Tuesday’s historic election of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th President has been eclipsed, in many circles, by the growing discussion about Michelle Obama’s dress. Really. The dissection of her decision to don the red and black Narciso Rodriguez number started on fashion blogs like style.com and then to newspapers like USA Today. Now the talk has gone international. The UK’s Telegraph has picked up the story today. Overall, the reviews were not good.

And so we have it, Michelle Obama’s first little brouhaha as the soon to be First Lady. To date, many fashionistas have lauded most of her style choices. From the White House Black Market dress she donned for “The View” to the Maria Pinto frocks she wore for the Democratic National Convention and the J Crew ensemble she wore for her appearance on Jay Leno her style report card overall has been almost all As. But now that the stakes are higher, she is going to be The First Lady Of The United States after all, the scrutiny has followed suit. And the results are somewhat comical. The funniest line in The Telegraph article pointed out that Michelle Obama doesn’t employ a personal stylist. Should she? I don’t think so. A personal shopper, perhaps but a personal stylist, no.

I am actually amazed that there has been more press about this dress than there has been about the look she wore to vote—no makeup and a ponytail. I raised one eyebrow at that until I realized that the sister had been working non-stop (and she was probably up all night). Plus, her choice gave us a peek at her humanity and solidifyed that she was the sister next store (at least in our minds).

Personally, I noticed the dress but I wasn’t fixated on it. I was more aware that her accessories were less classic and more funky (and also that the family was tastefully color coordinated without looking to matchy-matchy). And seriously, I was just elated at the historic moment for both this country and our people in particular. But spending most of my career around fashion folks has taught me that the write their version of history based upon what someone wore.

I suspect that since Michelle has made it through this campaign in one piece, she probably has pretty thick skin. I doubt seriously that after all this talk about her dress that she will revert to only safe choices (or call Andre Leon Talley in a panic—which may be risky too). Instead, she will continue to carve out her own style niche. But as she is finding her rhythm there may be some misses in the midsts of all those hits. So what.

Folks can talk about the return of Camelot all they want, but I am sure our future First Lady knows that substance is even more important than style. She’s striving  to be more than just a beautiful sister in a designer dress. Here’s what she told Newsweek about raising her children in The White House and addressing the issues that are important to her. This interview was done before they had a lock on the Presidency, now I am sure we’ll find out even more about what she’s passionate about.