish if we wanted to enhance our looks by applying makeup and wearing pantyhose.
When I was coming of age, manufacturers of such products rarely took our darker hues into consideration. That left us walking around with pasty faces and ashy looking legs.
And don’t get me started on the “flesh tone” band aids.
The last time I saw band aids that were truly the flesh tone of dark skinned people were when they were briefly manufactured during the “black consciousness” era of decades past.
It’s time for the fashion designers to start using more common sense and think more inclusively. And it’s time for more people like My Cherie to unapologetically raise a little awareness “up in here!”
Mosetta

By: Deya Labrado

Deya Labrado — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:40:22 +0000

I hear what you’re saying. I always made it a point to have/use dark brown marker when I presented my sketches to my instructor. In this case, I wouldn’t hold it against the designer; its just an idea to start from and you work from there. I am this is becoming nit-picking! I’m a black hispanic btw.

By: kno

kno — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:39:53 +0000

I don’t think they forgot she was black. The purpose of fashion sketches is to sell the design of the garment. Skin tone matching, and how the piece will hang per body type isn’t worked out on paper. It has to be worked out as the garment is being made/fitted. You can’ t really match garment color and skin tone without seeing them side-by-side.

As far as the body type of a black woman, and that of Michelle Obama’s verses what’s represented in the sketches. It’s just a common/standard industry wide to sketch and fit for waif figures. And body type is not race or phenotype specific.

Also, each fashion designer has a signature illustration style that they sketch in. It sets them apart, it helps sell their concept. It’s the same for any artist from music to painting.

Again, the primary agenda her is to sell the fashion design - people should keep that in mind.