Michelle Obama to publish new book 'The Look' this fall and 'reclaim' fashion story
Michelle Obama is adding another book to her author byline, this time with photos of some of her most iconic fashion moments over the years.
"The Look" will feature over 200 never-before-published images of Obama, accompanied by writing about her style evolution. Obama is also the author of memoirs "Becoming" and "The Light We Carry," both of which topped USA TODAY's Best-selling Booklist.
"The Look," out Nov. 4 from Penguin Random House, is Obama's opportunity to "reclaim" her fashion story after years of criticism over her appearance during her time in the White House. Penguin Random House Audio will simultaneously release an audiobook edition, read by Obama herself.
"This book is a celebration of fashion, but more importantly, I hope it is a celebration of confidence, identity, and authenticity, and an inspiration to think deeply about how we choose to define style and beauty," Obama writes in the introduction.
"The Look" will also include perspectives from Obama's stylist, makeup artist, hairstylists and longtime designers to bring readers a peek behind the curtain at how her most memorable looks were crafted.
First ladies' fashion choices capture public attention, but criticism of Obama was often racially charged. In 2022, Obama shared that she wanted to wear braids during her tenure but decided not to because Americans were 'not ready' and she preferred the focus be on the Obama administration's policies, not her hairstyle.
Obama was also ridiculed for wearing a sleeveless dress for her first official portrait, though Jacqueline Kennedy sported the same look during her time in the White House without backlash.
"I'm grateful that I've reached the stage in my life where I feel empowered and free to do what I want and wear what I want," Obama writes in "The Look," according to a press release from the publisher. "During our years in the White House, people were constantly commenting on my looks and dissecting my clothing choices. That's part of why I decided to write this book now: it's time for me to reclaim my story – what fashion and beauty mean to me – in my own words."
Bill Clinton talks new thriller: Key White House details in murderous new book
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michelle Obama new book 'The Look' on fashion coming soon
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
'Elio' star Zoe Saldaña lives for winning 'cool mom points' with her kids
How does Zoe Saldaña follow up an Academy Award win? By starring in a Pixar animated movie. Her kids think one is cooler than the other, and it might not be the one you expect. 'Definitely winning an Oscar, because they're playing soccer right now,' Saldaña says. 'They're like, 'Mom! Oscar is like the World Cup!' And then my third son was like, 'What? You got it for supporting actress, right?' And I'm just like, 'Oh, Zen. Thank you for keeping me on my toes.' 'But they're always proud of the fact that I'm making an effort in wanting to cater to films that they can watch right now.' Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Saldaña has starred in big franchises like 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Avatar' but also stayed busy in the animation space, with roles in the 'Maya and the Three' miniseries, 'Missing Link,' 'My Little Pony: The Movie' and now Pixar's 'Elio.' Saldaña voices Olga Solis, the aunt and guardian of an 11-year-old boy named Elio (Yonas Kibreab) who wishes he could be abducted by aliens and is picked up by a spaceship full of colorful creatures. The "Emilia Pérez" star always wants her sons – twins Cy and Bowie, 10, and Zen, 8 – to be proud of her, and 'my kids are absolutely revelations to me every single day,' Saldaña says. 'They're my biggest teachers. And obviously I say that behind their backs. I never want them to feel completely responsible for my growth, but they are teaching me a lot by just growing around me and evolving and setting their boundaries and claiming their space and revealing themselves to themselves.' By being in stories that appeal to younger audiences, 'it just contributes to my deeper education on wanting to know how to be a better mom to my kids,' she adds. 'I just want to be cool for a longer time than possible. In my mind, I feel like that this gives me cool mom points.' Her character in 'Elio,' though, has to figure out how to be a mom. Olga is an Air Force major who's put her dreams of being an astronaut on hold to care for her nephew, and they struggle to get along. When Elio gets beamed up to space and goes on his adventures there, a clone Elio is sent back to Earth to take his place. And this one, Elio 2.0, is agreeable, generally compliant and overall 'too perfect,' Saldaña says. 'That sounds in theory like a perfect Mother's Day, where the mom has a yes day,' Saldaña says. 'Can I make you some broccoli with that? Yes. Do you want to pick up after yourself? Absolutely. But if that were to happen in reality in my life, I would be like at the hospital with my kids, like there's something wrong with my child. Why he's saying yes to everything I'm proposing?! 'With Olga, even though everything on the surface was fine, something was unsettling. That woke up that maternal instinct in her to, to really say, 'OK, I may not understand my kid, but I love my kid so much so that I know when he's off, I know when he's not being himself.' ' Saldaña, who next stars in "Avatar: Fire and Ash" (in theaters Dec. 19), enjoys collaborating with kids on movie projects. 'It's shorter work hours when you work with children,' she says. 'You don't have to do those long 14-hour days. If all your scenes are with that child, you get to go home when they go home and I kind of love that. 'It's easier for me to work with other kids than to work with my own. I can't really imagine ever being able to work with my own kids because I wouldn't be able to separate being their mom at all times.' A couple of Saldaña's sons have expressed some interest in acting. She and husband Marco Perego 'would support our children if this is what they would want to pursue," Saldaña says. "But so far, the moment we go, 'Well, come on, let's wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, let's get on the road for two hours, let's memorize these 10 pages,' they're like, 'Uh, I don't think so.' '
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Prince Harry and Meghan's Biggest U.S. Scandals
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were frequent targets of the British press as working royals, but it was only after several years in the United States that they began to face controversy across the pond as well. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have experienced successes since moving to California, but have also faced their fair share of crises. Meghan's mock curtsy, Harry's frostbite, and allegations of staff mistreatment have been just some of the moments fans of the couple might prefer to forget. Meghan's Curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II The duchess used the couple's December 2022 Netflix show, Harry & Meghan, to describe her first-ever curtsy to Queen Elizabeth, but it provoked a backlash for allegedly disrespecting British culture. Meghan re-created the curtsy she said she performed, bowing at the waist and spreading her arms wide in either direction. "I mean, Americans would understand this," she said. "We have Medieval Times Dinner & was like that." She had previously described the meeting to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 without mentioning any issues with her curtsy, and Harry went on to say it was "flawless" in his memoir, Spare. Many came away feeling the mock curtsy had disrespected a long-standing British tradition, and the fact that the queen had died three months earlier no doubt did not help. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada, on February 9, 2025. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada, on February 9, 2025. Samir Hussein/WireImage Prince Harry Mocked Over Frostbite Harry's book, Spare, was released a month later and led to ridicule after he described in detail applying his mother's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream to his frost-bitten private parts. "My penis was oscillating between extremely sensitive and borderline traumatized," he wrote. "The last place I wanted to be was Frostnipistan. "I'd been trying some home remedies, including one recommended by a friend. She'd urged me to apply Elizabeth Arden cream. My mum used that on her lips. 'You want me to put that on my todger?' "'It works, Harry. Trust me.' I found a tube, and the minute I opened it, the smell transported me through time. I felt as if my mother was right there in the room. "Then I took a smidge and applied there. 'Weird' doesn't really do the feeling justice." Suffice it to say, the passage attracted the attention of quite a few late-night U.S. comedy shows. 'F****** Grifters' and the Collapse of Spotify Just months later, the Sussexes' Spotify deal collapsed, and just as their team was reassuring journalists the two had parted ways by mutual consent, up popped an executive at the streaming giant to derail the PR strategy. Bill Simmons used his own podcast to fire a parting shot at the couple: "I wish I had been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation. 'The F****** Grifters,' that's the podcast we should have launched with them. "I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry, trying to help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories." Meghan a 'Dictator in High Heels' Meghan had long been fending off allegations that she bullied staff at Kensington Palace as a working royal. The scandal migrated to America in September 2024 with an article from The Hollywood Reporter headlined: "Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan." The article quoted a source who said the couple's U.S. staff were terrified of Meghan and that the royal belittled people. Another source said Meghan marched around "like a dictator in high heels," and has reduced grown men to tears. Meghan's team launched a PR counterattack in the pages of Us Weekly, where several past and present staffers praised her. She has consistently denied the allegations of bullying. Prince Harry's ESPY Award In 2024, Prince Harry was awarded the ESPY's Pat Tillman Award for Service, sparking a major backlash from sports fans. At its peak, Mary Tillman, Pat's mother, told The Mail on Sunday: "I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award. There are recipients that are far more fitting." 'South Park' and the 'Worldwide Privacy Tour' Harry's memoir sparked a collapse in the couple's U.S. approval rating, and in the same way that a picture can tell a thousand words, an episode of South Park ridiculing the duke and duchess appeared to tell the story of a shift in American perceptions. The episode, titled "The Worldwide Privacy Tour," depicted the "Prince and Princess of Canada" campaigning for their privacy in the aftermath of the death of the "Queen of Canada." In one scene, the couple appears on a fictional Canadian morning show, holding "We Want Privacy" placards. The anchor asks the prince: "Let me start with you, sir. You lived a life with the royal family, you had everything handed to you but you say your life has been hard and now you've written all about it in your new book: Waaagh." The princess said: "I was totally like, 'You should write a book 'cause your family's, like, stupid and then so are, like, journalists." The interviewer says, "So you hate journalists? And now you wrote a book that reports on the lives of the royal family? So, you're a journalist." Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page. Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Hollywood and Obama should be judged for covering up Joe Biden's frailty
One year ago this month, attendees packed the 7,100 seats inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles to watch a parade of A-list celebrities — George Clooney! Julia Roberts! Barbra Streisand! — unite in a common goal: to raise more money for President Biden's re-election campaign than had ever before been tallied for a single fundraising event. By that standard the evening was a smashing success: Over $30 million, a record, was raised. 6 George Clooney, Joe Biden, Julia Roberts and Barack Obama at the Los Angeles fundraiser last June 15th, the beginning of the end of the wide-scale cover-up of Biden's inability to maintain his presidential campaign. X/Chris Jackson 'How important the event was to his re-election bid could be seen,' the Associated Press reported, 'in Biden's decision to fly through the night across nine time zones, from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California, to attend.' Advertisement Nothing was left to chance. Outside the Peacock, riot police ringed the Gaza protesters; inside, the biggest weapon was rolled out. Former President Barack Obama appeared onstage with his old No. 2, the pair of presidents interviewed by the ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Their recurring theme: A second Trump presidency would ruin America. Obama called the current moment 'a by-product of 2016,' when, he said, 'a whole bunch of folks . . . sat out . . . Hopefully, we have learned our lesson, because these elections matter.' When Roe v. Wade came up, and the audience hissed, Obama scolded them: 'Don't hiss; vote.' 6 Within weeks of the event at the Peacock Theater, Biden would bow out of the campaign, which passed onto Vice President Kamala Harris. AP Still sharp, still charming, the familiar smile still beguiling, the forty-fourth president deployed all his gifts to urge the high rollers at the Peacock — and by extension, all Americans — to support Biden with money and votes: the most precious commodities a civic-minded American can be asked to invest. Advertisement The only problem was: Biden. At the event's end, as he and Obama waved goodbye with Kimmel, the incumbent became catatonic, just as he had five days earlier, at a Juneteenth concert at the White House. His whole body froze, as if immobilized by a science-fiction ray-gun. Obama had to guide his friend, gently but firmly, off the stage. As the Washington Post later reported, the commander-in-chief, keeper of the nuclear option, appeared 'slow . . . frail.' 'Even with Kimmel posing softball questions, and Obama frequently interjecting to provide support,' the story said, 'Biden struggled to explain key parts of his campaign platform, with attendees saying that the president frequently stumbled over his remarks, trailed off or was simply confusing.' 6 Pres. Obama has staked his post-presidential legacy on moral authority, clarity and legitimacy. His role in clouding Biden's health demands that legacy be reconsidered. AP Advertisement By June 27, Biden's disastrous performance in the CNN debate with former President Trump in Atlanta had triggered an open revolt, with leading Democrats and rank-and-file primary voters clamoring for Biden to withdraw from the contest. Throughout the incumbent's long political death-spiral, former President Obama — who had urged Biden against running in 2016 and 2020, worried the older man might 'embarrass himself' — remained silent. In what the Associated Press called 'the most delicate political moment for Democrats since former President Bill Clinton's impeachment,' Obama was seen struggling 'to balance his role as a party elder and an honest broker for Democrats seeking advice while avoiding being seen as betraying his former vice president.' Missing from this depiction was a key group: the American people. In Biden's season of torment, Obama may have deemed it prudent to keep his own counsel; but that doesn't explain his presence at the Peacock Theater in the first place. Could someone as perceptive and politically astute as Obama, a bestselling memoirist and two-time winner of the Electoral College, really have failed to discern Biden's unfitness until the fundraiser? Advertisement 6 Despite being enabled by sycophantic aides — and his Vice President — Biden's deterioration was well-known among much of Washington. Getty Images And even if that were true, why did Obama wait until after the debate, almost two weeks, before taking action to protect the electorate? By July 11, 'Morning Joe' relayed the whispering of top Democrats who believed Obama was 'working behind the scenes to orchestrate' Biden's withdrawal. In short: What took him so long? Barack Obama entered office with a Gallup approval rating of 67% and, after sinking to 40% in 2011, left office with a robust 59%. Polling on former presidents is scant; but Gallup still has Obama at 59%, while a recent YouGov survey lists him at 62%. 6 Following his humiliating defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jimmy Carter went on to rehabilitate his legacy via ambitious, progressive humanitarian efforts. Getty Images What does it say for a man who, trusted by so many, colluded in a lie to them — that Joe Biden was fit for office — and moreover participated in an enormous transfer of wealth, $30 million in a single evening, to prop up that lie until it became impossible even for the most deluded souls to believe? Rather than use his enduring appeal to force the Democratic Party to do the right thing in mid-2023 — when Biden was still officially mulling whether to seek re-election — Obama held his tongue and hoped for the best. For the winner of the 2017 Profile in Courage Award, the crucible of 2024 was not a Profile in Courage moment. 6 Biden and Obama on that fateful Peacock Theater stage last June, which raised $30 million. AP Advertisement Obama's historical legacy won't rest entirely on the arc and perceptions of his presidency. His actions since 2017 matter, too; and in covering for Biden for so long, Obama displayed a contempt for our democracy, and his own party, unbefitting of a two-term president. Jimmy Carter's post-presidency helped lift his standing in history. For Barack Obama, at least so far, the narrative runs in the other direction. James Rosen is chief Washington correspondent at Newsmax and the author, most recently, of 'Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986.'
