First Daughter Malia Obama — Fashion Trendsetter in the Making?

[mollymongold]

Malia Obama wore this Biscotti $110 red dress — without its rhinestone belt — on her father’s big night. (Credit: Biscotti Inc.)



It turns out that Michelle Obama may not be the only fashion trendsetter in her family.

After 10-year-old Malia Obama appeared on stage Tuesday night in a red silk taffeta dress made by Biscotti Inc. , the high-end children’s clothing label says it started receiving calls from retail buyers seeking to order the piece.

“Stores are going crazy all over it,” says Carrie Martin, spokesperson for the Oakland, Calif., label, which plans to put out a press release noting that Malia wore its $110 bubble-hemmed dress on election night. Unfortunately for the label, whose $50 to $120 girls’ dresses are sold by retailers such as Neiman Marcus, it had sold out of the style well before Tuesday. “It would have been nice to get some sales out of it,” says Bernadette Reiss, co-owner of Biscotti. At Neiman Marcus, which sells the dress online, spokeswoman Ginger Reeder says the Web site “saw a blip” in sales of the piece yesterday.


Retailers who tried to order Malia’s dress say they believe that the influence Mrs. Obama has had on fashion will also apply to her daughters. “She has such a sense of style – I think people are going to try to emulate that whether it’s on her children or herself,” says Bette Esposito, co-owner of Denim & Daisies in Boonton, N.J., who carries the dress and tried unsuccessfully to order more pieces on Wednesday. Ms. Esposito, whose store also sells online, says she plans to send out an email blast to customers noting that she carries the dress Malia wore. She also plans to display it in her shop window with a newspaper clipping of the new First Family.

Biscotti’s Ms. Reiss says she wasn’t sure at first if it was the same dress because Malia wore it with a different belt. She adds that she was pleasantly surprised to see it on Malia because she hadn’t known that the Obamas had bought it. (Mrs. Obama’s spokeswoman said the dress was purchased at a Nordstrom.)

Citing cost as a factor, Ms. Reiss says she doesn’t plan to recut the dress. Instead, she’s hoping to dress both Malia and her sister, Sasha Obama, for the presidential inauguration. “We would be so honored,” says Ms. Reiss, who already plans to reach out and offer style assistance to the Obama daughters.
http://blogs.wsj.com/runway/2008/11/06/first-daughter-malia-obama-fashion-trendsetter-in-the-making/

[SoCalDem]

1. spaghetti strap vs long sleeve..same dress??

similar but not quite the same :rofl:

[blogslut]

5. She wore a sweater over it

:)

[JI7]

2. i don't think her parents would like this

better to view it as Michelle's choice of clothing for the kids.

[monmouth]

3. I've noticed how beautifully these girls have been dressed long

before the Pres. campaign. They are both little "fashion plates" and I would bet both are pretty vocal in their likes and dislikes. Very stylish and sensible clothes on both Sasha and Malia and they always look appropriate. I always look forward to their clothes.

[No Elephants]

4. Sme fabric, same color, same hemline, similar belt--not the same dress. It looks out of place

on that very young-looking model, but it looks fashionable on Malia.

However, is that what we're going to focus on for the next 8 years? Whether or not a pre-teen is a fashion plate? God, please preserve those girls so that they grow up with the priorities of the parents, despite us, and not the priorities of Paris Hilton!

[JI7]

7. it seems like the designer is trying to promote themselves with this

hoping to get some deal to design for the girls for the inauguration. they said they already tried to contact them about designing for that.

probably hoping to sell the dress by telling people Obama's girl wore it.

[greenbird]

6. Oh please

let's not do this to these kids. I'm the mother of three daughters and my protective instinct is kicking in when I read posts like this. Leave them along and let them grow to be what they grow to be!