Michelle Obama is on a mission to support American fashion – beyond just wearing her favorite labels. Proof? Yesterday, the always-elegant First Lady assembled a roster of big-name designers and 150 design students at the White House for a series of workshops, panels, and networking events.

Image via Instagram

The goal of the occasion – associated with her Reach Higher initiative – was to open doors for emerging talent from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons, and more. Michelle even sported one of the student designs: a racerback blue dress by FIT’s Natalya Koval.

Along with exposing the students to the expertise of Zac Posen, Prabal Gurung, and Lela Rose, FLOTUS shared a patriotic success story. Citing SPANX founder Sara Blakely’s growth into a billionaire entrepreneur, Michelle reminded the designers that hard work remains at the core of the fashion business. Sara took jobs at Disney World and in fax-machine sales to save the money she needed for her first SPANX product. And that’s right about when Michelle declared that, “We all wear them with pride.”

So there you have it: FLOTUS is as big a fan of SPANX as you are.

By Susie Kostaras, Associate Content Editor

What do you think of Michelle’s fashion workshop? Tweet us at @ruelala.

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