Why French Women Don't Wear Shorts

Michelle Obama, wearing shorts, and daughter Malia arriving on Air Force One.Writer Gioia Diliberto gives some perspective on why French women would not wear shorts. I, too, am probably Parisian in my approach not only to dressing, but my firm conviction that sophisticated politicians and their spouses know that their clothes are chosen to communicate messages.

I believe the First Lady can wear whatever she chooses. I do believe that Michelle chose shorts so as not to look too chic, the week healthcare town meetings were rant fests around America and the Obamas were soon off to Blue Heron farm. I still believe her outfit was pandering, not just trying to look comfortable.

When a woman is as smart and sophisticated as Michelle Obama, she does not dress by accident.  Anne

Quoted via Huffington Post

For many Parisians who saw pictures of Michelle Obama stepping off Air Force One last week in a pair of green cotton shorts, the first thought that came to mind was: Carla Bruni would never wear that.

Even on a burning August day, the French First Lady wouldn't be caught dead in something as "unchic as shorts. She wouldn't want to waste a moment of her life being frumpy," says Elisabeth Fourmont, a Paris-based fashion writer.

Adds Coline Choay, a representative for the French designer Altuzarra, "it would be a big non-non."

French women are obsessed with looking sexy and feminine -- it's inscribed in their DNA and probably also somewhere in the Napoleonic Code -- and shorts, especially the boxy, mid-thigh kind Mrs. Obama sported for a visit to the Grand Canyon, don't have much allure. more