New York-based designer Peter Soronen did not know that First Lady Michelle Obama would be wearing a gown he'd designed to the State Dinner with Mexico, held Wednesday evening at the White House.Soronen told the AP that he knew his corset-style gown, complete with lace-up back, was being considered for Wednesday's glam diplomatic event, because he'd designed it at the request of Mrs. Obama's unofficial stylist, Chicago's Ikram Goldman. But until he saw the photos of Mrs. Obama in the media, like the ones taken by your intrepid blog here, Soronen had no idea Mrs. Obama would be dining in the East Room and rocking out to Beyonce in his gown. (Above: President and Mrs. Obama on the North Portico, waiting for the arrival of Mexico's First Couple)
"In some ways, it’s more exciting not to know and just wait for the photo," Soronen said. He's an expert in corset making, and has built his couture empire around the aesthetic.
The dinner honored Mexico's President Felipe Calderón, and had a guest list of 206 people, including Cabinet Secretaries, a Supreme Court Justice, food and farming advocates such as Will Allen and Delores Huerta, and celebs Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria Parker and George Lopez. (Above: As POTUS and FLOTUS escort the Mexican First Couple into the White House, the corset detail is visible on Mrs. Obama's gown)Soronen has created four other gowns for Mrs. Obama, and he said the dark blue sparkler took just two and a half days to make, after the design phase was accomplished. He put it together himself, and the silver sparkle belt, a signature of Mrs. Obama’s personal style, was an add-on accessory.
ABC News also interviewed Soronen about the gown, and one of the most surprising bits of info: Soronen has never met Mrs. Obama, and said he "eyeballed" the fit for her gown. He declined to say how much the gown cost, and said it was a “donation” to the First Lady, through Goldman, who commissioned the dress.
Soronen told ABC News he did not create the gown with a price in mind, but his designs are sold at high-end retailers like Barneys, Bloomingdales and at Goldman’s Chicago store and can run up to $5,000-6000.
Soronen said he was first approached by Goldman about a month ago about designing a dress for the dinner. He said the Chicago stylist is familiar with his designs and structure and thus gave him some independence to create the state dinner dress.
“She didn’t give me step-by-step instructions, but she did give me a little color line and she said that it needed to be flowy and long, to the ground,” Soronen said.
Goldman also instructed him to make it a one-shoulder dress, just like the Jason Wu gown Mrs. Obama wore for the Inaugural Balls, and which the designer recently donated to the Smithsonian.
This was the fourth gown that Soronen has made for Mrs. Obama. He also created the black strapless sparkle dress she wore for the first Governors Ball at the White House in February 2009; the red dress she wore for the Alfalfa Club dinner last January; and a purple corseted strapless gown she wore to the Kennedy Center Honors in December.
Soronen said that even though Mrs. Obama has worn his gowns before, it always feels like the "first time" when he sees her in one of his creations.
“I feel a huge accomplishment to be able to have such exposure to the craft that I do,” Soronen said. “It always feels new.”
“I have been getting the most amazing reaction, from the color to how it looked on her,” Soronen said. “It looked great and I’ve been really pleased with everything I’m hearing.”
For the first State Dinner, held last November in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mrs. Obama wore a strapless champagne-colored gown made by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan.
In March, Mrs. Obama's one-shoulder Inaugural Ball Gown was donated by designer Jason Wu to the Smithsonian; he also worked with Goldman, "donated" his gown to the First Lady, knowing that it would eventually wind up in the Smithsonian if she chose to wear it to the Balls.
*Photos by Obama Foodorama
