Move over, Carla Bruni, there’s a new fashion first lady on the scene.

The black-and-red Narciso Rodriguez dress that Michelle Obama wore in Chicago Tuesday night was another daring fashion choice, a straight-from-the spring-runway style that she paired with a black cardigan. And the blogs are burning up with opinions about it. (most of them negative)

But the symbolism of patriotic red bursting out of black like a firecracker out of the night sky was attractive. And next to Jill Biden in her skirt suit, Obama looked like a breath of chic air. There are indications that Washington is about to become a very stylish place indeed.

The comparisons between Michelle and Jackie Kennedy are really off the mark. Kennedy’s style was rooted in Paris, in the haute couture dresses she worked with Oleg Cassini to replicate.

Obama may know how to rock a strand of pearls, but she has her own approach to style. Over the past few months, she has mixed designer dresses from young American fashion talents such as Rodriguez and Thakoon Panichgul with cheap-chic finds from J Crew and H&M, which is a much more modern way to dress than wearing head-to-toe designer. Even if you could afford to spend $1,50,000 in one month on a designer wardrobe, would you want to?