Michelle Obama style book great for collectors

However you feel about Michelle Obama’s sense of style, her influence on fashion is undeniable. Along with breaking racial barriers as the first black first lady of the United States, she has broken fashion rules and protocols and is writing her own.

Mary Tomer

So after nearly a year in the White House and twice as long in the public eye during the 2008 presidential campaign, it’s not too early to document her trendsetting ways. Mary Tomer does so beautifully in her recently launched book, Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy ($25.99, Center Street).

Ms. Tomer is contributing editor for Mrs-O.org, a Web site she founded in September 2008 to chronicle and celebrate Mrs. Obama’s style. The blog gets more than 2 million page views a month from visitors in more than 220 countries, testimony to the first lady’s popularity around the world.

The 236-page hardback is destined to become part of the library of any who love Mrs. Obama, and there are many millions who do. The colorful book is breathtakingly thorough and attractive, chock full of sketches and hundreds of photos taken around the world. It also includes more than a dozen question-answer interviews with fashion designers she has worn and other fashion authorities, including Jason Wu, Isabel Toledo, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, and Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley.

The tome’s tone is unfailingly flattering of the confident, brainy first lady. It clearly was published to praise her personal style rather than to evaluate her objectively through the lens of cultural criticism. But that won’t matter to the legions of Mrs. O fans, and perhaps it shouldn’t.