A photo of Michelle Obama in worn jeans and a T-shirt by Annie Leibovitz is going viral on social media after the former First Lady posted the shot to promote a new edition of the famed photographer’s book Women.
By mid morning, one reposting of the photos alone had already garnered a quarter million views.
Leibovitz, 76, whose career goes back more than 25 years to her early iconic photos in Rolling Stone magazine, is known for placing her celebrity subjects in unlikely settings and situations to reveal previously unseen aspects of their personalities.
Obama, 61, dressed in boots and soiled, torn jeans with a wide belt, her braided hair flowing behind her, looks as if she’s gathering herself to supervise a crew of alpha males on a dirty construction job.
Or, other observers may see it another way, including USA Today, calling the look “rare” for Obama and writing, “Dressed down in a dark gray henley shirt, lightly distressed blue jeans, a brown leather belt and complementing brown heeled suede boots, Obama’s eyes are closed peacefully as her braids flow in the wind for the photo.”
Leibovitz, who for the past 25 years has been shooting regularly for Vogue, has built a 55-year career on photos known for getting diverse reactions.
Commenting on her Facebook page, the former First Lady liked what the photographer had captured, writing:
Annie Leibovitz has always known that a photo can do more than preserve a moment — it can say something. Her book Women did exactly that, expanding how we see women and the lives they lead through her lens.
It was an honor to be photographed by Annie for the new edition, capturing the many ways women are showing up today.
I hope you’ll find it as inspirational as I do.
USA Today also found it significant that Obama was wearing braids, reporting that in 2022 the former First Lady wanted to wear them when her husband became president but decided Americans were “not ready” for that with the first black couple in the White House.
The former First Lady most recently has been raising eyebrows talking about other things she thinks Americans are “not ready” for during her press tour promoting her fashion memoir The Look.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this month, Obama announced at an appearance in Brooklyn she would not be running for president anytime soon, saying “As we saw in the past election, sadly, we ain’t ready.”
She continued, “That’s why I’m like, ‘Don’t even look at me about running, because you all are lying. You’re not ready for a woman. You are not.’”
She also claimed Americans lacked the maturity to elect a woman president.
“You know, we’ve got a lot of growing up to do,” she said. “And there’s still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it.”
Lowell Cauffiel also contributed to Rolling Stone in the early years of Annie Leibovitz’s career. He is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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