Michelle Obama gets fashionistas talking

Michelle Obama has had fashionistas talking this week.

This is what some of them had to say:

• Designer Gugu Msomi from Gugulam:

"What I like about her most of all is how she has put her own stamp of fashion on the White House. She is beautiful and has a great figure - she knows how to show it off. I imagine that we will be talking about her for many years to come.

"She clearly does not follow the trends but sets her own. On becoming a first lady, she chose clothes by new designers, setting careers for new people.

"She reminds me of the late Princess Diana, who was always dressed appropriately for every event. When the occasion calls for a more laid-back look, Michelle looks the part; when meeting with heads of state, she looks just as good and appropriate.

"Her look to me represents someone who is self assured; you cannot fault her on her appearance."

• Lucilla Booyzen, director of South African Fashion Week:

"Style is the total combination of the way you dress, talk, move your body. Simply put, it's how we express our inner being outwardly. This includes all of our thoughts, emotions, interests and values.

"Everything on the outside is merely a reflection of what's on the inside.

"Michelle Obama wears fashion with ease; she looks comfortable in everything she wears.

"Pearls on, pearls off; belt on, belt off; jersey, skirt, pants, jackets, she can do it all - and in the way she wants to do it. Fashion is a tool and blessed are those who have the natural ability to use it skilfully and to their advantage."

• Sandiso Ngubane, fashion journalist and blogger said that when Obama stepped off the plane on Monday, "I was itching to find out who the designer of that black jacket with orange prints was. The next day, I was delighted to find that it was British-based Nigerian designer Duro Olowu.

"Cool, I thought, although it would have been great for her to track down a local designer, but at least it is still an African. Okay, maybe I'm being cynical, but this is probably beside the point.

"Michelle Obama is without doubt a stylish woman and her influence on fashion is evident in how she launched designer Jason Wu to global acclaim by wearing his designs.

"She has a minimalist elegance - clean tailoring and unexaggerated regal flare on ball gowns.

"As she tours South Africa, the American blogosphere is documenting her every outfit. Little wonder then that her every sartorial move is not only about fashion but politics as well as economics."