Update: Since I posted this late last night, I've been seeing lots of hits from Michelle Obama Watch, a site I was unaware of. It's a smart, newsy and lively blog, and deserves a look if you're interested in tracking the next First Lady.

Sunday, 11:13 p.m.
Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear? from Women's Wear Daily last week deserves a look. The rag mag asked famous designers -- American and not -- to whip up sketches of how they'd dress the Obama ladies for the Inaugural festivities.

...Throughout the campaign, the first lady-to-be has avoided all major names save Narciso Rodriguez (the red and black Convention dress), while showing a proclivity for locals (Chicago's Maria Pinto), young types (Thakoon; Jason Wu) and cost-conscious labels (Donna Ricco; J. Crew).

Nevertheless, just about everyone yearns to dress Michelle, who could raise the profile of American fashion around the world. Yet with the exception of Maria Cornejo, her current favorites, as well as a few majors, declined WWD's request for sketches. Some are loath to presume to offer unsolicited advice, while others, it seems, are definitely in the Inaugural sweepstakes and prefer, or have been asked, to keep their participation low-pro.

But plenty more happily offered their visions for Michelle and her charming first daughters, for the big day and evening events of Jan. 20.

See all sketches for Michelle>>

See sketches for Malia and Sasha Obama

The photo at right is Diane Von Furstenberg's contribution --

Maria Cornejo's $60 Change Organic Obama T-shirt; her sketch for WWD.

Fashion illustration is a stylized form -- Michelle is depicted as impossibly tall and wasp-waisted while faceless. Christian LaCroix went for a portrait, giving the next First Lady an expression I recognize from some campaign moments, although I wouldn't expect the inaugural ball to evoke it.

Betsey Johnson's red, white and blue cartoon is a hoot.

Any of these links will put you in the middle of a slideshow dotted with ads you can click through. Some of the sketches seem to emerge from the artist's subconsciousness on a bad day, but they're interesting, too.

Footnotes (links to photos of Michelle in some of the named designer's dresses):

The Michelle Obama "Career-Launcher" for Emerging Designer Jason Wu, WSJ.

Michelle Obama's cheap-o Donna Ricco 'View' dress flies off the racks! at the L.A. Times' Dish Rag blog.

150G? Try Michelle Obama's $340; N.Y. Daily News reports on Michelle appearing on Leno wearing J. Crew.