We’re trying our best to let these retrospectives speak for themselves as a way of giving Shelley the final word on her style, but it’s hard not to contextualize things. For instance, when you scroll through this sampling of some of her best and most notable gowns, it becomes really striking how closely she stuck to very specific style points over the past eight years. Rich colors, metallics, one-shoulder or strapless as the most common necklines, virtually no sleeves to speak of, finished off with heavy, declarative jewelry. The end result was almost always highly dramatic. If she faltered a bit in her day style over the years, she routinely nailed it when it was time for her to get her DIVA on. Jackie was the most classically chic First Lady of the last 100 years and Nancy was the most glamorous. But Michelle Obama managed to beat them both on both fronts: chic AND glamorous, at a level no one had seen before from a First Lady.

That’s right. We said it.

November 2009, Naeem Khan

December 2009, Azzedine Alaïa

May 2010, Prabal Gurung

May 2010, Peter Soronen

September 2010, Michael Kors

December 2010, Naeem Khan

January 2011, Alexander McQueen

May 2011, Halston

May 2011, Tom Ford

May 2011, Ralph Lauren

June 2011, Reed Krakoff

June 2011, Naeem Khan

October 2011, Doo Ri

December 2011, Vera Wang

January 2012, J. Mendel

June 2012, Michael Kors

December 2012, Michael Kors

December 2012, Naeem Khan

January 2013, Jason Wu

February 2014, Carolina Herrera

May 2014, Marchesa

September 2014, Bibhu Mohapatra

September 2015, Vera Wang

March 2016, Jason Wu

May 2016, Givenchy

October 2016, Atelier Versace

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]