Michelle Obama’s LFG Fashion Moment at the DNC

Much of Obama’s passionate speech, in fact, was about flipping the proverbial middle finger to those who have tried to place her, and all Black women, into a box of their bigoted choosing. It balanced harsh reality with enduring optimism. Pointed but intelligent jabs were genius too–as one meme put it: “Michelle Obama 2016: When they go low, we go high. Michelle Obama 2024: Fuuuuuuuuck that.” She spoke about believing in hope despite so much darkness, the importance of hard work and why “nobody has a monopoly on what it means to be an American.” But she really hit the nail on the Oompa Loompa-colored head with one perfect swipe. Calling back to Donald Trump’s comment that migrants were taking away “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs,” Obama said with a heated tone, “I want to know: who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?”

Boom. LFG. Obama has always been a master with words, but this moment felt decidedly more direct and a bit rebellious, sentiments that are sorely needed for an election in which we don’t have the time to be too polite. The stakes are just too dire, and so Obama delivered a call to action that was equal parts grace, humility, and hope as it was audacious and unapologetically frank. The visual of her dressed boldly but like herself, hair braided, is an important marker of where we should be now and where we’re hopefully going come November. Her incomparable ability to crystalize a divided political moment and rally a nation behind doing the right thing is always underscored by her strong sense of style and her cheeky, clever ability always to have a little fun too.

A little defiance is a good thing right now, whether it’s in the way Democrats speak to the opposing side or in the ways that our politicians, both men and women, dress to carry out their political work. Even in Harris’s choice of sharp, straightforward suits, we can see a different kind of push against the norm, against the people who think she should look a certain way or dress a certain way, more traditionally, as the nominee. Her style is wholly hers, and it’s simply about getting to work, doing a job, and wearing clothes that she feels as comfortable and confident in as she always has, whether it’s Converse kicks, Chloé suits, or a pair of leggings. For Obama, defiance is dressed in a chic little heel and cool, criss-crossed lapels. She, like Harris, two women who genuinely love fashion, shows up to inspire with both words and clothes.

Like Obama noted when referring to the similarities between her own late mother and Harris’s mother, “Don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something.” Yes we can–in a suit with or without sleeves.

Brooke Bobb is the fashion news director at Harper’s Bazaar, working across print and digital platforms. Previously, she was a senior content editor at Amazon Fashion, and worked at Vogue Runway as senior fashion news writer.