As Michelle Obama descended the stairs at the United States Capitol to make her formal appearance on Inauguration Day, a world of eyes was watching—including Sergio Hudson‘s.
The designer was more than 100 miles away from Washington, D.C., stepping into a lounge at a Philadelphia airport when he saw the former first lady donning his design for the occasion for the first time. “I walked into the lounge to charge my phone and I looked up at the screen and Michelle Obama was coming down the stairs,” he recalled to fans in an Instagram video. While he had received a text from Obama’s stylist, Meredith Koop, telling him that she was indeed wearing his look, Hudson’s phone then immediately went dead and he saw the results of his labor for the first time just as the rest of the world did.
Of course, even if you did not watch the day’s historic events on Jan. 20, it’s likely you’ve come across a photo of Obama from the Presidential Inauguration, her powerful look lauded instantaneously online. As Hudson described on Instagram, Obama was a “whole mood” as she confidently sported a monochromatic ensemble of “wineberry plum”—Koop’s term—consisting of a turtleneck sweater and high-waisted, wide-legged trousers cinched with a belt and layered under a coordinating coat. As Hudson explained to E! News, the look was inspired by one he had already made.
Koop “contacted me and said, ‘I really like this look from your collection. Can we make this work for Mrs. O?'” Hudson recalled to E! News. “We turned a sweater dress into a sweater, we added a wide-leg pant and we extended the coat to the floor for a little bit of extra drama and to keep her warm on an icy day and that’s how the outfit came together.”