Michelle Obama is back, and no, it’s not with a new initiative to inspire the next generation or promote civic engagement. It’s with a book about... fashion. The Look, her upcoming release from Crown Publishing, claims to be a “stunning journey” through her style evolution — but what it really reveals is a stunning lack of perspective.
According to the press release, the former first lady wants us to believe she was under siege during her eight years in the White House — not from policy critics or political opponents, but from fashion commentary.
She says her looks were “constantly being dissected” and that the new book is an effort to reclaim her story on her own terms. The premise? That her fashion choices were somehow a burden she bore for the nation.
The Look, a new book from Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, will be published 4 November, 2025. The book will be released by Octopus imprint Mitchell Beazley in Hardback and eBook, alongside an audiobook edition read by the author.https://t.co/6ZDKSFlaNs pic.twitter.com/8NQ6qXeE54
— Octopus Publishing (@Octopus_Books) June 5, 2025
Spare us. Americans lived through those years, and we remember what really happened: the media couldn’t get enough of her. Three Vogue covers. Lavish writeups about her arms, her grace, her “unparalleled sense of style.” Every outfit was treated like a seismic cultural moment. The Obamas were the darlings of Hollywood, fashion, publishing, and academia. And yet, here we are, being asked to see Michelle Obama as a figure of hardship.
Let’s talk about perspective. This is a woman who grew up in a stable household, graduated from Princeton, and landed a job at a prestigious law firm. She married a man who became President of the United States.
She now lives in luxury, reportedly worth north of $70 million, with oceanfront property in Martha’s Vineyard. She has fame, power, and endless adoration from every corner of legacy media. And yet, in her podcast, in her public statements, and now in this book, she still manages to sound like she’s been cheated out of something.
Rather than express gratitude for the unprecedented platform she was given — one that could be used to uplift, inspire, or unify — Michelle Obama has chosen instead to wallow in self-congratulatory grievance. The Look is framed as a story about identity and authenticity, but it lands more like a self-indulgent therapy session — in hardcover.
And what of First Lady Melania Trump, who was ghosted by the same fashion media that worshipped Michelle? Not one Vogue cover, despite an actual career in modeling and no shortage of style. That silence speaks volumes — and so does the double standard that Michelle Obama continues to benefit from.