First Fox

When Michelle Met Carla

Clash of the first lady fashion titans.

When Michelle Obama and Carla Sarkozy met yesterday, some were expecting a fashion showdown—indeed, when Sarkozy announced she would not accompany her husband to the G-20 in London, many (namely, the insatiable British press) speculated it was because she did not want to share the limelight. But the two First Ladies appear more like peas in a pod than rivals. Cathryn Horyn writes in The New York Times that “Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Sarkozy looked remarkably similar, suggesting that both women know fashion—and themselves—pretty well.” Though Sarkozy is a former model, “the French first lady has proved to be far more refined in her look than trendy.” And unlike the other first ladies in London, Obama looked “contemporary and inviting—not a drab cardboard cutout.”