Disclaimer: I like her. AFAIK and can see, she is a good person, good citizen, good wife, mother, etc. This post is not about her politics, religion, or nutritional ideas.
She has “tall girl” posture… you know, that thing that the tallest girl in grade school started doing to try not to stick out above everyone else (especially the boys). It’s a slight hunch, combined with a ducking of the head. Or tilting the head to one side a bit. I have a dear, dear friend who is 85 years old, also a beautiful woman, and she still does it. I want to attach a cord to the middle of the top of their heads and gently pull upward to elongate their spines and make them stretch fully into their wonderful adult height. It almost hurts to watch them try to make themselves smaller out of old habit.
In thispicture, she is not slumping. But this is not typical. And it was posed by a professional photographer, who probably reminded her to stand up straight and square her shoulders. She looks confident and fabulous.
Thispicture is more typical. Michelle’s shoulders are rounded. Note that Margarita Zavala, to her right, has a natural posture with shoulders back and relaxed.
Here’sanother example. Michelle is rounded over her front. The other model is walking naturally and upright.
You can really see the tall-girl-slump in thispicture, taken from the back. Compare the shoulder lines of the two women.
Odd. Health and exercise nuts (ans I use the term affectionately) are usually big into posture, too.
This sounds like the sort of thing where a little kid needs to send in a letter. “I love all the new food at my school, but why does Mrs. Obama always seem to be slumping? She should stand up tall.”
I just did a quick image search on her name, and the vast majority of photos show here with good posture and standing upright. I have no doubt if anyone were photographed near 24/7 I could find shots of them with bad posture. Is there evidence that it’s not just a few cherry picked photos?
That’s tall for a woman. In some of the llinked photos she is standing next to someone shorter. Obama is taller than she is, so maybe it doesn’t happen except with other people.
Or else it is just that people take a gajillion pictures of her and she is not standing up straight in some of them. She is quite photogenic (obviously) but the paparazzi can always find a moment where she is scowling or scratching or slumping.
Maybe she never did the thing where you walk around with a telephone book balanced on your head to correct your posture. My sister is (as she puts it) 5’12" and she always stands up straight. Of course, her husband is 6’2" and both her sons are 6’8" so she has to look up at all of them, so it is reinforced.
I saw this picturein The Atlantic online today, and it caught my eye. In it Michele Obama is standing straight and tall like the picture on the right, shoulders back, just enough curve in her spine to accent her lovely tush, and all this in very high heels, no less. She looks fabulous, confident, powerful, and regal. Stand tall and own it, baby! Don’t round those shoulders just because the people around you are shorter than you are.
I’m guessing it happens when she’s tired. I hit 5’6" in fifth grade and 5’10" before high school (back in the 70’s when that was still considered tall) so I developed the slump. By working out a lot and being aware of my posture I stopped slumping, but it still comes roaring back when I’m weary.
Actually, if she’s in 2 inch heels they’re the same height. In 3 inch heels she’s that taller one. I’m pretty sure she’s worn heels on more than one occasion, but if any man is confident enough to dance in public with a woman taller than himself you’d expect it to be someone like the President of the United States.
