Obama pays for his own coattails

The elegant black ensemble Michelle Obama wore to her anniversary dinner with her husband at Spiaggia two Fridays ago presented reporters with a challenge:

It looked like a dress at the top but pants at the bottom. But it was hardly a pantsuit of the type Hillary Clinton wore through her campaign.

So what to call it?

Whatever it was, it was paid for by the Obamas themselves, the Obama campaign said.

"Neither the campaign nor the DNC [Democratic National Committee] has paid for clothing," spokesman Ben LaBolt said Wednesday in response to news reports that the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 on a makeover for Sarah Palin.

Barack Obama, running mate Joe Biden and their wives get no campaign or DNC money for clothes, LaBolt said.

When Obama stops at the Hyde Park Hair Salon for a trim every week, he does not seek reimbursement, though the campaign has paid for hair and makeup costs for the Obamas for particular events, the campaign acknowledges.

The Sun-Times reported Tuesday that Obama ordered five new suits from Chicago-based menswear maker Hartmarx. Obama paid full-price, spokesmen for Hartmarx and the Obama campaign said Wednesday. The suits retail for $1,500 apiece.

A tailor from Hart Schaffner Marx went to Obama's Kenwood home in early August to fit him and pick out material for Obama's first suit.

Contributing: Sandra Guy