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Bangs aren’t bad. I don’t want them myself, but I’m sure she must have had her reasons. Let’s get over the fact that the First Lady has bangs and move on to more important things. Like the way she rolled her eyes when she was seated next to John Boehner at lunch yesterday. Oh, dear. I really wish she hadn’t done that.

I don’t like Speaker Boehner either. And I must admit that I’ve been known to behave badly when forced to commune with people I don’t admire. But, as far as I know, no one was videotaping me at the time. Lucky me.

From a distance, it looked as though the President had buried the hatchet with Boehner as they yucked it up at yesterday’s congressional lunch. Not so much for Mrs. Obama.

I still love ya Mrs. O., but you slipped up there. Was it something he said about your man? If so, I totally get it because I’m the only one allowed to take shots at my husband—and then only in private. Anyone else does so at his own peril.

I want to focus on Mrs. O’s strong suits–like her résumé and her devotion as a Mom and a First Lady who’s been devoted to military families, health and nutrition. Whatever you think of her bangs or her biceps, her taste in fashion is pretty much undisputed, too.

No one has been any more instrumental in bringing that out than Maria Pinto, a Chicago fashion designer who is responsible for some of the First Lady’s best looks. But, one of the great paradoxes of designing clothes for a First Lady is this: it doesn’t guarantee success. In 2010, Pinto closed her Chicago boutique and wholesale operation. Yes, she went out of business! And she isn’t the first designer to suffer the same fate after reaching such a pinnacle.

In the latest information I could find about Pinto, she’s been traveling, practicing yoga, gardening and painting every since the demise of her business. At age 56, it sounds like a delicious place to be in life. On a recent trip to Chicago, I caught a very cool show at the Field Museum where Pinto matched 25 of her designs with artifacts from the museum. Fashion and the Field Museum Collection: Maria Pinto is a wonderful glimpse of how a creative mind works.

See if you can guess which objects inspired which designs. To cheat, just visit the interactive exhibit. Which is your favorite gown?

Life is short. Wear the good stuff.

Pinto explores how we use clothing to express status and beauty.  She was also interested in the question of fashion as armor and the human creativity and transformative power in clothing.