Insignificant as this may seem in the larger scheme of things, it is less so when one considers the distressing state in which American fashion has found itself lately, with both chain and department stores shutting their doors, consumer confidence at its lowest level in decades and manufacturers struggling to remain afloat.

Hamish Bowles, the Vogue editor who was curator of Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years, a 2001 show of Kennedy’s style at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said of Michelle Obama, “My perception is that she’s already had an extremely potent effect” on the business.

“Just looking at the designers she’s been drawn to, you can see she’s shown astute sartorial judgment,” Bowles said. What she has also made clear in her choices, he added, is “that thoughtful and intelligent American designers are perfectly capable of creating clothes that have an impact on the world stage.”

“What the first lady wears has a lot of effect on the industry, absolutely,” said Arnold Scaasi, who began designing clothes for the wives of American presidents during the term of Dwight D Eisenhower.

Three days before the inauguration, Michelle Obama will turn 45. Yet like her husband she conveys a more youthful impression, and her vital appearance has a lot do with her particular appeal to the fashion industry.

“She’s like 25 years younger than the last few first ladies, and her age opens her up to a more youthful approach,” the designer Anna Sui said. “I loved her choice of Narciso,” she added, referring to the designer Narciso Rodriguez, whose dress Michelle Obama wore, in a version she adapted from the runway original and customized with a cardigan sweater, on election night.

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