The look

A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama's sense of fashion. Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama's chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author's childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. "People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion," she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop--28 years old when she first took the job--and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband's second term. Many of the designers of the author's gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers fromBetter Homes & Gardens toVogue. While the author hints that she eventually tired of hearing the comments about her arms and shoulders and the jokes about the "shorts-gate" incident (backlash for being underdressed on the way to a family vacation at the Grand Canyon), this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations. Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures--and power--of glamour. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.