I believe it was Jared who first described Michelle Obama as the First Soccer Mom. Instead of favouring the high-end conservative clothing of previous first ladies, Ms. Obama appears to favour clothing most often seen on the “stylish” soccer mom at the church social. Maybe she really is a soccer mom to the core, or maybe she wants to appear to be “one of the people” in direct opposition to Cindy McCain’s socialite style, but either way it is working, because her campaign outfits become iconic in Middle America.

Ms Obama has a narrow fashion profile, wearing the same things over and over: below-the-knee A-line skirts, scoop-neck or crew-neck sleeveless shirts, dark cardigans, and either low-heeled pointy pumps or flats.

When she wears dresses, they usually conform to the same silhouette.

With the addition of the occasional fairly plain shift dress

She is apparently pants-challenged, as evidenced by too-short-to-be-pants-too-long-to-be-clam-diggers or the sweatpants she started wearing to rallies shortly before the election. (See, she’s just like you!)

She also has a thing for accessories. She wears a charm necklace with a dogtag reading “Hope” and a very sparkly tiny peace sign. She wears pearls often (oh how First Ladyish!), but opts out of the classic look and instead wears a variety of strand lengths and seems to favour jumbo pearls.

She is famous for wearing a lot of broaches, often multiple at a time.

She is attempting to create a signature style: soccer mom if they had money and cultural capital. Her looks are easy for other middle-aged women to replicate: fake pearls, flower-print skirts, and odd broaches are slightly odd but women can easily afford to go out and buy half a dozen to look like her. But there’s nothing classic or elegant about her clothes, they’re all mall-style. She may be a style icon for the housewife set, but it’s not a timeless look, nor an interesting one: she’s no Jackie O.