Oscar de la Renta Isn't Convinced Michelle Obama's Fashion 'Influences Women Today

International designer Oscar de la Renta speaks at a news conference in Mexico City, Friday, March 22, 2013. (Photo: AP)

First Lady Michelle Obama has been hailed as one of the most fashion-forward first ladies since her husband was first elected.  From her famously toned arms to her bold new bangs, her style has been praised on magazine covers more than once.

But one of the world's foremost designers isn't as captivated by the first lady's fashion sense as some of his peers, it seems.

The Associated Press reports:

Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta has been a favorite of many U.S. first ladies, including Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. But one name is still missing from his list: Michelle Obama.

De la Renta says he is not worried about not having Obama on his list of celebrity clients because for him what matters is dressing everyday women.

De la Renta says that "an anonymous woman on the street is the woman who influences fashion today, not a movie star or a first lady."

The two may have gotten off on the wrong foot, the designer said, when he criticized her decision to wear a sweater when meeting Queen Elizabeth II in 2009.

"You don't...go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater," an aghast Oscar de la Renta told Woman's Wear Daily at the time.

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, pose with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, during an audience at Buckingham Palace in London, Wednesday April 1, 2009. (Photo: AP)

"It is a relation that began poorly and I think it will end the same way," he concluded Friday during a fashion gala in Mexico City.

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