Simon Doonan says his comments that Michelle Obama is not "chic" were taken out of context -- and he says he doesn't think "chic" is a word she'd want to be called, anyway.
Doonan, Creative Ambassador-at-Large at Barneys, joined HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps Thursday and had nothing but praise for the First Lady's fashion sense -- but also extolled her personal virtues, as well.
"Michelle Obama is the best First Lady that we've ever had, and that's for three reasons: it's because she's warm, intelligent and very strong," Doonan told Zepps. "I think the relentless focus on her clothing is easier, because it's physical, whereas the things I'm talking about are more abstract so it requires people to work a bit harder."
Doonan described FLOTUS as "drop dead gorgeous, glamorous, stylish always" but said it's "a little disrespectful to her to keep yammering about her clothes when clearly what's great here is that she's the embodiment of everything you want from a First Lady."
He also clarified, for the record, that he does think of Michelle Obama as chic, but he doesn't think that's a word she would aspire to.
"The word chic is a little bit of a dangerous word, because it does imply somebody who's doing nothing else but thinking about their clothes," he said. "And I don't think that's a word that she would want to apply to herself. But the fact is she is chic. She's always perfectly turned out, she's always stylish. She's 10/10 in every department. But what makes her remarkable and what makes her the best First Lady we've had in generations is the fact that most of them get two out of three, one out of three. She has all of them. She's strength, warmth and intelligence."
At an appearance at 92Y Tribeca last month, Doonan told HuffPost style that he doesn't consider FLOTUS chic.
"She dresses appropriately. I don't think of her as being chic," he said at the time.
Doonan recently designed a Tony Awards homage in the window of the Duane Reade across from the Tony's using 3,200 Nexxus gold hair bottles. Watch him discuss that here, and watch the full segment below: