So you want to know what I thought about Michelle Obama’s inauguration outfits. As you already know from the post below, I am pretty impressed with the citrine Isabel Toledo dress and coat she wore to the ceremony. That is a tough color to pull off, but a great choice, both style-wise and symbolically. Yellow heralds hope, the sun, warmth. All things we need right now. I admit would not have paired the dress with teal shoes and green gloves, but she made it work. It looks like Michelle Obama is even more daring color-wise than I am. I probably would have gone with grey as an accent, or maybe a blue shade.

I didn’t get a look at her inauguration gown until yesterday, and on first glimpse I was concerned that it looked a little prom-y. But upon closer examination, I am really impressed with its sophistication. The crystals embedded in the dress twinkled subtly, and I’m a sucker for anything asymmetric, so I am very pro-one-shoulder strap. As everyone in the world knows by now, it was designed by a relative unknown named Jason Wu, from whom we shall all expect to see and hear more of in the near future.

But if you ask me, the real fashion showstopper was Aretha Franklin’s hat.

Now that is the kind of dramatic look we need to see more of.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the hat cost just $179 and is from a milliner in that city. Again, more proof that you don’t need to wear couture to make a fashion splash–just an eye for the dramatic and a lot of confidence.