Michelle Obama took a break from her own podcast – where she spends a lot of time talking negatively about her husband, daughters, and time in the White House – to promote her new book about her style as First Lady.
The coffee table book titled The Look was billed as a chance for Obama to “reclaim” the narrative surrounding her “style evolution.” During a promo last year, she boasted the book is “about so much more than beautiful pictures” because it “talks about the importance of diversity and inclusion and sharing a space.”
With that in mind, you will probably not be surprised to hear that Obama was asked to give her thoughts on ‘diversity and inclusion’ in the fashion industry during a recent interview. You will probably also not be surprised to learn the former first lady had some thoughts about how people curate their closets.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Britt Mayer, host of The Britt Mayer Show, and Will Witt, author of Do Not Comply, to discuss the tone deafness of Obama’s fashion advice.
Obama’s Fashion Advice
During an appearance on the Storehouse & Friends podcast that dropped Sunday, co-host Kinna Thomas asked Obama what “everyday women” should do to “support designers of color.”
What followed was a word salad about how tough it is to be successful in the fashion industry. “Oh, you know, the fashion industry, it’s tough. It’s a hard, hard business… I mean, to develop and put out a line of clothes… it is a tough business,” she said. “So, you know, I think we can be mindful, you know, and be knowledgeable about who is out there, who is doing good work.”
She then seemingly blamed the Trump economy for why minority designers can’t get ahead. “We are so into fast fashion because we are also trying to be economical… Everybody is on a budget. We are struggling in this economy right now,” Obama claimed. “Designers of color are the first people to get hit – women, smaller businesses, people who have not been established, who can’t weather the storm. So, I think part of it is that we have to be mindful about it.”
Finally, she offered her advice. “Try to make sure that we’re supporting, that we have a balance in who we wear, what we do. I still try to do that. Look, I’ve worn Chanel. I’ve worn Sergio Hudson… and I’ve worn J.Crew… and Target,” Obama said. “I think even as we are thinking about our strategies and our looks, I think we can all do some work to think about that balance in our wardrobes. What does our closet look like and who’s in it? Who are we supporting in it, you know?
“And I think if you have the money to buy Chanel, then you have the money to buy everybody,” she added. “So let us be mindful, I think, would be my advice.”
‘Screams Privilege’
Coming from a woman who is a multimillionaire and has access to any designer on the planet, Mayer said the advice “screams privilege” and comes across as tone deaf. “I am not privileged enough to have time to go and find out exactly what melanin type was a part of constructing my jeans,” she said. “I just buy jeans because they look good.”
Megyn agreed. “Now we have to do work to make sure our closet has a diversity of designers,” she asked. “She is not talking about making sure you have pink, green, blue, black, and white [pieces]. She’s like, make sure you have people of color designing the clothes or somehow you’ve fallen down on your inclusive, whatever, duties.”
While the interview with Obama focused a great deal on race and other DEI-related issues, Witt took issue with the premise. “They say there are all these race issues in America – racism is the biggest issue and we have to fight against these things,” he noted. “You have the most famous people in America constantly talking about race any single time that they can.”
“You want racism to be solved? Just shut the hell up… and there will be no bad race relations in this country like the way these people proclaim that there are,” Witt added. “It is all hypocrisy and nonsense, and these issues only exist because of people like Michelle.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Mayer and Witt by tuning in to episode 1,234 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.