To the laundry list of global woes the Obama administration is expected to set right, starting January 20, one can probably add the quagmire of American fashion. True, it will have to wait in line behind the haemorrhaging economy and the situations in Gaza, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.

But the scope of responsibility in politics these days extends to family members, and the messes are now so numerous that by the time Barack Obama sets foot in the White House, everyone in his entourage will have to grab a mop.

That includes the first lady, who throughout the campaign demonstrated that she not just understood the power of clothes to transmit a message, but a readiness to adjust that message as the need arose.

Michelle Obama was not alone in that; Cindy McCain notably tweaked her image as the campaign ground along.

Yet Michelle Obama did something bolder on the campaign trail and, in a sense, less expected. With flashcard clarity, she signaled an interest both in looking stylish and also in advancing the cause of American fashion and those who design and make it. She wore off-the-rack stuff from J Crew and, at times controversially, designs by fashion darlings like Isabel Toledo, Thakoon Panichgul and Narciso Rodriguez. She brought to the campaign a sophisticated approach to high-low dressing, a determination to adapt designers’ work to suit herself as well as a forthright conviction that it is the woman who should wear the clothes and not the other way around.

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