Opinion: First Lady chic from Jackie K O to Michelle O

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The price tag of Michelle Obama’s dress: $148.

The value of Michelle Obama as fashion inspiration, charitable fundraising, and an ‘I want her dress’ retail stimulus: priceless.

She didn’t actually wear it, but a dress identical to the one the future First Lady wore on ‘The View’ will be auctioned next Tuesday evening at the Ballona Institute’s gala awards dinner in Marina del Rey.

[Full disclosure: I am one of the seven journalists being honored at the event, but I won’t be bidding on the dress.]

It’s the Donna Ricco black-and-white floral dress -- thin straps, narrow skirt, you remember. It generated so much excitement when Mrs. O wore it on television that stores nationwide couldn’t keep it on the rack.

Its popularity was due in part to the fact that it looked great on her -- and ideally on other women -- and in part to the fact that it wasn’t some four-figure, ‘ha-ha, you can’t afford this’ piece of haute couture. Thousands of American women could afford to buy it, and thousands did. Mrs. O wears pricier numbers too, from designers like Maria Pinto and Isabel Toledo, but on the affordable end of things, she could boost the American rag trade just by getting dressed every morning.

This particular frock was donated by the White House/Black Market store in Marina del Rey. It’s a chain where Mrs. O shops, and whose name prompted some snarky remarks early in the campaign.

Free alterations are included in the winning bid, in case your homage to Mrs O doesn’t extend to your physique.