STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's face another story. The Obama Presidential Center opens to the public tomorrow on the South Side of Chicago. Today is an invitation-only dedication. It'll be streamed online if you want to watch. Inside the museum is an exhibit featuring dresses worn by former first lady Michelle Obama. NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith reports on the fashion that's included and the fashion that is not.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Former first lady Michelle Obama knew people were watching what she wore. And she used that spotlight to make statements with her fashion choices, elevating emerging designers while at other times choosing clothes that were very down-to-earth. That ethos is on display at the Obama presidential museum.
And now we come to the exhibit of Michelle Obama's dresses, including the dress she wore on Election Night 2008, and a sleeveless dress worn between 2009 and 2013, made by Merona for Target. Yeah, a Target dress. There is a Target dress.
TINA TCHEN: It was an important part of her story.
KEITH: Tina Tchen was Mrs. Obama's chief of staff and is now the Obama Foundation's program director.
TCHEN: You know, at one end, you've got Versace. And then in the middle, you've got, you know, the Target dress because that is - what she wanted to represent was that full range of how does one express themselves through what they're wearing.
KEITH: The dresses are all behind glass. But there are three fabric swatches where visitors can feel the texture of rose gold chainmail, for instance.
Jason Wu.
Michelle Obama's story is featured throughout the museum, but her dresses are likely to get the most notice. A famous outfit of her husband's, however, is not on display.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BARACK OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody.
KEITH: The tan suit then-President Obama wore to an August press conference in 2014 turned into one of the bigger controversies of his presidency. Former Republican Congressman Peter King took to CNN to register his criticism both of Obama's tone and the tone of his suit.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETER KING: And I thought the suit was a metaphor for his lack of seriousness.
KEITH: For Obama supporters, the outrage over the tan suit, the audacity to wear taupe, has been a punch line for more than a decade. But apparently Obama didn't consider it a history worth preserving. Valerie Jarrett is CEO of the Obama Foundation.
VALERIE JARRETT: The reason we don't have the tan suit is President Obama gave it away when he was cleaning out his closet.
KEITH: That means there may be a tall, skinny guy somewhere out there with an infamous tan suit in his closet who doesn't even realize it.
Tamara Keith, NPR News, Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRES TRES CHIC")
MOCEAN WORKER: (Singing) Tres, tres chic. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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