Michelle Obama Paired Her Sky-High Ponytail With a Chocolatey Leather Corset

Former first lady and national treasure Michelle Obama hit the red carpet last night for a screening of Netflix's Jon Batiste documentary, American Symphony, in New Orleans, Louisiana. And while she's not unfamiliar with the flashbulbs and the glamour that comes with a movie premiere (or state dinner), since she's left her White House duties behind, Obama has shown off a more laid-back approach to her fashion choices and her combination of sumptuous leather corset and sky-high braided ponytail show just how much of a cool girl MObama is — and always has been.

Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama, co-produced the documentary, which chronicles Batiste's wife, Suleika Jaouad, and her battle with cancer. Jaouad later served on Barack Obama’s Presidential Cancer Panel, the national advisory board of Family Reach, and the Bone Marrow and Cancer Foundation.

Obama spoke at the screening last night and arrived on the carpet in a double-breasted brown leather jacket, which she paired with coordinating leather corset top and wide-leg pants from Sergio Hudson. She wore her braids in a high ponytail and added a smoky eye and bold gold hoops for the occasion.

"American Symphony opens us all up to the power and inevitability of music," Obama said last night. "Yet, this film is about so much more than one man’s meteoric rise. It is the story of two souls — Jon and Suleika — on parallel paths."

American Symphony takes its name from Batiste's 2022 project. The Grammy-winning musician set out to create "an original symphony that reimagines the traditions of the classical form, bringing together an expansive and inclusive diaspora of music for a performance at storied Carnegie Hall." The film documents his process as well as his wife's battle with cancer, which they both believed to have been dormant.

“It felt important to me to go beyond the shiny narrative that we see of entertainers and writers and musicians and really show the behind-the-scenes peaks and valleys of what it means to be a creative person in this world with all the human foibles we all have,” Jaouad said in a statement about the film. 

American Symphony is available to stream now on Netflix.

See More