The woman standing next to Desiree Rodgers is Google Vice President, Merissa Mayer. The women were there for a purpose other than to be judged for their choice of clothing. Let's move beyond the superficial for a change, uplifting and inspiring girls and women is the goal.

Tracee Ellis Ross always kills it with the fashion. That's what happens when you have access to that fabulous vintage wardrobe that is Diana Ross' closet. And yes that H.A.M. in the corner in the orange pants and baseball cap is Debbie Allen. Come on now girl. Show the White House some respect. As for 'Lakeview Terrace", barely unwatchable nothing. Ridiculous. And Samuel L. Jackson was the main reason, in my humble opinion.

Nice selection of ladies. Loverly indeed :)

Now yall know debbie has some clothes in her closet that are presentable at the white house. She ain't like me suffering for funds...LOL she could have gotten her wig done too.

Hey there Danielle!

Thanks for the pic!! Tracee could NOT have gotten a job in the White House with a blouse THAT LOW cut!! The Monica Lewisky "hoochie wear at the White House" days are oooover. *LOL*

I am still surprised that Desiree has not hired a stylist in Washington. They're EVERYWHERE!

You are correct...that looks like Debbie Allen...and I can't believe she walked out of her house looking that way...I don't understand why some one THAT old doesn't understand the protocol of Washington.

*shaking my head*

everytime i see tracee ellis ross, i get mad all over again that they canceled girlfriends.
bogus motherf*ckers!

Michelle, please close your legs.

I think Mrs. Allen was dressed that way to do the work she does. They were supposed to be donating their utilitarian talents--not their Photoshop talents or Auto-Tune talents to visiting schools to uplift young women. From what I know of Debbie Allen from taking workshops in theatre and having worked at one--a historical Black one, she came dressed to take her audience through her as the workshop. That is how you dress and she came as a craftsman. She is not just a dancer, she is an artistic director--The Visionary.

I've never had the luck of meeting her or her sister so I am jealous of the little children who were so lucky to having the living history of the Ayers-Allen sisters in their company. They are true artists and for that, we can't judge them on our superficial standards of today.

Once on my first day of an acting workshop, we learned a complete dance and also went through this heritage training. We had to learn how to introduce ourselves and tell the person at the door who we were as in explaining that we were the daughter of so and so and the granddaughter or son of so and so and so and so. It was an exercise on seeing if we knew our roots and it was an exercise to see if we had pride for our legacy. It was also an exercise in our older culture diminished and removed. It was also a vocal exercise in performance. Debbie comes from that type of theatrical stock in training. She and her sister trained with people I know that taught more than just performance. They weaved heritage into it. So considering her dress in that photo, she was coming real as a proprietor of a theatrical business, an artist dressed, and she probably was coming to improv with all of her audiences if need be at the White House and the schools.

She just had a run at the Kennedy Center. It was a children's musical. I saw one of the past shows she produced with James Ingram as the musical director in the 90's, I think it was. It was amazing. She is really a great visionary director of making a million things happen at once on a stage and keeping the story moving non-stop. I was so impressed because it was a Black woman doing what we hardly get to do.

I love her to death. She gives back and she contributes. That is not what younger entertainers do. They have no ideas or creative capital that is comparable and yet people placate them like they are artists. Debbie is the real deal.

Tracee Ross is one person that does not abuse her luck of nepotism and I adore her that. She really seemed to try to pay her dues and it shows in the soulfulness of her work.

I'm happy to see her surface here but I would rather see her have more chances to abuse nepotism to make more art.

I feel you, Danielle.

@Yvonne - Thank you!

What's wrong with showing respect for the WHITE HOUSE !! their is no way in this world if BUSH was still PRESIDENT, and he invited DEBBIE ALLEN to the WHITE HOUSE she would dress like that! this is all going to come back to haunt the OBAMA'S, those WHITE REPUBLICAN WOMEN are keeping up with everything MICHELLE doe's, and it's just a matter of time before they pounce on MICHELLE when it come's to WHITE HOUSE PROTOCOL.

MICHELLE need's to learn how to stand, I love the FIRST LADY, but, she need's to be more graceful, she is the FIRST LADY, and she is representing AMERICA, her HUSBAND and her PEOPLE, and she has to learn to make sure that, no one is allowed to make the PRESIDENT look COMMON! this was on the FIRST LADY'S watch, she need's to get it together!

Snob, I know this is your blog and I have mad respect for your writing but has there been ONE picture of Mrs Obama where she doesn't look like she's straddling a fence.

Yes, Michelle has more important priorities. I could just do the unnecessary obscene jokes that are sure to follow. You know they are out there. I'm from the country and I use to hate the vulgar things that would be said about women and girls who were bow-legged. I don't care for them to go mainstream (if you know what I mean).

@ M

Are there any pics of Michelle where she does not look like a big ol bowlegged country gal? How about the one posted underneath, or any of the countless photos from this blog alone? Or maybe even the pic you are referring to, where she is just standing with her feet about a foot apart...I'm still trying to see where the inevitable obscene comments may be coming from but I'm not from the country so maybe that's why it escapes me.

Anyway i still wonder if Desiree Rogers needs an assistant, and i never watched Girlfriends but i know enough about Tracee to still be jealous of her hair, vintage-y wardrobe and tiny waist. There have been more dynamic, beautiful Black women in the WH in the past 2 months than, well, never.

Danielle...I noticed the way she stands since the campaign but I never commented on it because I thought it was physiological...like of issue because of something because of her hips or the entire structure of the bottom half of her body. I thought it was mean-spirited to comment on it but it does look freakishly out-of-place with what probably a lot of the posters were taught. I do know that my grandmother, great-grandma, and mother had to break me out of poor posture and leaning while for other cousins sway-back or rocking to on one hip. I saw teachers nag girls who claimed they were bow-legged to stop standing that way. And of course, we were trained to stop dragging our feet or walking hard or walking on hard on our heels. But I do notice that some people walk with a wobble who have wide hips but even a bow-legged woman can stand with their feet positioned more structurally feminine.

The comments are not just mean because she is the First Lady. They are mean to anyone who are physiologically challenged like that. Michelle though seems to be able to control her stances but when she speaks, she falls into strandling. It is noticeable that she does not know what to do with her body and unfortunately because of her size, it is just more noticeable. I realize that maybe she is trying to shorten herself by lowering her trunk. If you notice in lots of pictures, her posture is poor. Her shoulders are relaxed. She is trying to shorten herself and that is most definitely what is voluntarily projecting her body to involuntarily recoil to these stances.

I think the posters just sound like Old-School women and I actually like it because it shows that these young women had the fortunate luck of having elders teach them properly how to present with their bodies as women. The students I had from inner-cities were so thuggish and uncultivated that they exhibited that they were missing that social structure of having the social training of their bodies. That is what dance teachers also do as well as Girl Scoout troop leaders as well.

It does seem odd that a professional woman can't control that one proclivity of her gait and her carriage. But in this case, I think she has a habit of trying to shorten herself that produces this affliction for our eyes to notice.

Your readers show a level of human capital that younger generations don't have in simply knowing the value of intergenerational/interpersonal social engineering that our elders gave us girls and boys to notice these things in etiquette training.

Here's a link to Sheryl Crow's blog which outlines the details of the Women's History Month program Michelle has put together: http://www.sherylcrow.com/news/

Wow. Michelle Obama is bow legged one, so I can understand why she stands like that and two, I don't think she did ballet or else it would be what, forth position all the time?

I like the fact that the women are there to do their thing. Honestly, it would be easy for Michelle Obama to stay in the house, and not put herself out there. But she does so, and I am grateful to her for doing so.

Wow. I never knew that merely being bowlegged was such an "affliction" and a magnet for obscene comments until I started reading other people who call themselves Michelle Obama fans, talking about her. Interesting how the comments are usually couched in "what will other people (white?) say about her!" when really, I hear just as much criticism from people who claim to appreciate her.

We are so hard on our own. She can't stand right, can't dress right, can't do anything right, it seems. It's amazing that she managed to go to Princeton and Harvard, bear two beautiful children and be the most important helpmeet to the most powerful man on the planet without all of us "helping" her and giving her hysterical, badly-punctuated advice with exclamation points and capital letters. How did she manage all that AND be bowlegged? Thank god we're all here to offer our critiques.

Apart from her hands, Michelle isn't standing any differently than Traci Ross. All this judgemental harshness? Get over yourselves!

Christina,

I couldn't have said it better myself. Who are all these people? What have they done? What have they contributed to life? Sheesh!!!

The First Lady looks fine and the natural shape of her legs wouldn't qualify her as bowlegged. It certainly is amazing the type stuff people throw out there...

@ Christina...

Oh, you didn't know? Michelle can't do anything right and if she keeps up she will ruin the chances of many brown-skinned Black women forever, as I've heard way too many times. I guess the only thing Ms. Michelle gets right is managing to keep her man, the President, grinning from ear to ear. Ugh!