Look of the Week: Michelle Obama honors her late mother in a custom-made skirt

By Fiona Sinclair Scott, CNN

(CNN) — Michelle Obama has long demonstrated a knack for conveying messages through her clothing, and her outfit on Tuesday poignantly exemplified her mastery of this skill.

For an appearance on stage at the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, the former first lady wore a pencil skirt adorned with a large portrait of her late mother. The custom Acne Studios design was a tribute to Marian Robinson who died in 2024, aged 86.

The sepia-toned skirt had been specially commissioned with the help of her longtime stylist Meredith Koop, and featured one of Obama’s favorite pictures of her mother. The design riffed on a runway look from Acne’s Fall-Winter 2026 collection, which featured a similar skirt with an image of a young man by the Dutch artist Paul Kooiker.

The styling was also similar. Like the model in the Paris show, Obama wore the skirt with a thin belt, chocolate brown T-shirt and slingback pumps.

For decades now, Obama has worn clothes in both exciting and highly effective ways, often using her platform to spotlight young designers of color, or to subtly signal stances during moments of intense political discourse. When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the new first lady could have easily summoned a design from fashion’s upper echelons for her inaugural gown. Instead, she chose a look by the relatively unknown Taiwanese Canadian designer Jason Wu, an immigrant to both Canada and the United States. “Big name designers tended to dress the first lady for inauguration. I was pretty clear I wanted to change that up,” Obama told Vogue some years later. “Jason Wu’s story meant a lot in this moment.”

Throughout her husband’s two terms in the White House, Obama would master the art of fashion diplomacy. For the Obamas’ final state dinner in 2016, in honor of the Italy’s then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife, Agnese Landini, the first lady wore a bespoke gown by luxury Italian brand Versace. The rose gold chainmail design was a glamorous and respectful nod to her guests’ home country, but it also served as shimmering armor for a highly scrutinized public figure at a time when the United States was undergoing seismic political change.

Once moved out of the White House, Obama’s fashion choices shifted noticeably away from traditional styles and comparatively conservative first lady silhouettes, towards far more provocative looks that suggested a bold new chapter. In 2018, Obama’s “Becoming” book tour delivered a barrage of examples of this new attitude, but one outfit in particular — a bright yellow Balenciaga silk wrap dress and shocking sequined thigh-high boots — stole headlines and screamed freedom from the constraints of high office.

On Tuesday, Obama proved once again she can deliver a sartorial surprise when she shared that her husband had no idea the skirt had been commissioned. Speaking on stage, the couple both teared up as she explained, “He’s really messed up. I’m giving him some time because this beautiful skirt that my stylist Meredith Koop picked out, that is my favorite portrait of my mom, he didn’t know it existed until just a few minutes ago.”

In bringing a piece of her mother to the event, Obama tugged at a feeling that many will relate to – wishing a late family member could be with you during life’s milestone moments.

Earlier in the year, it was announced that the Obama Center exhibit “Opening the White House,” will be named in honor of Robinson, further underscoring her place in the Obama presidential legacy.

“I am a little shaken up by this because I loved my mother-in-law,” said the former president, in response to the skirt.

“She made a home for Michelle and Craig,” he added, referring to his brother-in-law. “Not with a lot, but with a lot of love and hope and perspective. They represent, to me, what’s best about this country.”

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