Since the inauguration, first lady Michelle Obama has earned fashion nods for her outfits of choice, and her dress designed by Indian American designer Naeem Khan for her first state dinner was no exception.
For the dinner, Mrs. Obama chose a floor-length, cream colored gown covered with gleaming sequins, which formed an abstract floral pattern. The style, which paid homage to the Indian culture, was particularly appropriate in light of the dinner’s guests of honor, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.
Hal Rubenstein, the fashion director for InStyle Magazine, told the Associated Press that Mrs. Obama’s fashion choice allowed her to give a nod to Indian culture in a sophisticated, regal way, without wearing a traditional sari, which could have come across costume-like next to India’s first lady.
The one-of-a-kind handmade gown took 40 people over four weeks to sew, embroider, and make the corsets. For Indian-born designer Khan, seeing the first lady step out in his creation was an “amazing moment” that represented the “coming together of India and America.”
Khan told the Wall Street Journal that his training under American designer Halston gave him the training to merge the styles of the East with those of the West to create his own iconic designs.
“Halston, me, America, India—it’s been such a great combination,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “This is what makes me who I am, with the clean lines I learned from Halston and complicated Indian over-the-top Bollywood traditions. There’s a lot of confusion in India with design and color, and I have just taken it, simplified it, cleaned it— and this is what I get.”
Khan, who reports that his office has been inundated with calls following the dinner, approved of the way Mrs. Obama accessorized her gown. He said her choice of many bangle bracelets was important, since they are “very traditional Indian.”
No stranger to dressing celebrities, Khan has created gowns that have draped the bodies of stars such as Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Katherine Heigl, Carrie Underwood, and even Queen Noor of Jordan.
After the dinner, Khan became a Google sensation. Women’s Wear Daily reports that at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Khan’s name was the third-most Googled phrase, following “Dancing with the Stars,” and “Who won Dancing with the Stars,” and before “Black Friday Deals Online.”
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