Michelle Obama opens up about ‘shared fashion story’ with daughters Malia and Sasha—who weren’t always impressed with her style

“As they get older, they’re starting to respect what I have,” shares the former First Lady.

Although Michelle Obama is known to many as a style icon, the former First Lady says her daughters weren’t always impressed with her fashion sense.

Mrs. Obama recently shared that when Malia Obama and Sasha Obama, now 27 and 24, were teenagers living in the White House, they didn’t see it for their mother’s designer wear.

“I remember I was going to give Sasha an Alaia dress that I had…[and] she’s like, ‘Why would I want that?'” Michelle Obama shared during a live recording of her six-part “IMO: The Look” podcast series, which promotes her new book “The Look,” documenting her fashion and beauty before, during, and after her historic term as America’s first Black First Lady.

Mrs. Obama said that as teenagers living in the White House, her daughters were more into designers like Brandy Melville.

“Teenage children—that Brandy Melville period? I’m sorry, those short dresses,” Mrs. Obama joked about her daughters’ style as teens.

“They were just like every young teenager. They wanted the stuff off of the web. They wanted to go to the mall…they thought designer clothes were for old people,” she shared.

Now that Malia, a budding film writer and director, and Sasha, a recent college graduate, are young women, they now appreciate their mom’s fashion sense.

“They go in my closet a lot,” said the former First Lady. “As they get older, they’re starting to respect what I have.”

Mrs. Obama said it’s been “fun” to watch her two daughters “come into their own style,” adding, “They’re very different girls. They have their unique style.”

“I find that I’m now at a point where I’ll see something cool that they have, a jacket or shoe, and I’m like, ‘Where’d you get that?’ We’re doing more of that. They’re like, ‘Where’d you get that?'” she shared.

As Malia and Sasha embark on their individual careers, Michelle Obama says they’re “just now starting to appreciate the quality of clothes and to understand dressing.” She added, “So we’re starting to develop a more shared fashion story together.”

But when it comes to style and beauty, Mrs. Obama admits she has been inspired by her daughters’ generation to wear braids more often in her post-White House life.

“I think my decision to wear braids, more and more, comes from a whole generation of young Black girls who are embracing their natural hair,” she shared.

“I give credit to…the younger generation,” she said. “They want authenticity. They want to hear your truth. They don’t want things to be powdered over or smoothed over.”

“I wanted to be a part of supporting them in that journey, and I know that me being Michelle Obama, the first former First Lady wearing braids in the White House, matters,” said Obama.

“That was a deliberate decision that I made to support young girls that are trying to break bold patterns and forces that don’t serve them as young, young girls, and I credit that generation, and I want them to continue to be themselves and show up in ways that make sense.”