First lady wears festive custom-made dress by designer Tracy Reese

First lady Michelle Obama got rave reviews for the custom-made Tracy Reese pink and copper dress she wore while giving a tribute to her husband at the Democratic National Convention.The sleeveless dress showed off Mrs. Obama's famously toned arms and the length modestly skirted her knees. She paired the dress with pink pumps from J. Crew and her fingernails were painted a trendy blue-gray.Reese described the dress as a "silk jacquard in an abstract baroque wallpaper pattern" with a bodice in hot pink woven with rust and copper. It's not the first time Mrs. Obama chose a design by Reese, an African-American designer who is showing a new collection Sunday during New York Fashion Week.
In an email, Reese said the first lady "looked incredible and spoke beautifully; I am so honored that she chose to wear one of my designs for such a memorable occasion."Mrs. Obama's fans gushed over the outfit on social media, with one admirer, Diane McEachern, getting into a friendly argument with a Facebook friend over who was going to "get the dress" when Mrs. Obama gives it to Goodwill. "I'm getting Michelle's dress!" declared McEachern, who lives in Bethel, Alaska, population 5,000, where, she added, "no stores sell dresses." To show how McEachern would look in the dress, her Facebook friend went so far as to doctor a photo of the first lady in the dress and put McEachern's head on it.
Commentators also praised her look. "You may not be a fan of her politics," Kate Hogan wrote on People magazine's website, "but it's likely that if you watched the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, you were a fan of Michelle Obama's elegant ensemble."Last week Ann Romney, wife of the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, wore a bold red Oscar de la Renta outfit when she gave her speech in tribute to her husband."My mission is always to create interesting lines that complement and enhance a woman's body," she says. She'll offer vibrant colors with black "because they look great together." And matching outfits "because it looks new again."Husband-and-wife team Max and Lubov Azria, who design both the BCBGMaxAzria and Hervé Léger lines, agree that dresses – lots of them – will steal their show, if not all of fashion week.Houston native Cesar Galindo's collection will have a strong showing of dresses. He says he's fondest of the shift silhouette, a basic style of the early 1960s, because of its sleeveless and beltless straight lines. And it's easy for a woman to wear. He adds that he'll offer "a dress in every shape and size" in bold prints and colors.