Kering to partner Michelle Obama for her French book presentation

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Nov 27, 2018

Kering is partnering Michelle Obama when the former First Lady comes to Paris next month for the book signing of the French edition of her autobiography, "Becoming."

 
On December 5, the former First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) will be received at Seine Musicale, an arts center on an island in west Paris, giving the French public a rare opportunity to hear her. Recent opinion shows have established her as the most popular woman in America.
 
Kering will partner the event and provide the opportunity for 250 female students to be invited to hear Obama.

“I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey. In sharing my story, I hope to help create space for other stories and other voices, to widen the pathway for who belongs and why,” Obama said in a release from Kering, the world’s second largest luxury conglomerate.
 
As a noted leader in the movement for women’s empowerment, Obama is an ideal partner for Kering, which in 2015 created the Women in Motion program, part of its partnership with the Festival de Cannes, to highlight the place of women in cinema and their contribution to the industry. 
 
Obama began a 10-city signing tour on November 13 in the United States, helping fuel sales of 1.4 million copies of Becoming in the first week.
 
The former FLOTUS was and is notably stylish dresser, mixing European and American designers, donning a Christopher Kane pantsuit for her signing in Washington; a fiery red Narciso Rodriguez dress for her final remarks as First Lady in January; a bold Gucci silk crepe off-the-shoulder floral gown for a Kennedy Center Honors show.
 
Michelle Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, she began her career in the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband, Barack Obama. Michelle and Barack Obama currently live in Washington and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
 
"I am extremely proud to provide partnership support for Michelle Obama’s Paris appearance, as an illustration of the core values and beliefs we share in common,” said Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault, whose group includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, among other luxury marques.
 
Now in Paris, the world’s preeminent fashion city, everyone awaits her decision on which designer she shall wear to the Seine Musicale.