Fashion's copycats are having a ball knocking off Michelle Obama's gown
BY GINA SALAMONE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, January 22nd 2009, 4:00 AM
Braganti for News Designers Shala and Paul Moradi of Faviana cut out flowers that mimic the embellishments on Michelle Obama's Jason Wu gown.
Braganti for News Shala Moradi shows a sketch of the dress Michele Obama wore to the inaugural balls.
The two dresses
Michelle Obama donned on Inauguration Day drew as much attention as her husband’s speech. And in just weeks, every woman in American will be able to wear the looks the First Lady made famous.
Michelle had barely danced at her first ball as First Lady by the time designers at the
Manhattan-based Faviana had drawn up sketches for their inauguration-inspired gowns.
“When we came to work this morning, we were already looking at fabrics, trimmings, and detailing, and we started working on the patterns and putting the dress together,”
Omid Moradi, CEO of the family-owned fashion house, said yesterday.
The brand is famous for reinterpreting gowns that have been seen on celebrities like
Jennifer Lopez,
Sarah Jessica Parker and
Miley Cyrus, and the knockoffs are a favorite of the prom crowd. But Obama’s powerful position and appeal may make these their biggest sellers yet.
Faviana is reinterpreting both the
Isabel Toledo lemon-grass yellow lace dress and coat Michelle wore during the swearing-in ceremony, and the white one-shoulder chiffon
gown by Jason Wu that wowed at the evening’s events.
The Faviana version of the day dress and jacket will retail for $450, while the evening column look will sell for under $400.
Moradi suspects the white gown will garner enormous interest. “I think a lot of people are going to be interested in this dress,” he says. “This is a huge thing for the country and for fashion, so we’re watching what the First Lady’s wearing very closely and she’s going to be a trendsetter for years to come.”
Faviana’s dress won’t be an exact replica of what the First Lady wore. “Our version will be a one shoulder, but we felt that the dress had a lot of gathering around the hip area, so ours is going to have less of that,” Moradi says. “We will do our own detail on the dresses, as far as the flowers and the rhinestones are concerned. Of course, it would be made to our specifications, our patterns.”
Expect to see the two looks in stores in four to six weeks as part of an entire Mrs. O-inspired collection.
Not stopping with just the looks from Inauguration Day, Faviana’s also making dresses the First Lady wore during key moments of the campaign, including the
Maria Pinto floral-patterned halter gown she wore to the
NAACP awards, and the white taffeta ball gown and matching shawl for
Oprah’s Legends Ball.
A.B.S,
Allen B. Schwartz’s line, is also planning to do a version of the First Lady’s inaugural ball gown, most likely taking one of the gowns he’s designed already and making it in ivory.
“A dress like that on the A.B.S. line would be about $300 retail,” Schwartz says. “It could be in department stores anytime in March or April.
“I think Michelle Obama will do more for the fashion business than any other First Lady because she’s a modern woman and has a different style sensibility,” he adds. “And I think every salesperson, every manufacturer, every retailer will want to look and see that they have one-shoulder dresses because of the exposure her dress had last night.”
nydailynews
! She stood out,the dress was very warm,very pretty. And for the flats comments,whats wrong with flats?! She's got all the height a woman could want. She had a busy,busy,busy day before,screw trying to wear heels all the time. She was in a place of prayer not a fashion show,jokes. Some women looove flats and I'm one of them.
the Sonia Rykiel coat!
And all those women who showed up at the White House wearing Laura Bush's dress ... bet that doesn't happen again 
flower:.
