Update: Here’s the cover

---

On the heels of President Barack Obama’s cover on the March “Hollywood Issue” of Vanity Fair, there is the announcement that First Lady Michelle Obama will be the cover girl for the March issue of Vogue magazine. Michelle has appeared in Vogue before (in the fall of 2007), but this is only the second time a sitting first lady has appeared on a Vogue cover – the first was Hillary Clinton, in 1998.

Michelle Obama was photographed by Annie Leibovitz, and dressed in Narciso Rodriguez and Jason Wu, the young designer of Michelle’s inaugural dress. Michelle was photographed at the Hay-Adams, the hotel where the Obama family stayed before moving into the White House. People magazine has more details:

Michelle Obama is making history again – by becoming only the second president’s wife to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine.

The newly-minted first lady was photographed by famed shooter Annie Leibovitz at the Hay-Adams Hotel, where the Obamas stayed before the Inauguration.

While nearly every first lady – beginning with Herbert Hoover’s wife, Lou, in 1929 – has been photographed for the fashion bible, only Hillary Clinton was featured on the cover, in Dec. 1998, Vogue spokesman Patrick O’Connell tells PEOPLE.

In the March issue of the magazine, the cover of which will be released Wednesday, Obama is seen wearing a magenta dress by Jason Wu, who designed her inaugural gown, and also pictured in a black dress by designer Narciso Rodriguez, according to the Washington Post.

In the interview, Obama talks about getting used to Washington and her plans for being a first lady – and first mom. “I’m going to try to take [our two daughters] to school every morning – as much as I can,” she says, according to the Post. “But there’s also a measure of independence. And obviously there will be times I won’t be able to drop them off at all. I like to be a presence in my kids’ school. I want to know the teacher; I want to know the other parents.”

As for why Vogue chose to feature Obama on the cover, the magazine’s editor Anna Wintour writes, “Change was the clarion call of Barack Obama’s election campaign, though I don’t think any of us at Vogue initially realized that would include the difference that was going to be made by First Lady Michelle Obama’s wardrobe … It’s inspiring to see our first lady so serene and secure in her personal style.”

From People Magazine

Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has drawn criticism over the years for not putting more women of color on the cover. Over the course of Wintour’s tenure, only a handful of African-American women have appeared on the cover, so at least this is one small step for equal representation for African-American women in “inspirational” over-priced consumerism.

I don’t mean to bash Vogue – I actually enjoy the magazine, and if Wintour is going to start putting more women like Michelle Obama on the cover, I’m going to renew my subscription. But I can already hear the cries of “out of touch” with regards to Michelle’s Vogue cover, especially from the extreme right wing of the Republican party. But people will always find something to complain about, especially since one of the conservative talking points about Michelle during the campaign was that somehow her working-class Chicago background was “exotic”. Got to love the code words. Hopefully, people will just see the Vogue piece for what it is – a beautiful, young First Lady, wife, and mother, photographed beautifully by the premiere photographer of the day.

Barack and Michelle Obama are shown on inauguration night. Credit: Newscom/UPI