{"id":413494,"date":"2010-03-10T09:43:15","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T14:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:\/sweet\/\/25.32772"},"modified":"2010-03-10T09:55:37","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T14:55:37","slug":"michelle-obamas-chicago-pals-at-smithsonian-inaugural-gown-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/413494","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Obama&#8217;s Chicago pals at Smithsonian inaugural gown launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; With her mother,<strong> Marian Robinson<\/strong>, sitting in the front row, first lady <strong>Michelle Obama<\/strong> officially handed over her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian on Tuesday, and a group of friends from Chicago were there to mark the historic occasion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And I have to say, to be honest, I am very honored and very humbled, but I have to say that I&#8217;m also a little embarrassed by all the fuss being made over my dress. Like many of you, I&#8217;m not used to people wanting to put things I&#8217;ve worn on display. So all of this is a little odd, so forgive me,&#8221; Mrs. Obama said.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;But at the same time, I truly recognize the significance of this day. This gown &#8212; and all of the items that we&#8217;ll see in this wonderful exhibit &#8212; help us connect with a moment in history in a very real way,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Obama&#8217;s gown, designed by Jason Wu, her Jimmy Choo heels and Loree Rodkin bracelets, earrings and ring now are in the Smithsonian&#8217;s popular &#8220;First Ladies&#8221; collection. Mrs. Obama&#8217;s ensemble, worn Jan. 20, 2009, is in a glass case in a new gallery in an expanded exhibit.<\/p>\n<p>Some of Mrs. Obama&#8217;s closest friends were at the ceremony marking the donation of the gown and the opening of the exhibit. The Chicago pals included <strong>Sandy Matthews;<\/strong> <strong>Anita Blanchard; Cheryl Whitaker; Kelly Dibble, <\/strong>and <strong>Eleanor Kaye Wilson<\/strong>, the godmother of the Obama girls, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, and a close friend of Mrs. Robinson&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd there were women from Chicago who serve in the White House: senior adviser <strong>Valerie Jarrett<\/strong>; Mrs. Obama&#8217;s chief of staff, <strong>Susan Sher<\/strong>, and White House fellows director <strong>Cindy Moelis<\/strong>. Also in the audience was <strong>Bettylu Saltzman,<\/strong> the Chicago Democratic activist who early in President Obama&#8217;s political career spotted him as an extraordinary political figure.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSaid Mrs. Obama, about her gown: &#8220;I&#8217;ll never forget the moment that I slipped on this beautiful gown. I remember how just luscious I felt as the president and I were announced onto the stage for the first of many dances. And I&#8217;ll cherish that moment for the rest of my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; With her mother, Marian Robinson, sitting in the front row, first lady Michelle Obama officially handed over her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian on Tuesday, and a group of friends from Chicago were there to mark the historic occasion. &#8220;And I have to say, to be honest, I am very honored and very [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}