jcrew

J. Crew sent out an email today saying you can look just like Michelle Obama by buying the outfit above (because you need to be punished for something, apparently). Those are some of the ugliest clothes we have seen in a while (and they are expensive, too). Seriously, in Chicago we can make you look just like that by taking you down to the Brown Elephant Thrift Shop on Halsted and spending less than  $30 ($5 for that sweater, $8-10 for that blouse, and another $6-10 for that skirt).

Every incoming First Lady has a period of awkwardness (as much as we love Hillary Clinton, we will never forget that hat she wore on Inauguration Day 1993), but we’ve never seen companies try to celebrate bad fashion sense and impose it on the masses the way they are doing with Michelle Obama. Yes, we know every company wants to cash in on Obamania, and all retailers are looking for ways to squeeze as much out of the holiday shopping season as possible.

But, it’s not an affront to Michelle to say these clothes are ugly and someone should be helping her find things that suit her. Have Project Runway contestants design for her — that would certainly be hip and cool, and we bet they would do a great job. Instead, it looks like J. Crew’s asked her to wear whatever horrible things they want to get rid of from their catalog, and it’s just so painful to watch.

This stuff is almost as bad as the upholstery dress Michelle wore to one of the presidential debates. As much as we don’t like Michelle, we don’t think the future First Lady of the United States should be wearing materials found at Ethan Allen.

Where is Tim Gunn when you need him?

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