Copycats hurrying to knock off Michelle Obama's inaugural gown

It's been two days since Michelle Obama wowed the world as US first lady in her white gown at the inauguration ball, and fashion copycats are already at work to make their own versions of the Jason Wu dress.

Mrs Obama's two dresses are a hit with the public and designers alike, so much so, that Manhattan-based Faviana has even drawn up sketches for their inauguration-inspired gowns.

And thanks to designers Shala and Paul Moradi of Faviana, very soon every woman in America will be able to wear the looks the first lady made famous.

"When we came to work this morning, we were already looking at fabrics, trimmings, and detailing, and we started working on the patterns and putting the dress together," The New York Daily News quoted Omid Moradi, CEO of the family-owned fashion house, as saying.

Faviana is making their reinterpretations of both the Isabel Toledo lemon-grass yellow lace dress and coat Michelle wore during the swearing-in ceremony, and the white one-shoulder chiffon gown by Jason Wu, in which she danced at her first ball as First Lady.
 
While their version of the day dress and jacket will retail for 450 dollars, the evening column look will bear a price tag of under 400 dollars.

According to Moradi, the white gown will garner enormous interest.

"I think a lot of people are going to be interested in this dress. This is a huge thing for the country and for fashion, so we're watching what the first lady's wearing very closely and she's going to be a trendsetter for years to come," he said.

However, he claimed that Faviana's dress won't be an exact replica of what the First Lady wore, saying: "Our version will be a one shoulder, but we felt that the dress had a lot of gathering around the hip area, so ours is going to have less of that."

Moradi added: "We will do our own detail on the dresses, as far as the flowers and the rhinestones are concerned. Of course, it would be made to our specifications, our patterns."

The two looks are expected to hit the stores in four to six weeks as part of an entire Mrs. O-inspired collection.