Podcast Summary: IMO Presents: The Look Live with Tracee Ellis Ross

Podcast: IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Host: Higher Ground
Episode: IMO Presents: The Look Live with Tracee Ellis Ross
Date: November 14, 2025

Overview

This special live episode of the IMO podcast features Michelle Obama in conversation with Tracy Clayton and special guest Tracee Ellis Ross, focusing on “The Look,” Michelle Obama’s newly released book chronicling her style, beauty, and fashion journey before, during, and after her years as First Lady. Through candid storytelling and laughter, Michelle draws back the curtain on fashion as a powerful tool for self-expression, agency, and navigating identity—especially as a Black woman in the public eye. The episode also honors the often-invisible work of her styling and beauty team, explores the pressures and freedoms of personal presentation, and celebrates the lived experience of Black women finding joy and authenticity through fashion and hair.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Fashion as Language, Power & Agency

• Clothes as Communication:

  • Michelle discusses using fashion as a form of language during her White House years, consciously sending messages of inclusion and empowerment through her style rather than allowing it to overshadow her work.
  • "During your White House years, you used what you wore as a language... an opportunity to tell the world who you are and what you believe in." — Tracy Clayton (02:48)
  • "I realized very early on that as a woman in the public eye... we are often reduced to what we look like... I don't want to be solely defined by how I look, what I wear. I want my work to speak for itself." — Michelle Obama (03:29)

• Timing for Speaking Out:

  • Michelle explains that she avoided direct conversations about fashion as First Lady to prevent distractions from her substantive work, saving her reflections for a time when her identity was firmly established post-White House.
  • "Now it's time to talk about the how of fashion, because I knew it was always important. I wanted to wait until it felt like it was time." — Michelle Obama (04:59)

• Platforming New Designers:

  • Michelle reflects on her intentional choices to highlight up-and-coming, diverse designers, giving opportunities to those previously excluded from the White House sartorial spotlight.
  • "Our administration was about opening up opportunities for more people... talented, qualified, diverse people." — Michelle Obama (08:40)

Personal Relationship with Fashion & Early Life Influences

• Growing Up Working Class:

  • Michelle shares memories of her mother sewing her clothes and her longing for iconic brands as a girl in Chicago, learning inspiration, style, and creativity from her community and pop culture.
  • "I grew up poor, working class... there was always the dreaming about fashion for me because I came from the kind of mother who made your clothes." — Michelle Obama (10:50)

• Childhood Fashion Icons:

  • Talks about how teens in her neighborhood, Soul Train, and even her own mother modeled various messages about fashion, modesty, agency, and sometimes, what not to do.
  • "I was like, we are going to kill it for you, lady. So Meredith was styling her." — Michelle Obama (15:56)

Fashion as Armor & Navigating Race

• Presentation as Protection:
  • Michelle powerfully unpacks how, as a young Black girl in Chicago on the west side and downtown, she learned that presentation could be an armor for navigating racism and microaggressions.
  • "You realized very early on that you better let them hear you talk or come in with the right LASAC case or else you would be watched... how you present can sometimes save your life." — Michelle Obama (17:22)

Staying Grounded Amidst Scrutiny

• Battling Expectations:

  • Michelle describes enduring heightened, often biased scrutiny, especially during the campaign and early White House years—resisting reduction to tropes like the “angry Black woman” and controlling her own narrative.
  • "If I let them define me, I won't even recognize myself. And I didn't even feel like I had the support of the campaign in that... So I knew immediately... that I was in charge of my story, my narrative." — Michelle Obama (27:01, 29:12)

• Family & Inner Strength:

  • She credits her parents’ unwavering love and “fueling her light”—reinforcing inner confidence and the knowledge that she was worthy and capable.
  • "You either fuel that light that's in a child or you snuff it out... and I was fortunate enough to have parents that fueled me." — Michelle Obama (26:50)

The Stakes and Structure of Style in the White House

• Styling is Strategic:

  • Michelle and Tracee discuss how the job of White House styling is high-stakes, requiring research, historical awareness, and adaptation—not merely “putting on a pretty dress.”
  • “People just thought you were looking for dresses. That’s really... this is why I wrote the book, y’all.” — Michelle Obama (39:27)
  • Meredith Koop, her stylist, would research the context, audience, and history of every event.
  • "I thoroughly educated myself on the details of each event, absorbing information as though I was studying for a test... Once I understood the landscape... I would begin to strategize and envision a fashion narrative." — Meredith Koop, read by Tracy Clayton (38:25)

• Clothes = Context, Function, Comfort:

  • Michelle describes the practical aspects of clothing choices—altering wrap dresses, needing styles suited to movement, and prioritizing outfits that allowed her to focus on the work, not her appearance.

The Hair Journey: Conformity, Change & Liberation

• Navigating White Standards:

  • Michelle recounts how, as First Lady, she maintained straight hair to avoid it becoming a distraction or talking point, using extensions and wigs (“but only if they looked exactly like my hair”) for health and practicality.
  • "Being First Lady was just another professional experience where I had to conform to a white environment of appropriateness... I wanted to come out of the White House with my sanity, my children intact, and my edges together." — Michelle Obama (46:32, 47:22)

• Natural Hair & The Crown Act:

  • Post-White House, she embraced braids and natural styles as a return to freedom, control, and practicality, making a deliberate statement by wearing braids to the White House portrait unveiling.
  • "Braids are for y'all, so we can work harder and focus on the work... If we’re wearing it and we’re doing the job in it, it is appropriate. Trust me." — Michelle Obama (53:28, 56:24)

The Partnership & Power Dynamic

• Marriage as Partnership:

  • Michelle rejects reductive ideas of “wifedom” and “femininity” as they apply to the role of First Lady, stressing her partnership of equals with Barack Obama and her responsibility to support, not overshadow, the work.
  • "Our marriage to me feels more traditional, that we are partners, that we are equals... When we first met... we were both Harvard law students... he wanted somebody who was his partner." — Michelle Obama (33:20-34:37)

• Humanizing the Presidency:

  • She explains how the Obama family, by embodying warmth, relatability, and humanity, contributed "cultural currency" to the administration—a form of positive influence not always understood by traditional political power structures.
  • "Those were five approval points that he got, extra approval points... because we provided a balance. Right? ... We help to humanize him." — Michelle Obama (36:08)

Iconic Looks & Practical Choices

• The DNC Suit & State Dinners:

  • Michelle describes how comfort, confidence, and “bad” (in a good way!) suits or dresses mean more than symbolism, but symbolism and confidence often go hand in hand.
  • "When I'm giving a speech, I want to be grounded, right? So I rarely wear a big heel... The suit was Meredith... we had a fitting... put that on and it was clear: dag, this is a bad suit." — Michelle Obama (57:46, 59:26)

• Versace Gown Story:

  • A behind-the-scenes ritual and surprise for Barack at state dinners, including anecdotes about the collaborative process and being “edgier” in the second term.
  • "And we were being edgier the second term. It was the last state dinner. So this dress was always also like a bye. ... I'm all be sexy as I don't know what. I don't care no more." — Michelle Obama (63:16)

Sustaining Authenticity

• Style for Self, Not Trends:
  • Michelle concludes by emphasizing that her primary criterion for clothing is feeling good and being able to do her work without distraction. She encourages tailoring, wearing what brings personal joy, and always maintaining authenticity.
  • "Anything that makes me feel good... I never wear something to follow a trend... I wear things that allow me to forget about what I'm wearing and do the work." — Michelle Obama (65:24)
  • She reflects on evolving her style at 61 and continuing to “play” and explore through fashion.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

(All timestamps in MM:SS format)

• Michelle Obama on fashion as strategy:
  "I knew immediately... that I was in charge of my story, my narrative. I had to be smarter than them. I had to outsmart everyone. And that came to everything I did, including what I wore." — (00:00, 29:12)
• On inclusivity through fashion:
  "Our administration was about opening up opportunities for more people... talented, qualified, diverse people." — Michelle Obama (08:40)
• On fashion as a lifelong journey:
  "I'm still exploring, discovering who I am... and I'm still evolving at 61 years old, y'all—still figuring it out." — Michelle Obama (67:38)
• On natural hair freedom:
  "Braids are for y'all, so we can work harder and focus on the work... Just worry about the product." — Michelle Obama (53:28)
• On enduring stereotype and scrutiny:
  "If I let them define me, I won't even recognize myself... I was in charge of my story, my narrative." — Michelle Obama (27:01, 29:12)
• On iconic looks:
  "You know what? I don't know. I hope things lay well. But my team knows. Don’t touch me... I want to be present in the moment." — Michelle Obama (41:43)
• On Barack Obama’s reaction to her state dinner dresses:
  "And I walk out into the salon, into the Gros Hau, where Barack is waiting, it's like prom. And then everybody follows... and they just wait to watch him, to see what he's gonna say." — Michelle Obama (62:00)

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Content Summary | |-----------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Opening remarks | Michelle on controlling narrative via fashion | | 03:29 | Why write "The Look" | Origins and intent of the book | | 08:40 | Platforming diverse designers | Expanding fashion opportunities | | 10:50 | Early fashion influences | Growing up with sewn clothes, longing for brands | | 17:22 | Fashion as protection | Using presentation as “armor” in segregated spaces | | 24:53 | Balancing expectations & inner worth | Responding to scrutiny as the first Black First Lady | | 27:01 | Defining her own narrative | Resisting stereotypes and campaign challenges | | 32:13 | On “wifedom” and First Lady stereotypes | Rejecting outdated expectations | | 36:08 | Balancing public and private roles | Humanizing the presidency and managing “cultural currency” | | 38:25 | Meredith Koop’s styling process | Detailing the research and care in fashion decisions | | 46:32 | The hair journey | Navigating White beauty standards as First Lady | | 52:03 | Post-White House hair & style freedom | Embracing natural hair and autonomy | | 56:24 | Wearing braids to White House portrait | Making a statement for Black hair in public life | | 57:46 | Comfort and practicality in looks | Why heel height matters for major addresses | | 63:16 | Versace dress story | State dinner ritual and embracing sexier style | | 65:24 | What Michelle wears for herself | Prioritizing comfort, tailoring, authenticity |

Conclusion

This live episode of IMO with Michelle Obama (joined by Tracee Ellis Ross and Tracy Clayton) offers a vivid, honest, and empowering look into how fashion and beauty choices intersect with issues of race, gender, history, and identity. Michelle Obama reveals the careful thought behind every public appearance, the challenges and liberation involved in expressing her authentic self, and her continued evolution as a style icon and role model. Listeners come away with a sense of the deep teamwork, intentionality, and humanity behind the headlines—and a strong encouragement to find joy and agency in how we present ourselves to the world.

Recommended: Read "The Look" for more intimate essays, behind-the-scenes stories, and powerful photographs chronicling Michelle Obama's journey and the team that supported her.