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Michelle Obama Chose This Designer for Her Third ‘Vogue’ Cover

Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama stuns in a cream dress on her third ‘Vogue’ cover for the December 2016 issue. Annie Leibovitz/Vogue

The most fabulous first lady! With thousands tweeting #Michelle2020 and her husband’s administration almost at an end, Michelle Obama‘s third Vogue cover (for the December 2016 issue) is an especially welcome sight.

As the issue’s photos prove, our FLOTUS, 52, has become quite the fashion plate over the past eight years. She models Carolina Herrera in the cover shot, not to mention two Atelier Versace ensembles inside. But as the accompanying article points out, she’s so much more than one of the best-dressed women in the U.S. Thanks to the many causes she fights for, including her two education initiatives, Reach Higher and Let Girls Learn, she’s an inspiration to people across the world.

Related: PHOTOS: Michelle Obama's Best State Dinner Dresses of All Time

The “mom in chief,” who shares daughters Malia, 18, and Sasha, 15, with her husband, President Barack Obama, admits that she could have “spent eight years doing anything, and at some level, it would have been fine. I could have focused on flowers. I could have focused on decor. I could have focused on entertainment. Because any first lady, rightfully, gets to define her role. There’s no legislative authority; you’re not elected. And that’s a wonderful gift of freedom.”

Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama in Atelier Versace at the White House. Annie Leibovitz/Vogue

But with so many people, especially children, looking up to her, Obama wanted — and still wants — to be a role model most of all. “Kids are watching us,” the first lady said. “I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say. And it’s not just kids at Howard; it’s not just African-American kids. They are writing papers about us … That means something to me. Maybe because I still have kids and I know that they’re influenced by people they look up to, but it makes us want to live right and do right and be right — Every. Single. Day. — so that we don’t ever disappoint these kids and they have something to hold on to, and so that they know — as I say all the time — I can do this. You can do this.”

Related: PHOTOS: Malia and Sasha Obama's Best Styles Through the Years

And no one believes that more than her biggest fan, her husband. “Like a lot of political spouses, the role was thrust upon her,” the president said. “But I always knew she’d be incredible at it, and put her own unique stamp on the job. That’s because who you see is who she is — the brilliant, funny, generous woman who, for whatever reason, agreed to marry me. I think people gravitate to her because they see themselves in her — a dedicated mom, a good friend and someone who’s not afraid to poke a little fun at herself from time to time.”

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