First Class

In the Final Stretch of a Polarizing Election Season, There’s One Thing That the American Public Can Agree on: the Power of Michelle Obama. As the First Lady Prepares to Exit the White House After a Game-changing Eight Years, She Sits Down With Editorial Director Ariel Foxman to Talk About the Importance of Educating Girls, the Impact of Social Media, and, of Course, Her Personal Style.
 

- Ariel Foxman

I had been invited to the White House to chat with Michelle Obama as she rounded out the final months of her second four-year run as our nation’s ever-popular, ever-inspiring First Lady. It was a very hot, very humid summer morning in Washington, D.C. I arrived at the East Wing gate and was escorted to the Map Room, a venerable space filled with history and gravitas. (President Obama had welcomed the Dalai Lama there only a month prior.) Here I would wait with some of the First Lady’s communications team while she was being photographed in the East Colonnade for our cover feature. This was the first time a shoot like this was taking place in this corridor, one whose windows look out onto the five-decade-old Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. I was told Mrs. Obama might want a few minutes for herself between the shoot and our interview. An intern brought over a glass of water. It was covered with a paper cap printed with the presidential seal and placed on a coaster next to my recorder. Moments later we got the signal that FLOTUS was on her way. Suddenly, in she walked, buoyant and exuberant. Absolutely stunning in a Brandon Maxwell dress, the First Lady had come directly from set—no break necessary—to talk with InStyle about her Let Girls Learn initiative, her legacy, what the future might hold for her and the First Family, and, naturally, a little bit about the significance of fashion.

ARIEL FOXMAN: It’s such an honor and privilege to be here.

MICHELLE OBAMA: Oh, thank you. I’m a huge fan of the magazine. It’s on all my planes. It’s part of all my travels. It’s like, Where’s InStyle?