Washington is freezing cold, but last night Michelle Obama strode into Congress wearing a sleeveless dress, her bare arms on display. It's hardly the first time recently she's gone sleeveless, notes Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: from a photo op in the White House kitchen to the cover of Vogue, the first lady has made her guns a key accessory.
Like her husband, Obama hits the gym several times a week, and she's been known to tease her friends when they fall behind while lifting weights. Last night she looked supremely confident, her arms a kind of signal of achievement and self-control. "If she keeps going at this rate," jokes Kantor, "Mrs. Obama may do to dresses with sleeves what John F. Kennedy did to men’s hats." (More Michelle Obama stories.)