Michelle Obama under fire for not wearing black designer

The usually celebrated sartorial splendor of First Lady Michelle Obama is coming under fire by a former runway model upset that Obama didn’t wear an inaugural design by a black fashion designer.

Amnau Eele, co-founder of the Black Artists Association, told fashion industry publication Women’s Wear Daily she plans to “file a formal appeal” with Michelle Obama’s office about the lack of a black designer.

“It’s fine and good if you want to be all ‘Kumbaya’ and ‘We are the World’ by representing all different countries,” Eele is quoted as saying at wwd.com, the magazine’s Web site. “But if you are going to have Isabel Toledo do the inauguration dress, and Jason Wu do the evening gown, why not have Kevan Hall, B Michael, Stephen Burrows or any of the other black designers do something, too?”

In an interview with the Sun-Times, Eele said that she wants the First Lady to know there are other, lesser-known designers that the First Lady should take a look at.

“You know, I have an issue that every day I meet young black designers that are facing homelessness, they can't buy fabric, they can't get the things they need,” she said. “We have qualified designers in the community. A young man like Michael Knight (of Project Runway) -- surely you could have worn a scarf by him, a Tshirt, a handbag.”

Michelle Obama wore an outfit designed by Cuba-born Isabel Toledo for the daytime inaugural events. She paired it with Jimmy Choo pumps, purchased at Chicago’s Ikram boutique, and leather gloves by mainstream retailer J. Crew.

For the inaugural balls, she wore a one-shoulder, white gown designed by Taiwan-born designer Jason Wu, whose studio is in Manhattan. Wu once interned for Narciso Rodriguez, a designer with Cuban roots who dressed the first lady in a red-and-black dress with a small floral pattern for the election-night victory party in Grant Park.