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We know all about the Oprah effect on bestselling authors, but now it turns out there's also an Obama effect - on fashion and retailer stock prices.
We're talking about Michelle Obama, of course.
New York University finance professor David Yermack calculated that the First Lady created a whoppping $2.7 billion in value for the fashion and retail companies whose products she wore over 189 public appearances between November 2008 and December 2009, according to The Harvard Business Review.
While that's good news for companies like J. Crew - and their investors - the research notes that some of that came at the expense of other companies that lost market value in relation to her preferred designers.
The Harvard Business Review has the full details in nifty slide show form here.
For more images of the First Lady’s seemingly effortless style, click here.
Leave a Comment:
Why do they keep tring to sell this woman as having a fashion sense. I know what good looking is and she ain't it.
She has absolutely no fashion sense. It is also a joke to attribute the increase in sales and stock values of the companies whose clothes she wear entirely to the fact that she is a customer. There are many factors that effect a company's sales and stock price well beyond just who is wearing the brand.
...and you can't speak or write properly!
The " Queen B' is just dog ugly!!!!
The best first Lady ever and the best President ever,guess they are just more than y'all can take given what you've had for the last 100 years.The rest of the world loves Michelle and her husband ain't too shabby either.
She has no taste whatsoever in fashion. She doesn't have the class and sophistication of many of the prior First Ladies. She dresses like she's either going shopping or to a night club. Awful for the White House.
Hi, my name is Tony, I'm an expert about women's fashion.
Tony-353256
She has no taste whatsoever in fashion. She doesn't have the class and sophistication of many of the prior First Ladies. She dresses like she's either going shopping or to a night club. Awful for the White House.
She dessses like a mother and wife. is she the prettiest woman No, but you must understand that if you marry for looks that does not last long. as a man i love it when she wears those dresses that makes her look like a nice long drink of water. Laura Bush was the same, she dressed like a wife and mother not too flashie but looking pretty dam good. you must understand i'm 48 and she is how a woman of 47 does dress!!!
Fashion reflexs the person who wears it...The First Lady is different from all the other First Ladies, being she is African American...Different culture results into different styles...Those comments are horrible...I guess the outlook would be different if she dress like the former First Ladies...WOW!!!!!!!!
Most famous black women dress like a million bucks. I realize she may not have any fashuion sense but she could hire someone who does.
She has enough staff already wasting taxpayers money. She doesn't need anyone else. As for the 2.7 Billion. That is closer to what she has spent of tax payer money since she moved into the White House with her mother and Hubby.
This woman is the poorest excuse for a First Lady since....I would have to say, Michelle Obama.....
Stop being haters, She is a Black First Lady and those of you who have a problem with it suck it up. So what if her taste does not please you, it;s her style and as long as her husband likes it you don't have to love it, just except it. Sweetie she is not a Poor excuse of a First Lady. She is an Excellent First Black Lady with a Style of her own, If she wore street clothes you would still complain, so Shut Up! She is a Lady and a Darn good First Lady for the United States Of America. If you had the opportunity to be her you would. so give the First Family their Props like you did all the others and
Pastordale, we don't have a problem that she is black we have a problem that she can't dress herself properly. OH, and she is married to the worst President ever.
You all are idiots, I'd sure like to see how you dress, just because you don't like the new look in the white house that's your problem.
Now tonytee, that is really rude of you.
How envious can we be?
Please show us how you dress, I'm sure we can find the comments for it.
When are we going to stop putting labels on each other. Like he or she is superior because he or she is in the White House. We are all equal and the sooner everyone realize that I think this world would be a better place. Who cares about what the other person is wearing. Study about what you are wearing. Because he or she have money it must be spent. I have to look like I am a million bucks. ( American Philosophy that is corrupting the minds all over the World) Study about how much money you have and how you spend it. Money is just paper or some type of mineral, the White House is just dust filled with other physical matter. Stop putting Value on things that is of no Value. And spend more time on other matters of importance because soon what Michelle is wearing would not be of importance. The importance would be where am I going to get food, clothing, and shelter. I have no money, no job, too much people suffering and dying and the list can go on. Let us stop wasting time on stuff that is not of importance.
You are a really piece of work - Our First Lady is elegant and has a lot of class.
What is your problem. Is it because she doesn't look like you?
Why does she get to spend this outrageous amount of money on clothes, this is pure bull hockey. And I agree she is no fashion and no taste.
SHAME SHAME on Michelle Obama for spending billions on clothes>!
SHE doesn't spend billions on clothes you neanderthal. She creates sales for the industry. You guys are really showing yourself today. Is that in the first amendment??
Ouch StClair! This article is a tad bit above your eyebrow. Maybe your comments shuold be limited to the subject matter at your level...........
The article doesn't say she spends billions buying clothes for herself. It says she has sparked billions in sales for clothing companys because people like her style. Now go call everyone you already told the wrong thing to and correct your mistake.
StClair all I can say is WOW. It's called READING!!
She is nasty and has no taste or shape to wear classy clothes. Some of her color combinations are right out of the comic pages!!!!!!!!!!!
she's nasty??!!? What kind of comment is that? Wow. So are all black women nasty to you? So do you feel that all black women with advance degrees, intelligence, beauty and class are nasty? Or just the one who is married to a black man who is President of the USA?
What do you have against Nebraska? Or farmers at that? They have fashion sense too...
And by the way, all of this criticism coming from "Big rat?" That's comical.
I think Mrs. Obama is classy, smart and with the times - despite my political opinions. She dresses this way too.
NO Class Jan, No class for Michelle. No matter who she looks like. Classy if you are 2 or 3 years old.
@ Debora - 389330
What do you consider class? Would it be the way that she carries herself? Would it be her Ivy League Law Degree, would it be her ability to hold her own in a room full of Heads of States?
Which of these qualifications cause you to feel as if she has no class?
On a day-to-day basis, her fashion sense is lacking...what is with that lopsided, purple bow on the blouse she is wearing in the photo above? When she is dressed for a formal function, she does look great. However, she will never be as elegant and classy in her style as Jackie Kennedy.
It does not matter if she is classy, smart or whatever- She is married to the President and they all think she's rich, including herself and her husband!
She's big and she's ugly, has no fashion sense or style. She is a disgrace to the White House, send her back from where she came and take that uglier husband with her.
Sonja, did you mean Chicago? That's where she's from.
She is our President's wife! I think that is more than enough.....
First, try to reach her Mountain Top and then we'll see how you look...
I think even if your face is pretty there is no brain at all.
Hope you'll never be ... where she is now............
don't hate cause u can't, appreciate cause u ain't. She's beautiful and everyone that says she ain't must be miserable and need company
Shame on you!!!
And you are small and pretty I take it. Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder. But I can tell from many of these comments that regardless of your physical appearance ... MANY of YOU HAVE AN UGLY SOUL!! And the soul is what counts in the long run.
I agree with Barbara, it's the soul that counts. I just can't continue to read all the negative comments. As the old saying goes , "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all."
Lets face it she just needs help in the fashion department. Nothing but pure honesty. Barbara you cannot tell anyone here that they have an ugly soul, you are not God and cannot see their soul.
These are opinions and at least they were honest.
Talk about some sniping bitter women. That's not classy in the least. Gotta mirror?
You guys in the US are interesting! All your comments about the Obama's cannot disguise the fact that you seem uncomfortable about blacks in the White House... beautiful, handsome, intelligent blacks!
I am not uncomfortable with Blacks in the White House. Why bring race into this? I think that the topic of discussion is fashion, not race. Any one in any race can still be tacky. It all comes down to having fashion sense.
I couldn't agree more. It's absolutely embarassing. I was just thinking if the rest of the world thought we were boorish before, they ain't seen nothing yet.
It is perfectly fine to have a differing political opinion, and express that with intelligent discourse. You people do yourselves in by your repeated refusal to do so, but rather slinging snarky bullets about fashion sense. In every sense of the phrase, please, Get a Life.
btw I was NOT agreeing with "Deb"..I was agreeing with Andrew.
Only someone fixated on race would use the phrase "I'm not uncomfortable with Blacks in the White House". Well played, Debra195472.
Andrew..your comments sound racially motivated..Fashion is the content of this article.. Wake-up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been around fora while, I remember many first ladies. Mamie Eisenhower was a fashion . And those bangs were awful. Jackie Kennedy was great. But she had been brought up it and knew what went with what, when and where. Ladybird at least was neat and appropriate, Pat Nixon always wore the same thing and those bows were not good. I always felt like she was uncomfortable in public. Betty Ford was a good dresser. Roslyn another Lady bird. Nancy Reagan was a great dresser but having come from Hollywood in the days when taste was important she had been taught how to dress. She also was thin and could get away with a lot. Barbara Bush always said she was old and frumpy and didn't care what anyone thought. Then we have Hilarywho is still a national fashion disaster. I have wanted for years for someone to give that woman a decent hair cut. Laura Bush always wore the same suit in different colors, nice but boring. And then we get to Michelle who needs help./ It probably wouldn't bother anyone except for the fact that the liberal press keeps trying to push her at us as the next Suzy Parker and she isn't. But she is young and there is still hope for her.
Why is it always the race card? The woman simply is not a fashionista.
Amen
Sorry Andrew that is just not the fact. You are so small to even bring up race in this question. No one has said anything about her race except the people who are racists. I am caucasian and a lot of my friends are black. Some of them are my closest friends. I am not a racist and never bring up color to anyone, until a nit makes a remark like you made.
She can't dress herself no matter what race she is. No style.
Oh please, look yourselves in the mirror and ask yourselves that question "why am I racist, why do I lie and distort the truth when it pertains to black people?" Then keep replaying that line " some of my best friends are black and maybe you'll continue to convince yourself it isn't race when the rest of us know it is. There is nothing wrong with how Michelle Obama dresses, and she has boosted the sales of a lot of designers and companies. Clothing flies off the shelves after she wears it. She has a great figure, stays fit and is a woman this country should be proud of, alas, she's just to brown for the likes of you. I'd prefer you just be honest about your bigotry.
Andrew, you hit the nail on the head and it is that racism that will ultimately destroy this country but they are to hateful to care.
Not that any of them will ever admit it.
My Stars. How hateful can you people get? Don't you have anything better to do than say nasty things about others. Your mothers would be ashamed of you. Shopping at J Crew is hardly going to break the bank.
Yep.... The people that are buying the fashions she is "sporting" are the same people that voted for her husband... Bad choices all around.
Patty: why did you use quotation marks around the word sporting? Either way, I'm glad you were able to put that AA in Fashion Design to work.
I don't know about the fashion she is "sporting", I can only address what she wears. As for the people buying the clothing she wears how do you know who they voted for, did you personally poll them all? You guys are ridiculous and the country is paying for and will continue to pay for your bigotry. Keep up the good work the republicans are depending on that bigoted uninformed vote.
Rt Thomas you said it all!!
Congrats, StClair, you just won a GWBLA! (George W. Bush Literacy Award). Unless you actually "used your words" and meant that "she is no fashion" in which case I agree with you.
She needs to stay away from bold floral prints. Those are the only types of outfits that do not suit her.
My mother thinks that she is even tackier than what I think about her. The last picture that I saw of her in that white satin dress with the black lace made her look like a pole dancer in the making. I'm not saying that she should dress like former first ladies, but she should can still dress age appropriately and still look nice.
This is all just more advertising and I'm not buying. She is a very poor dresser and that purple dress is one of ugliest I have ever seen.
The only thing uglier than that purple dress was that red and black thing that she wore when he won the election. I called it the black widow dress. UGLY!!!
Her tie is crooked! :)
Your brain is too........
A lots of racists aroud here.People who comment Michelle is ugly and so...on they know nothing about class.They don't know other things or any place different from their parents kitchen.Some of them never flight.Those farmers and uncivilized should go to Europe or japon even in Africa to see something different of thier racist mindset.You are laughable.
Actually she dresses really classy. She does not look like a stripper I honestly believe she looks modest. Just because she doesnt look like the average first lady what we are all used to doesnt mean she has poor fashion. What is the the first lady suppose to look like?
and i'm not even a fan of her or her husband.
Does anyone know where I can sign up for the newsletter "Fashion Tips from Deb195472"? I'm applying for a job at Sonic Drive-Thru and I need an edge.
freivogel..Put on a dress and learn to roller skate and maybe you could work at Sonic. But by the quality of your arrogant remarks, I doubt if you could pass the DRUG TEST...........
i dont get why everyone is so negative when it comes to the president and the first lady. i dont remember hearing so much bad stuff when others were in office. i think she looks great just because she is a leader and not a follower when it come to fashion and other things does not mean you have to hate on her
you are naive and an idiot. What qualifies her to be a leader. Respect is earned. plus she has to many enablers like you and she constantly shows poor judgement and is to arrogant to realize it. the few good things she does by taking 2 steps forward she screws up by taking two steps back. no excuse! just like her husband, she thinks she knows every damn thing and treats the help like her personal slave or has to many on her staff to pamper her ass. wait a go! real responsible. nice message. wake up. they count on dumb people like you to empower them. so sad.
What disqualifies her as a leader? She has no problem earning respect it's just that a person like you will find a reason to never give her the respect she's earned. In what things has she shown poor judgment? How does she take one step forward and two steps back? What has she done that indicates she thinks she knows everything? Are you part of her White House staff? What makes you say she treats the assistants like her personal slaves, did they tell you that? When you finish with the teabagger talking points why don't you research the facts before you quote the lies. They (republicans)depend on the bigoted and ignorant like you (ignorance based on racism) to keep them in power. Sarah Palin can't spell cat but I bet you'll say shes "qualified".
It's that permanent tan Mr. and Mrs. Obama have the bigots just can't get past it. They don't want to be viewed as the racist they are so they try and use any old nasty comment to mask the issue they have which is "racism, racism, racism". It is destroying our country.
With so many 'assistants'; can't one of them show MEchelle how to dress? She looks absolutely horrific in that purple outfit with that big gaudy bow at the neck! And the hairdo is terrible! Her fashion sense is nil, zero, zilch! She has no class and her outfits are very unbecoming to any woman but especially a FLOTUS. She also needs to cover her arms. Although they may have been toned at one time, they're not any longer and the picture of her last week with her arms up in the air and her 5 o'clock shadow armpits showing was classless. She's an embarrassment the way she dresses!
First Lady Michelle Obama is not ugly woman. She looks like (average) 80 to 90% women in the World. I think the first thigh what she should do is to take some classis (like models do) how to keep her body when she is walking, sitting, standing .. etc., and how to walk. Second thing , the most important, is to get rid of all her “designers” . It looks like that all of them compete how to get her looks uglier. Get designer that design cloths for First Lady of France. I bet, if she does that, she would be among the best dressed First ladies at the White House.
I think she's simply lovely. Enough said.
I think her and her husband are both simply total embarrassments to this great country. Enough said.....
wow. why do we complain, president kennedy made a statement ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!!!! your statement is an embarrassment. if you try praying it takes less time to find fault and failure in others.
lOOK AT GOD'S HANDIWORK, IS NOT IT MARVELOUS IN OUR SIGHT!
pastor dale, if you are a real preacher of God why do you bring race into this discussion. Why not leave it at the fact of her style of clothing not the color of her skin.
You should know not to bring in anyone's color. My great great grandfather was a black man, My great grandfather on the other side is full blood indian. I am not a racist. I could care less if she was green, her style of dress is not appropriate for a grown woman. That is my opinion.
Please stop saying "Shame on you" shame is product of satan.
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