



1 / 6 Chevron Chevron Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Lucidon from Chasing Light: Michelle Obama Through the Lens of a White House Photographer (Ten Speed Press). “The First Lady gets comfortable after a long day of official events, while answering questions from White House spring interns in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, April 2, 2014.”

It’s crazy to think that there are professional photographs of Michelle Obama that the world has yet to see. Cameras captured the former First Lady nearly every single day of her eight years in the White House. Today, however, those unseen pictures from behind the scenes are being released in photographer Amanda Lucidon’s new book, Chasing Light: Michelle Obama Through the Lens of a White House Photographer. One of few women to ever have this position in the White House, Lucidon followed Mrs. Obama through the halls to various state rooms and around the world, snapping images of her visiting schoolchildren in poverty-stricken parts of America, attending galas, speaking to women’s rights groups, and, of course, hanging out with her husband and two daughters. Through the candid photographs shot between 2013 and 2017, we see Mrs. Obama in her element, poised and glamorous in her official role, but also a down-to-earth arbiter of approachable taste.

“I always liked talking to Meredith Koop, Mrs. Obama’s fashion and wardrobe adviser,” Lucidon says. “I really enjoyed learning about the decisions that were made behind each outfit, because to me it felt like I was learning a new layer of her story.” She adds, “Sometimes, the fashion choices paid tribute to the people and places we visited. For example, I loved making pictures of her in the bold colors and patterns of the dresses she wore on our visit to Cambodia for the Let Girls Learn initiative.” The fact that Mrs. Obama was strategic about outfitting herself is common knowledge—whether it was wearing an Indian-American designer to the India state dinner, slipping on Gucci for the Kennedy Center Honors the day after Italy had its monumental referendum vote, or putting on a J.Crew dress for a Let’s Move! event in her hometown of Chicago. What Lucidon’s book offers is a more intimate look at the moments we haven’t seen on the news, read about in magazines, or scrolled through in those ubiquitous FLOTUS “fashion evolution” slideshows online. (Guilty as charged.) In Chasing Light, we see Mrs. Obama kicking off her Jimmy Choo heels to answer questions from White House spring interns; embracing young girls in a mixed-print frock during a dance workshop in the State Dining Room; and stepping off Air Force One in a sleeveless dress (a look she was vehemently and ridiculously chastised for at the beginning of her husband’s presidency), the colors matching the red, white, and blue of the plane.

Lucidon says she came to view Mrs. Obama as a mentor and a fashion role model toward the end of her tenure. As she explained, “Mrs. Obama could be dressed in garden clothes or in a formal gown and she always looked stunning. She is a beautiful person, and it was a great honor to photograph her during my four years in the White House.” An honor Lucidon is now sharing through her book: a portrait of the former FLOTUS, sometimes dressed up, sometimes dressed down, but always dressed—even with the designer heels off—to “go high.”

Here, an exclusive first look at some of Lucidon’s most stylish and inspiring photographs of Michelle Obama from Chasing Light.