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"  Like many women, I find it incredibly difficult to wear color. A true New Yorker, I often revert to black or charcoal gray. But after surveying the recent runway looks\u2014bright orange and cobalt blue suits at Prada, an acid pink evening gown at Jil Sander\u2014even I have to admit that it might be time to give the wardrobe a fresh coat, so to speak. That would appear to be the word from the East Wing, too. Our fearless, fashion-forward first lady has been using color to transmit a message of optimism and confidence ever since she arrived at the White House two years ago; this season, it seems almost certain that designers are finally heeding Michelle Obama&amp;#039;s call. For centuries, color has represented individual moods while also reflecting and expressing the broader cultural zeitgeist. Red evokes power (hence the preference among politicians for red ties); violet and purple signify royalty or sensuality, depending on the object in question. As the late fashion editor Pauline Trig\u00E8re once famously said, &amp;quot;When you&amp;#039;re feeling blue, wear red.&amp;quot;  Obama is really just picking up the thread of a long tradition; color has always played a symbolic role in the White House. Most first ladies have worn it or decorated with it to communicate everything from their political affinity to their personal taste\u2014perhaps because, for many of them, style was one of the relatively few avenues of self-expression available to women in their position. Even the very first first, Martha Washington, wore white in an effort to appear down-to-earth and evoke a kind of classical style, emulating the ideals of the ancient Roman republic. Ida McKinley, who moved into the White House in 1897, hated yellow; when she redecorated, she told her staff to remove all signs of the color, down to the flowers in the garden. Florence Harding loved violet blue so much, the shade was rechristened Harding Blue in the 1920s.  Bess Truman, who despised living in the White House and in the spotlight, wore navy blue, black, and gray. But Mamie Eisenhower had more fun: She loved pink and had her bedroom redone in the shade, including the tufted headboard, sheets, towels, and monogrammed wastepaper baskets. In response, the Textile Color Institute came out with First Lady Pink, which catapulted sales of pink paint, as well as fabric, plastic goods, pottery, and draperies in the hue through the roof, making it the most popular color of the 1950s. Nancy Reagan empowered Republican red (even her controversially pricey china was banded in carmine), and the color became synonymous with the high-octane &amp;#039;80s. No first lady used color\u2014or fashion itself, for that matter\u2014as effectively and theatrically as Jacqueline Kennedy, whose time in the White House corresponded with the rise of color television. Although she loved white and black\u2014her &amp;quot;safe&amp;quot; colors, according to Oleg Cassini, creator of her White House wardrobe\u2014she also adored the historical hues of Old Master paintings. Kennedy requested that Cassini, a former Paramount Studios costume designer, use this palette of blues, pinks, yellows, and reds to illuminate the first lady, as if in a painting, on television screens across the country. He even referenced each hue with the name of an eighteenth-century French painter (Nattier blue) or an Italian master (Veronese green). &amp;quot;I always thought of her as part of a painting, a quadro,&amp;quot; Cassini wrote in his book A Thousand Days of Magic. &amp;quot;I thought of how she would look with other people. I wanted her to stand out\u2014that was the trick.&amp;quot; Jackie&amp;#039;s use of color conjured a kind of patrician grandeur that elevated the image of the White House, giving it an elitist elegance. Subsequent first ladies were not as successful at transforming the emotional tenor of their husbands&amp;#039; presidencies with their appearance. Feminist-era first ladies such as Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton paid more attention to policy-making than they did to their clothing.  Michelle Obama, on the other hand, arrived at the White House in a much different media environment. With the Internet pinging images of her around the world, she had no choice but to harness the issue of her appearance and use it to her advantage. Instead of discounting its importance, Obama embraced fashion\u2014and vibrant color\u2014and now imparts a message of assurance and power.  And we&amp;#039;re still watching; her every outfit and gesture are continually analyzed and (mostly) applauded. Unusual colors have been this first lady&amp;#039;s signature from the \u00ADmoment she stepped out of Blair House on that indelible inaugural morning in a lemongrass tweed coat, waving a green glove at the photographers. She made it clear from her first visit to the White House in November 2008 (her I&amp;#039;m-in-charge-now crimson sheath contrasting sharply with Laura Bush&amp;#039;s matronly maroon) that she was setting her own rules when it came to her appearance. She could have chosen a palette of puce or brown, colors that would allow her to fit into the monochromatic Washington landscape. Instead, like Kennedy, she wears shades that make her stand out.  &amp;quot;She really has no fear when it comes to wearing color,&amp;quot; says designer Sophie Th\u00E9allet, who has dressed the first lady in pale blue, with copper, yellow, and fuchsia stripes. &amp;quot;She uses color in a very different way; she wears it in a way that she feels comfortable. It&amp;#039;s a very free approach.&amp;quot; Indeed, one night she&amp;#039;s greeting the president of Mexico on the steps of the North Portico in a glittering royal blue Peter Soronen evening gown, and the next day she&amp;#039;s running relay races with elementary school kids in a periwinkle Lululemon jacket.  And while other women in the political arena traditionally stick to primary colors\u2014those bully reds and blues\u2014Obama chooses complex shades like teal or peony, which not only attract attention but also seem to indicate a desire to differentiate herself specifically from the political-wife pack. Campaigning in Connecticut before the midterm elections, she showed up in a bright fuchsia dress by Prabal Gurung. To draw attention to a new initiative for her healthy eating campaign, she appeared at Miami&amp;#039;s Riverside Elementary School in a tangerine Jean Paul Gaultier pantsuit punctuated with a matching vintage Hattie Carnegie silk flower brooch.  &amp;quot;She&amp;#039;s showing us that she&amp;#039;s not necessarily cookie-cutter, she&amp;#039;s a more interesting and complex person,&amp;quot; says Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the trend-forecasting Pantone Color Institute. &amp;quot;Primary colors are often used in politics because they are less controversial and very American. They&amp;#039;re the colors we wear in school. They&amp;#039;re clear-cut; we understand them. Mrs. Obama obviously has a special affinity for more complex colors; they&amp;#039;re very much a part of who she is\u2014sophisticated and individualistic.&amp;quot; Her preferences have overlapped with Pantone&amp;#039;s selection of &amp;quot;it&amp;quot; colors for the past two years. No surprise that in 2009, it was a warm yellow called mimosa (&amp;quot;the color of optimism,&amp;quot; according to the company&amp;#039;s website), or that 2010&amp;#039;s color was turquoise, which the first lady wore to speak at the Democratic National Convention in August 2008. For this year, Pantone has chosen honeysuckle\u2014a deep, lipstick pink often worn by the first lady\u2014for its inherent strength and energy. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s definitely a color that on a visceral level makes you feel energized and uplifted,&amp;quot; Eiseman says. &amp;quot;And yet there is something provocative and come-hither about it too. It&amp;#039;s very sensual.&amp;quot; Looking at images of Prada&amp;#039;s bright orange suits and funky stripes or Gucci&amp;#039;s jade pants and orange jackets, we are reminded of the first lady&amp;#039;s simple message of power through color and confidence. Color can be transformative, for sure. It can lift our moods and it can certainly enliven even the most mundane moment every day. I&amp;#039;m sure that gorgeous periwinkle Jil Sander dress will do wonders for my state of mind this spring. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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