People are freaking out about what Michelle wore to Buckingham Palace, for tea with the Queen. Take a look:

While not my favorite outfit of hers (it’s a color-block dress under a cardigan, not a skirt-and-top combo) but - and let’s all take a deep breath here - it’s just the Queen. Yes, there’s protocol, yes your skirt has to hit the knee or else, but really, does anyone still have time for what amounts to expensive pageantry?

I’m not against the Queen, she seems like a perfectly nice old lady with sensible values, but I don’t know about you, if I had to call someone “your highness” or “you majesty” I may just think I fell asleep and woke up as an extra animation in a Disney movie.

With Swedish princesses marrying their personal trainers and countesses cleaning out grandpa business mogul, can’t we all just agree that while all this pageantry is certainly entertaining, it’s no longer necessary in the age of La Lohane and her merry band of wealthy, idle screw-ups?

And while I don’t mind the idea of having a Queen as head of state, I think I would have a royal problem with swearing allegiance to a King. Call me a feminist tyrant if you will, but please lay off of Michelle’s forgettable outfit pick for an utterly forgettable occasion.

Britons storming the Royal Bank of Scotland as though it were the Bastille… now that’s something to talk about!

Obama as a mu-mu.

Do we love it or do we hate it?

When I saw Jill Biden’s gorgeous red strapless frock, I thought it might be a Ralph Lauren. Jill - whom I’d read about in Vogue a few months back - seems like the poster girl for East Coast, summering-in-the-Cape American glitteratti. So imagine my surprise when I find out Jill is wearing none other than Reema Acra, Lebanese designer to high society ladies. Is the shift from tired, old political and economic ideas going to run parallel to a shift away from established designers, towards a more glodal, inclusive vision where America is no longer in a class by itself but part of the mosaic of world cultures?

We shall see.

In the meantime, here’s Reem’s bio (I am totally digging that she and my dad attended the same University… the AUB was the first University campus I’d ever seen and its gorgeous, sprawling green spaces would become the benchmark by which I judged campuses when it was my turn to go to college. The AUB is probably responsible for my hated for Concordia’s bleak, grey “urban campus” ).

From Reem’s website:

Influenced by her mother’s impeccable style and love of fashion, Reem was always fascinated by design. As a little girl, she accompanied her mother to fabric stores to learn about the finest fabrics, textures and design details such as hand-embroidery that would later become signature elements of her iconic style. As Reem grew up, her passion for design continued to evolve and she began designing dresses for herself, which were brought to life by her personal couturier.
After graduating high school, Reem studied business at the American University of Beirut, where she was discovered at a party by a fashion editor who was captivated by Reem’s dress - an ornate gown of silk organza and museum quality embroidery that was made from her mother’s dining room tablecloth. The woman instantly offered to host a fashion show of Reem’s designs which took place ten days following the chance encounter, and weeks later Reem was off to study in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology and later its Paris counterpart at Esmond.

Following her studies, Reem traveled the world, drawing inspiration from the diverse countries she visited. After working as an interior designer for a few years, Reem continued to develop her craft in Hong Kong and New York where she returned to her fashion roots. In less than 10 years her atelier gained international recognition, sparked by a high society friend wearing Reem’s first bridal design, a simple yet embellished creation, to her society wedding. Soon after, Reem launched her first collection, Reem Acra Bridal, which elevated classic bridal designs through the use of the finest silks and intricate beading and embroidery

Can I just say how much I LOVE Michelle Obama’s look?

And not only do I LOVE her look, but I LOVE Michelle Obama.

Here’s a woman whom no one could possibly accuse of being ditzy, and yet - AND YET - she dresses with purpose, version 2.0

People back in the day dressed with purpose - even if the only witness to their grooming ritual was the breakfast table. That’s what we call “overkill”.

Your day should not be about getting dressed in the morning, just like it shouldn’t be about squeezing in the latest episode of The Bachelor (ahem - can you believe Meagan is still on there???).

Still, if you live the sort of life where you don’t have to sneak off to one of those tunnels Israel hasn’t managed to blow up, climb over a couple of fences, stand in line for 4 and half hours at a checkpoint and dance a little jig to the tune of a few AK-47s firing over your head, all just to get some breakfast**, then you can - and should - enjoy some of the wonderful mindless fun and great beauty this word has to offer.

Unfortunately, frivolity has gotten a bad rap these days because we’ve sort of been OD’ing on it since sometime around 1983.

Which brings me back to how much I LOVE Michelle Obama. She’s beautiful, but not perfect. Baby has in fact, got back. Lots of back, and not too much on top. She does not make use of ridiculous extensions, braids, or any accouterments black women resort to to feel pretty in a world dominated by a very narrowly-defined beauty ideal. She is on the other hand athletic and healthy-looking, even after two kids, proving that yes, post-childbirth weight management is possible.

And she allows herself to be wholly feminine, wholly original, and wholly herself. Like the yellow-gold brocade dress or not, you’ve got to admit she didn’t look the part of a forgettable second fiddle to her man, the president. She looked like a woman, a strong woman, and an individual.

And she paired a little-known designer’s outfit, with cool shoes and J. Crew gloves (J. Crew people!). Her outfit says “I care, yet I am not a snob”. And though it’s obvious she cares, you could never accuse a woman like that (yo, yo, Harvard law, yo) of being frivolous, or an empty-headed clotheshorse.

Now, how much cooler does Michelle look in her green gloves than Cindy McCain ever did in those $250,000 diamond earrings and über-designer cocktail dresses?

Let’s be clear - I am not judging Cindy on her appearance (I happen to have loved many of Sarah Palin’s outfits even though I don’t have an iota of respect for her, and for the record, Cindy’s clothes were beautifully tailored). I’m just saying that Cindy - like her husband - is a bit an antique. A relic from an age when rich people were rich people, and poor people were poor people, and the two classes didn’t mix, and everyone knew their place. Cindy could prance about in $250,000 earrings and an Oscar de la Renta frock when the world economy was collapsing because she’s from a class of people who don’t have to worry about these things. We will always have rich people, but what the we should not have is a nobility class that is so assured of the permannacy of its status that it feels it can do, say, or spend whatever it wants and still be on top.

 Cindy did not feel the need to edit her look to her audience or her husband’s message. She forgot that clothing does in fact send a message. That’s why we don’t show up to interviews in shorts and flip-flops. The flip-flops are not indicators of our professional talents or of who we are on the inside - they are indicators of our self-awareness, our ability to communicate and interact effectively with each other. And Michelle Obama said volumes with her inaugural outfit - and did it thoughtfully, deliberately, and with loads of style.

It’s about time this generation had its own Jackie O.

**In case you thought I was exaggerating…