A J. Crew representative told The New York Times the company was pleased with the resulting sales but declined to say how much had been sold.
What is clear is that both fashion insiders and armchair critics are paying attention to what Obama is wearing.
"We will finally have a true modern-style icon back in the White House," said Jayne Chase, one of the co-hosts of the radio show "A Fashionable Life," which airs on WGCH 1490-AM in Greenwich, Conn., as well as the Web. "She's going to bring affordable American sportswear into the forefront, not that she won't wear designers, but she's also going to bring smart, professional-looking outfits into the White House. That's who she is, a working mom. That's her style and I think that's exciting for a lot of women and that's going to be good for the fashion industry."
"She's buying off the rack, which I think a lot of first ladies haven't done for a long time," Chase said. "The fact that she's wearing J. Crew is great. It's a go-to resource for weekend wear as well as working women. They have a rainbow of colors of cashmere sweaters [for $178] that are fantastic."
Kamali also believes Obama is on her way to becoming a style icon, though a different one from Jackie Kennedy, the first lady she is most often compared to when it comes to her fashion sense.
"I think Michelle's style is so approachable and so much like ours," said Kamali, who recently launched a less expensive NK line for Wal-Mart. "She will have a lot of variety and opportunities to show the many sides of a woman. We're going to see her in workout clothes and clothes that fit the lifestyle of a real American woman. I think it's beyond a shift dress."
Chase agreed. "She'll look great in Michael Kors couture and J. Crew," she said. "She's going to be able to span the horizon."
She is especially excited that Obama tends to favor American designers, like Chicago-based Maria Pinto, who designed the purple shift dress Obama wore the day she bumped fists with her husband, and Narciso Rodriguez, whose flame-red dress she wore on the night her husband was elected.
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